HANSON: Toasting the repeal

Columns

Discussion

June 26, 2008

By DAVID HANSON The News and Tribune Thu Jun 26, 2008, 05:13 PM EDT

Seventy-five years ago this week, on June 26, 1933, Indiana ratified the 21st Amendment that repealed National Prohibition.

When it was first imposed in 1920, many Hoosiers expected that Prohibition would lower crime, improve health, decrease accidents, lead to prosperity, protect young people, and raise public morals. Celebrations were held across the state and famous evangelist Billy Sunday visited, preaching that Prohibition would save many people from Hell.

One of the strongest supporters of Prohibition was the Ku Klux Klan. It insisted that those who opposed it were un-American and often took enforcement into its own violent hands. The KKK was large and very powerful, with 165,746 dues-paying members in chapters or “klaverns” in 90 of the state’s 92 counties. The Klan was especially harsh with bootleggers, which continued to flourish.

Frustration with the continuing bootlegging and the widespread consumption of bootleg alcohol led the legislature to pass the Wright Bone Dry Bill in 1925, which dramatically increased the penalties for those found with illegal alcohol. It’s been described as “one of the most repressive” laws ever passed in the state. However, enforcing the controversial law remained quite difficult.

But Prohibition also caused other problems. Instead of reducing crime, it made criminals of ordinary citizens as well as promoting the growth of sometimes violent organized crime. Instead of increasing health and safety, it led to the widespread consumption of often toxic moonshine that sometimes caused paralysis, blindness and even death.

Prohibition led to speakeasies and their operation required that law enforcement officials, and sometimes entire law departments, be bribed. Payoffs were simply a cost of doing illegal business.

With the decline in public morality, respect for the law in general decreased. In 1928 the Indiana Bureau of Statistics reported that the murder rate had gone up in the state and it expressed concern over problems caused by Prohibition including "fast living by young people.”

Although crime was putting an additional burden on Indiana taxpayers, Prohibition deprived the state of the taxes that would have been paid had legal producers and retailers of alcohol beverages not been replaced by illegal ones.

Because of the obvious failure of Prohibition, the state legislature voted early in 1933 to repeal Wright Bone Dry by large majorities in both the House and Senate. A few months later, Indiana ratified the 21st Amendment.

The Prohibition Party chose to hunker down in Indiana and located its national headquarters in Winona Lake for four decades after Repeal. It also held its national convention in the state for many years.

Though the Prohibition Party is no longer a political force in the state, Indiana residents continue to suffer from the legacy of Prohibition-era thinking. Indiana remains one of only three states in the entire country that still prohibits the Sunday sales of beer, wine and spirits. This is despite the fact that Sunday has become the second busiest shopping day of the week.

As Indiana marks this historic 75th anniversary of Prohibition Repeal, raise a toast to the state’s early vote to repeal one of the biggest policy debacles in American history; and, let’s hope Indiana continues its push into the 21st Century by abolishing the final vestiges of the failed experiment in social engineering that was Prohibition.

David J. Hanson, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus of sociology at State University of New York, Potsdam, N.Y.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Columns

CLERE: Walkout is absurd
The walkout by Indiana House Democrats entered its third week yesterday as tensions continued to rise and misinformation proliferated.

March 7, 2011 1 Photo
LADD: New Albany has new energy
New Albany is evolving. Public art has become more prevalent in the downtown, drawing more locals and outside visitors to our community; bringing more publicity.

March 7, 2011 1 Photo
STAWAR: The souvenir state of America
Recently, my wife Diane and I spent the day aboard the Belle of Cincinnati with our daughter’s family. We all had a good time, even though the diesel-powered Cincinnati attraction isn’t a real steamboat, like our own Belle of Louisville, and despite the fact that it poured down rain the whole time.

May 25, 2012 1 Photo
NASH: Making a Memorial vacation
Memorial Day weekend is upon us which brings us to the start of the summer travel season. With the mild winter we had around here most schools didn’t have much in terms of snow make-up days so many kids have already finished up their semesters and are ready to get on with their holiday. Not to worry parents it will only be a couple of weeks before the back-to-school sales kick in and in no time at all it will be time for those youngsters to go back.

May 25, 2012 1 Photo
HARBESON: A handy little idea
After having worked hard the past few months, I now have something new to add to my resume — “I was Lead Project Manager for a major construction venture, supervising every aspect in the creation of a privately funded community building.”

May 24, 2012 1 Photo
MORRIS: Nancy Hogan was more than just an employee
Pulling into The Tribune parking lot each morning was pretty uneventful in the old days. Nothing good happens between 5:30 and 6 a.m. Nothing at all.

May 24, 2012 1 Photo
HAMILTON: Is this really the best we can do?
As you know if you pay attention to national affairs, the United States faces a perfect fiscal storm at the end of this year. A confluence of deadlines and policy triggers unlike anything I can remember in a half-century of public life will produce massive budget cuts and serious tax increases amounting to a 3.5 percent hit on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

May 22, 2012 1 Photo
BEAM: Lost memories found
As time elapses, so do our memories. I forget things now. I can’t remember his height. How did he curl his lips into that sardonic, wholehearted smile? I only recall flashes of a moment. Wearing his jacket at prom. His golf clubs in the back of his old, golden car. Notes passed in the hallway. Listening to Boys to Men in his basement.

May 22, 2012 1 Photo
STANCZYKIEWICZ: A gift for mom and dad
Two strategies for parents are important. First, parents need to model for children how to disagree. “When you’re talking with your spouse and you’re whining and complaining and nagging, you shouldn’t be too surprised when your young person does the same thing,” Allen said. “We need to be good role models.”

May 22, 2012 1 Photo
HOWEY: Brooks, Walorski take aim at GOP glass ceiling
Susan Brooks’ 5th District campaign conducted internal polling in mid-April and the news was disheartening. She trailed the frontrunner — former congressman David McIntosh — by 20 points. Twenty points?

May 20, 2012 1 Photo
More Columns Headlines

Columns

Search Results

Discussion

HANSON: Toasting the repeal

Site Map

Contact Us