Why Ban Alcohol?
The United States had a drinking problem. At the turn of the century, alcohol was beginning to be seen not as natural or medicinal, but as a vice that attacked those who consumed it. Alcohol consumption was also primarily a male problem due to social pressures that kept most women in the home and out of the saloon. In a time when men primarily controlled family income, alcoholism had an outsized impact on dependent wives and children. The early 1900s was era of reformers, and with a newfound focus on health and the rights of women and children, it was natural that drinking would come under attack. Sides were formed between the “Wets” and the “Drys”, and an increasing number of Americans began to call for the ban of liquor.
In 1920 the18th amendment was added to constitution, banning the sale if intoxicating liquors. This law was given teeth by the Vosted Act that allowed for enforcement.
Unfortunately, alcohol was woven into the fabric of US society, and it not fade peacefully into the night. Instead, Alcohol consumption was driven underground, and criminal elements rapidly gained control of supply and production. Though organized crime existed before prohibition, criminal groups received a major boost in income and publicity from the ban. Throughout the 1920s “wets” gained renewed support, painting prohibition as a source, rather than a cure, for crime and debauchery.
There were several legal sources of alcohol during prohibition. Doctors could prescribe it for medicinal purposes- a clause that was often abused. Over the course of prohibition, it is estimated that the medical community made more than $40 million dollars form illicit prescriptions. In order to appease rural populations, the Volsted act also allowed for home-brewing of wine and hard cider.
The prohibition experiment finally ended in 1933 with the push of the great depression creating a vested interest in the tax revenue that the sale of legal alcohol would bring in.
What about Scott County?
Group standing with kegs and beer. Taken in Shakopee between 1921 and 1928. Image from the SCHS collections.
Minnesota a whole was in favor of Prohibition. The “Prohibition Party”, a political organization that put forth Dry and pro-suffrage candidates (the movements were closely linked) elected it’s first state candidates in 1871. Andrew Volsted, the imfamous author of the Volsted act was born in Goodhue County and attend St Olaf College. He served in the US House of Representatives from the 7th district of Minnesota from 1903-1923
Unlike the state at large, these Dry sentiments were not popular in Scott County. At the turn of the century, the county was overwhelmingly German and Czech, immigrant groups that were largely against prohibition. In fact, the specter of Prohibition was enough to completely alter the county’s voting habits. In the presidential election of 1920 and before the county voted largely Republican. In 1924, the Socialist 3rd party candidate won the majority of votes, and by 1928 the county mostly voted Democrat- a dramatic change that occurred without any major demographic shifts.
Prohibition By the Numbers
Alcohol-Related Arrests in Scott County in a single month, March of 1921
Jordan: Four arrests. It was claimed that 100 gallons of liquor were seized, 25 coming from one house alone.
Belle Plaine : Three arrests, including 10 gallons from a single restaurant
New Market: A man was arrested after drunkenly bragging that he had already made $16,000 ($225, 000 in 2018’s money) from the sale of illicit liquor
Shakopee: Only one arrest…this was not because Shakopee was low in crime, but rather because complicit police were tipping people off to the raids.
Scott County Presidential Election Results During Prohibition
Or, How the Right To Drink Flipped the Polls
1920
Republican: 69%
Democrat: 29.7%
1924
Republican: 29.3%
Democrat: 18.3%
Socialist: 52.4%
1928
Republican: 28.1%
Democrat: 71.7%
1932
Republican: 18.7%
Democrat: 80.6%
Scott County Ethnicities in 1920
German: 47.1%
Czech: 23.3%
Norwegian: 7.7%
Swedish: 3.6%
Irish: 2.8%
Canadian: 2.6%
Danish: 2.1%
Scott County Population
1860: 4,595
1930: 14,116
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita Per Year in the US
1790: 5.8 gallons
1830: 7.1 gallons
2016: 2.3 gallons
Death by Cirrhosis (liver failure) in US Men
1918: 29.5 / 100,000
1928: 4.7 / 100,000
Written by Rose James, Program. Thank you to Paul Keever for research.