Excessive drinking can contribute to social problems. These include the disruption of public order, violence, and sexual crimes. Can local alcohol licensing policies reduce alcohol-related crimes? The Study Researchers studied the impact of local licensing restrictions on the spatial and/or temporal availability of alcohol in England. They categorized each local area according to its licensing …
Category: Biography
Women Prohibition Agents Made Diverse Contributions
Women Prohibition agents could be uniquely valuable. That’s because many states had laws preventing male agents from frisking or otherwise searching female suspects. And even if they didn’t, convention prohibited it. Women bootleggers would sometimes hide alcohol on themselves and taunt male agents. ”˜A painted-up doll was sitting in a corner. . . . She …
E.M. Jellinek: Disease Theory of Alcoholism Promoter: Crook & Liar?
Elvin Morton Jellinek is usually called E.M. Jellinek. Occasionally he is called Morton Jellinek or E. Morton Jellinek. To his friends, he was “Bunky.” Jellinek was a pioneering figure in the study of alcoholism. However, researchers have found that most of his ideas and work is not consistent with evidence. In addition, facts recently discovered …
Prohibition Leaders & Their Personalities: What Were They Like?
There were many Prohibition leaders and they all had different personalities. Biographies usually tell us when and where they were born along with their education, experience and accomplishments. But what were the Prohibition leaders really like? Would they have been interesting to chat with over a beer (root beer, of course)? Were they approachable or …
Jane Cakebread, ‘The Drunkennest Woman in the World.’
Jane Cakebread was a record holder in the the Olympics of Disorderly Intoxication. That dubious distinction was based on at least 281 convictions in London for drunkenness or disorderly conduct. Cakebread died in 1898 at the age of 57. At age 17 she moved to London to work as a maid. During her 40 years …
Prohibition Bootleggers: People and Trivia
Prohibition bootleggers numbered in the many hundreds of thousands. They supplied the strong demand for alcohol. Most were very small-time operators. But many weren’t. Of course, one of the biggest and certainly the best-known was Al Capone. Unfortunately, there are other interesting bootleggers who remain little-known. Important is the fact that they reveal some of …
George Remus: ‘King of the Bootleggers’ During Prohibition
George Remus. A store clerk. Optometrist. Lawyer. Pharmacist. Entrepreneur. Bootlegger. Take your pick. George Remus was all of those and more. And surprise, the King of Bootleggers was even an alcohol abstainer! I. Early Life It’s an amazing story of a very bright and very hard-working man. Remus was born in Germany in 1876. As …
Neal Dow: Prohibition Leader and Maine Law Author
Neal Dow played a major role in promoting prohibition. Under his leadership, the Main Law was passed in 1851. It prohibited making or selling any form of alcoholic beverage. Alcohol could only be legally made and sold for industrial or medicinal purposes. Before that time, temperance activists focused on moral suasion. They attempted to persuade …
Bootlegger in Congress: ‘The Man in the Green Hat,’ George Cassiday
A bootlegger in Congress? During National Prohibition (1920-1933) it was illegal to transport or sell alcoholic beverages. Most members of Congress publicly supported Prohibition and its enforcement. They included both Democrats and Republicans. They came from across the country. From East, West, North and South. They came from both rural areas and cities. But most …
Smith Wildman Brookhart: ‘Fervent Dry’ in U.S. Senate
Smith Wildman Brookhart (1869-1944) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1926. He was known there as a ‘fervent dry.’ The problems caused by Prohibition (1920-1933) increased. So did calls for its repeal. Sen. Brookhardt desperately wanted to stop this growing movement. So he began a nation-wide tour debating prominent ‘wets.’ They included prominent opponents …