Prohibition

Reasons For Prohibition

In the early 1900s the temperance movement

gained ground. Demon rum was blamed for
many social problems (crime, family violence,
poverty). The belief was that if alcohol was
banned the lives of families would be improved.
WWI encouraged people to rid the world of evil
and women had recently won the right to vote
Temperance: educating the public and
persuading them to voluntarily restrain from
drinking
Prohibition: the banning of alcohol entirely
 Reasons for Prohibition
The First World War
The new authority of women, who wanted
to end domestic violence and other bad
behaviour
Decades of anti-alcohol campaigning by
the church
Puritanical politicians and womens groups
Stricter moral climate of the time
Rural paranoia about bad urban influences
 The Temperance Movement In
Canada
Peaked during WWI
By 1916 each province (except Quebec)
had passed laws outlawing the sale of
alcohol
Federally, alcohol was only banned
March 1918-December 1919
Laws were difficult to enforce
Most provinces repealed these laws and
introduced measures to control the
making and sale of alcohol in the 1920s
Prohibition In The U.S.A.
The federal government
introduced Prohibition
(manufacture, sale,
transportation of alcohol
became illegal) across
the entire USA between
1920-1933
Alcohol from Canada
could only be shipped to
countries without
Prohibition laws
A lot of alcohol was
smuggled and sold in
the US
 Rum Runners
Many Americans opposed Prohibition and
Canadians saw an opportunity to make $ in
smuggling and catering to American
drinkers
Alcohol was smuggled into the USA by car,
boat or any means possible
Smugglers risked jail time if caught but
fines were common punishments
Canadian officials often turned a blind eye
Rocco Perri-1st Canadian millionaire mobster
 The Local Connection

Hiram Walker
came to Windsor in
1856
His whiskey
company became
very successful
 Willistead Park
Walker family
home
Since donated to
the town of
Walkerville
 Devonshire Lodge
Built by rum
runner Harry Low
in 1928
Bought in the
1950s by Paul
Martins family
 Illegal Bars
Illegal bars called speakeasies or blind pigs
sprang up across the USA and Canadian
border cities
Were designed to disguise their illegal
nature
Several located in the Windsor area
Our local border became known as the
Windsor-Detroit funnel
American federal agents such as Izzy and
Moe tried to find and close these bars
 Results of Prohibition
Criminal gangs fought for
control of the alcohol
trade
Canadian government
made a lot of tax $ off the
alcohol sold to Americans
It became socially
acceptable for women to
drink
People drank more
People lost respect for the
law
Prohibition had failed
 Modern Day Prohibition?
There are many parallels
between the war on drugs
and prohibition during the
1920s
Some argue that the
prohibited nature of illegal
drugs increases use and
criminal activity
Some argue the government
should control production
and sale of drugs like it does
with alcohol
Others strongly disagree
with this proposal