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Prohibition

On August 1, 1917, by a count of 65-20, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution to submit a prohibition amendment to the Constitution. Four months later, the House of Representatives also passed a prohibition amendment. Within weeks, Mississippi became the first state to ratify the amendment, and by the end of January 1918, five states had OK’d the prohibition amendment.

It should be noted that temperance forces had been making the question of prohibition an issue for decades before 1918, and though there were successes in certain towns and counties, there wasn’t impetus for a national movement. Prohibition was looked down upon as an extreme measure supported by zealots. Even Prohibition Poster This ad supporting the cause of the Dry Chicago Federation appeared in the Chicago Daily News in March 1918, urging voters to sign a petition to get the issue of saloons in Chicago on the ballot. But the petition was challenged and the issue was not put on the April 2 municipal election ballots. the very conservative Chicago Tribune editorialized in April 1918, “We cannot live by temperance in alcohol alone or meet all questions by the expedient of prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. There are some other values in life in addition to sobriety. … Reform by prohibition is not an attractive method for intelligent people.”

As the U.S. began to enter the war in Europe in earnest, though, prohibition gained steam. With the nation gearing up to focus its resources on building the army, and with food rationing implemented, being anti-prohibition seemed unpatriotic. Already, the nation had outlawed the manufacture of whiskey, in September 1917. And as tales of alcohol corrupting young troops spread, prohibition as a patriotic issue grew. All around the country, battles between the Wets and the Drys heated up.

Still, in a loose city like Chicago, prohibition didn’t get very far. In municipal elections held on April 2, the Wets had succeeded in using the legal system—challenging the signatures that the Drys said they’d obtained—to keep the question of shutting down the city’s saloons off the ballot. That ensured Chicago would stay with the Wets, but all around the city, Drys claimed victories. Four new Illinois counties (McLean, Christian, Logan and Whiteside) voted themselves saloon-free on April 2, bringing the state’s dry-county total to 58 of 102. In all, 1,431 of 1,615 Illinois townships were dry. Also on that date, the entire state of Indiana had shut down its 3,500 saloons thanks to a vote the previous year.

Still, the impact of alcohol on young soldiers at training camps became an issue for the federal government, and throughout 1918, the war department pressed Chicago to make changes to the policy of town founders who turned a blind eye to the city’s vice problem. Chicago was one of the few places in Illinois that actively resisted prohibition, but ultimately, the war forced the city changes. In the fall, the war department sent in agents to clean up Chicago, and in early October, the state issued a decree declaring Chicago and some surrounding suburbs as, “the Chicago military zone health district,” claiming that state officials would now have authority to deal with vice conditions in the city.

Sean Deveney

Sean Deveney currently reports for The Sporting News. He covers Major League Baseball and professional basketball for the Sporting News. The Original Curse is Sean's first published book. Sean grew up outside Boston, MA and currently lives in Chicago, IL.

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