Prohibition, My Ass

Reading Last Call - The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.
This book is going to fire up my mind and entertain me endlessly. I pledge to have a drink by my side at every reading session. Actually I'll amend that; sometimes I don't feel like drinking in the morning. On those occasions I'll keep an empty whiskey tumbler by my side.
Prohibition went into effect on January 17, 1920. On January 16 there was a frenzy of activity inspired by the understanding that even after the law took effect people could legally consume whatever alcohol was in their homes as of that date. On the 17th The San Francisco Chronicle reported that people whose beer, liquor and wine had not arrived by midnight were left to stand in their doorways "with haggard faces and glittering eyes." I love that.
Two weeks earlier the New year's Eve celebrations around the country were insane in anticipation of prohibition. The evil 18th amendment to the Constitution had been ratified on January 16, 1919; the country was given one year to prepare.
Dig these quotes in response to the new law:
Evangelist Billy Sunday - "The reign of tears is over. The slums will soon be a only memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs. Men will walk upright now; women will smile, and the children will laugh. Hell will be forever for rent."
Secretary of The Interior Franklin K. Lane - "The whole world is skew-jee, awry, distorted and altogether perverse. Einstein has declared the law of gravitation outgrown and decadent. Drink, consoling friend of a Perturbed World, is shut off; and all goes merry as a dance in hell."
Here's a quote from 1914, six years before prohibition, from state rep Richard P. Hobson - "If a family or nation is sober, nature in its normal course will cause them to rise to a higher civilization.. If a family or a nation, on the other hand, is debauched by liquor, it must decline and ultimately perish."
I contend that the current republican party and all its supporters are debauched by liquor.
Alcohol was big news early in this country's history and apparently consumed in greater quantities than we do now, which is pretty amazing when you think about it.
In 1839, Frederick Marryatt, visiting this country from England, wrote - "I am sure the Americans can fix nothing without a drink. if you meet, you drink; if you part, you drink; if you make acquaintance you drink; if you close a bargain you drink; they quarrel in their drink and they make it up with a drink. They drink because it is hot; they drink because it is cold. If successful in elections, they drink and rejoice; if not, they drink and swear; they begin to drink early in the morning, they leave off late at night; they commence it early in life and they continue it, until they soon drop into the grave."
No wonder America became the #1 destination for immigrants.
That's all I'm gonna give you today.
Kind of set the mood. Because I know this book is going to be a rich source of writing for me.
Gotta get prettied up and ready to roll. Soon I'm off to work at THE EVIL LIQUOR STORE.