Dylan Firth: Prohibition in the US 100 years on

Prohibition in the US lasted 13 years and has long been hailed as an absolute failure. Photo / 123RF

Opinion

COMMENT:

Today marks 100 years since nation-wide prohibition was enacted in the United States.

In October 1919, the Volstead Act was passed which was later vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson. However the House of Representatives overrode the veto by 210-73 votes and the 18th Amendment was passed.

It's strange to think that 100 years ago the US began one of its most renowned eras. All those things we associate with the roaring 20's - gangsters, speakeasies, the explosion of jazz and the rise of the cocktail, were all born from a time when alcohol was essentially illegal.

New Zealand wasn't immune from the push for prohibition either. In 1919 a national vote after initially passing was overturned by votes from our overseas expeditionary forces fighting in Europe. While it didn't quite cross the line in 1919, New Zealanders were offered the option at the polls at each election until 1987. From the 1930s onwards, support for prohibition declined substantially.

The lasting push for prohibition in NZ began in the 1880s. During World War I supporters promoted sobriety as a "patriotic duty", and during 1915 and 1916 petitions calling for pubs to close at six o'clock were signed by almost 160,000 New Zealanders.

The following year the Government agreed to restrict bar opening hours to increase the efficiency of the workforce. This was the beginning of 50 years of the six o'clock swill, which had a huge impact on our drinking culture that we are only just recovering from today.

A patrol wagon filled with confiscated moonshine sits next to a wrecked car of bootleggers in Washington, January 23, 1922. Photo / AP

Prohibition in the US lasted 13 years and has long been hailed as an absolute failure. While there had previously been state based prohibition, this was an all-encompassing dry spell for the whole country.

How did this often-called land of the free enshrine legislation so restrictive? Well to begin with, the relationship with alcohol in the late 1800s and early 1900s was pretty bad. By the 19th century, some reports had annual US per capita consumption averaging around 19 litres per year – more than double today's figure.

There was the belief that banning the "demon drink" would reduce crime and increase the level of piety. Not to mention the beginning of World War I, which changed the public's perception of the large number of German brewers who sold their beer in the US.

There was a wide range of groups pushing for prohibition during this time. A well-established women's temperance movement, the Prohibition Party and the main driver of change being the Anti Saloon League. Together they managed to drum up enough support to get the act endorsed by both the Senate and Congress.

In retrospect, the act was rather poorly drafted. It stated, "no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, or furnish any intoxicating liquor except as authorised by this act", yet it did not restrict the purchase or consumption of alcohol.

While many Americans initially abstained from alcohol once prohibition was introduced, there was unsurprisingly a huge increase in the black-market trade. Historians estimate that by 1925, there were as many as 100,000 illegal bars in New York City alone. Predominantly managed by the Mafia, prohibition era bootlegging can be pinpointed as the single biggest reason for the Mafia's increase in presence and power in the US at that time.

Bootlegging and speakeasies reigned supreme, and the ability to consume alcohol was more associated with one's means. The price of a drink skyrocketed, especially in urban environments, so it was often seen in the hands of the well to do.

Bottles of Scotch whiskey smuggled in hollowed-out loaves of bread are pictured in a photo taken on June 12, 1924. Photo / AP

Eventually, in December 1933, the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed – the only time in history that an Amendment has ever been repealed – as the Twenty-first Amendment voided the Volstead Act.

So, 100 years on what have we learned from banning the bottle? That popular opinion will likely win the day and the need for tax revenue will always be a driver of regulation. From 1919 to 1929, federal tax revenues from distilled spirits dropped from $365 million to less than $13m, and revenue from fermented liquors from $117m to virtually nothing.

The push for tighter regulation around alcohol will always exist from those who see it as a moral abhorrent. To this day we see the call for bans and restrictions that are often not based on rational design or fact, but moral panic. Not a week goes by without a call for some form of restriction on the sale and supply of alcohol here in New Zealand, yet our behaviours are ever improving.

Unlike the early 1900s USA, we now see Kiwis are drinking less, and our alcohol consumption falling below the OECD average. We have also seen a 7 per cent decline in drinking by young people (aged 15-24 years), from 83.8 per cent in 2006/7 to 76.8 per cent in 2018/19. These changes aren't based on tighter regulation, but people educating themselves on how to consume moderately, enjoy premium over volume and moving away from bad habits learned from their parents or grandparents who were raised in an era of the six o'clock swill.

What we can say is that the hangover from prohibition and its associated regulations has taken a generational change to shake, but we're on the right path.

- Dylan Firth is the executive director of the Brewers Association of New Zealand.