. The United States After Thirty Years
111.—Prohibition
PROHIBITION is still the most popular topic of conversation in the United States. This surprised me, as I had supposed that by this time it would be wearing rather thin. I found, however, that in every company the talk sooner or later edged round to Prohi- bition. I came to understand before long that when I was asked the invariable question as to what I thought of Prohibition, the question was a signal for my companion to tell me what he thought.
The American - opinions of Prohibition—those that range over the possible future as well- as the past and the pr6sent—are almost as numerous as the people in America. I found it quite common for two or three persons living in the same_ place, mixing with the same people, supporting themselves on similar incomes, to deliver flatly contradictory jOdgments on the bare results of Prohibition.
In these circumstances the diffidence of a stranger breaks down ; he feels that his own opinion may be almost as good as that of natives. My first impression -was that Prohibition was succeeding a great deal better than I had been led to believe. the large hotel where I first stayed I saw no one drinking anything alcoholic at meals. That, to be sure, was not a very good test, because even before Prohibition the Americans who -congregated in hotels and ,restaurants did not drink wine or spirits with their meals nearly as often as Englishmen do. They used to drink before their meals • d perhaps after their meals, _but the habit, or art, of 0e-contemplative sipping of drink at meals was never .as. widespread as it is here. All the same I do. not think .that my first impression. misled. me as to the effect of -Prohibition upon the total consumption of drink. I do not doubt that America, as a whole, is drinking much Jess than before.
Against this result must be placed several distinct and positive evils, which would never have existed if :Prohibition had- not been introduced. These represent the price paid for the change in custom procured by Prohibition._ I had not been .many days in America before an old friend, who lived at some distance from where I was, telephoned that he would come and dine, and stay the night at my hotel.. Directly he arrived he asked " Have you got anything to _drink ? " I said " No." He then said " Why not ? " I replied that I was not exactly dying for a drink, and that even if I were I should not know how to get one. He remarked, " We must inquire into this.". Picking up the -telephone in my room he asked that the House Detective - should come. I had not heard of this functionary before, for I do not think there was such an official even in the largest hotels thirty Tears ago. " Who is the House- Detective ? What does he do ? " I asked. " The House Detective," was the answer, " looks• after the morals of the hotel."
. We had barely finished this conversation when the Detective, with the incredible dispatch with which calls are answered in a first-rate . American hotel, arrived at my room. My friend said. he wanted .a bottle of whisky. " I will bring one," said the Detective ; " it will cost you eight dollars." He departed, and returned presently with the _whisky. My friend was very searching. in his questions as to its purity, for every American is appre- bensive of crude or poisonous stuff. The Detective pointed to the label, which was a well-known one. ".Do you guarantee the label? " asked my friend, and persisted still further in this manner. " Look here," said the -Detective at -last, " pour me out as much as you like and I'll drink it ! " At this point my friend thought that the Detective's good faith had been proved, and he graciously dispensed with the ceremony of adding a free drink to the eight dollars.
. From that time onwards I gradually became aware that well-to-do people in all the• cities which I visited— these were all large cities be it noted—were drinking more than their class used to drink when I was in America before. There seems to be an easily traceable psycho- logical reason for this. The drinking is a kind of panic drinking. A man says to himself, " Something may happen—the police may interfere, or the price may go up, or my bootlegger may fail me. I had better drink while I can."
At dinner partied in private houses my experience vas generally the same. - There were cocktails' before dinner which were &link by almost as Many women 'as Men. It would not be fair; however, to attribute the growth Of the cocktail habit among women entirely, Or even mainly, to Prohibition. In America, in this country, the habits of women have been 'for'many years approxi- Mating to those. of men, and emancipated-woman' would haVe been drinking more cocktails by this time Tin 'any At dinner itself the vines drunk *de Mitch the ' as-one is given to drink here. ' • - A large proportion of the men I met carried flasks of whisky about with them. They would drink just before or just after a meal and a few, whether in a restaurant or a club, would pour out whisky for themselves at •a meal.
In clubs, as in hotels, no drink is sold openly. Members bring their own, and in most clubs the barman will mix any cocktail for a. member who provides his own ingredients. In some clubs I have seen hundreds of private lockers filled with liquor.
Many Englishmen do not understand exactly how the legislation works because they have confused the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution with the Volstead Act. The Act, which is the effective instrument, could not, of course, be included in the Constitution. The Eighteenth Amendment prohibits the " manufacture, sale, transport or importation of intoxicating liquors." It does not prohibit alcoholic drink which is not " intoxi- cating l' and it does not prohibit intoxicants for medical use. That Amendment had to be implemented, and the implementing is the Volstead Act. The Act defines what intoxicating liquor is. It says that it is " any such beverages as beer and wine which contain one half of 1 per cent. of alcohol by volume."
The several States of the Union are authorized by the Eighteenth Amendment to enforce Prohibition by " appropriate legislation." The Volstead Act was, there- fore, drawn up as a model for the acceptance of all. As a matter of fact certain States which passed it have repealed it. New York State, for instance, has repealed it ; Maryland never passed it. In these two States such enforcement of Prohibition as there is depends upon the vigilance of the Federal police. It stands to reason that when the police of a State take no interest in enforcement the Federal police have a task entirely beyond their powers. If the Federal authorities seriously tried to enforce Prohibition all over the, country they would have to recruit a body of police a million or two strong and to spend vast sums of money.
In New York City there are innumerable " speakeasies," places where alcoholic drink is freely sold to those who can gain admittance. And admittance is easy ; the mere mention of the name .of some customer known to the proprietor is a sufficient passport; Some drinking places, under the protection of the police, sell liquor even more openly.
One evening I dined with a friend in New York and was struck by the number of bottles of gin in his room— he being a temperate person. He explained that he bought a good deal of gin at one time as this was the most convenient plan. He buys industrial alcohol which is then redistilled and is finally tested and passed as fit for drinking by his own chemist. To this alcohol an expert adds juniper juice and a synthetic gin is thus produced which may not be " first chop," as George Warrington would say, but is drinkable and harmless— at all events in cocktails. My friend told me that a quart bottle of •this gin cost him a little more than a dollar, say, about 4s. 6d. as compared with our British price of about 12s. 6d.
My friend also produced some home-made wine which was vastly better than I expected. It was of a Burgundy type and rather full-bodied, but it was- really quite a good Wine. He told- me-that he bought grape-juice from the Californian grape-growers who, though-they were supposed to be threatened with extinction by Prohibition, are now more prosperous than ever. He hands the grape-juice Over to it Rhinelander who makes the wine. A great number Of people now have wine made in their own houses and they 'say that so long as they do not sell it they are not breaking' the taw or anyhow that the technical Offence is-so slight that then need not fear a raid. • There would be hope for the success of Prohibition if (a) it was extraordinarily difficult to get drink and (b) the price was exceedingly high ; 'but when neither of these conditions is fulfilled there seems to be no hope. I am writing here, however, only of the great cities that I visited and of the fairly well-to-do people in those cities. There are immense areas, rural districts and smaller cities, where Prohibition is by no means a dead letter. I must reserve for my next article what I have to say about the really 'Prohibitionist side of America as well
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