Prohibition

Prohibition was an attempt to forbid by law the selling and drinking of intoxicating beverages. It was enacted
in Prince Edward Island in 1901 and in the remaining provinces, the Yukon, and Newfoundland during the
First World War. The Canadian government controlled the making and trading of liquor and in March 1918 it
stopped, for the duration of the war, its manufacture and importation into provinces where purchase was
illegal. The zenith of prohibitionist success in Canada was reached in the early 1920s when imports from the
outside were again cut off by provincial plebiscites.

Though seen as a patriotic duty and a sacrifice to help win the war, prohibition was also the culmination of
generations of effort by temperance workers to close the bars and taverns, which were the sources of much
drunkenness and misery in an age before social welfare existed. The main temperance organizations were the
Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquore Traffic
and the
Woman's Christian Temperance
Union
, whose organ was the
Canadian White Ribbon Tidings
. Various legislative successes occurred in the
nineteenth century such as the passage of the Dunkin Act in the United Province of Canada in 1864, which
allowed any county or municipality to prohibit the retail sale of liquor by majority vote; in 1878 this "local
option " was extended to the whole Dominion under the Canada Temperance Act, or Scott Act.

By 1898 the temperance forces were strong enough to force a national plebiscite on the issue, but the
government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier felt the majority of 13,687 in favour of prohibition was not large enough to
warrant passing a law, especially since Qubec had voted overwhelmingly against. Much of the country was
already "dry" under local option, however, before the war, and provincial prohibition was not a radical break
with the past. The fight against "demon rum" was connected to other reforms of the time, such as the women's
suffrage movement, and it was motivated in part by social gospel sentiments.

The provincial temperance Acts varied, but in general they closed legal drinking establishments and forbade
the sale of alcohol for beverage purposes and its possession and consumption except in a private dwelling; in
some provinces native wines were exempt. Alcohol could be purchased through government dispensaries for
industrial, scientific, mechanical, artistic, sacramental and medicinal uses. Distillers and brewers and others
properly licensed could sell outside the province.

Although enforcement was difficult, drunkenness and associated crimes declined significantly. However, illicit
stills and home-brewed "moonshine" proliferated. Much inferior booze hit the streets, but good liquor was
readily available since its manufacture was permitted after the war. Bootlegging (the illegal sale of alcohol as a
beverage) rose dramatically, as did the number of unlawful drinking places known as "speakeasies" or "blind
pigs." One way to drink legally was to be "ill," for doctors could give prescriptions to be filled at drugstores.
Scandalous abuse of this system resulted, with veritable epidemics and long line-ups occurring during the
Christmas holiday season.

A dramatic aspect of the prohibition era was rum running. By constitutional amendment, the US was under
even stricter prohibition than was Canada from 1920 to 1933: the manufacture, sale, and transportation of all
beer, wines, and spirits were forbidden there. Liquor legally produced in or imported into Canada was
exported legally under Canadian law to its "dry" neighbour. Smuggling, often accompanied by violence,
erupted in border areas and along the coastlines. Cartoons showed leaky maps of Canada with Uncle Sam
attempting to stem the alcoholic tide.

Prohibition was too short-lived for real success. Opponents maintained that it violated British traditions of


individual liberty and that settling the matter by referendum or plebiscite was an aberration from Canadian
parliamentary practice. Qubec rejected it as early as 1919 and became known as the "sinkhole" of North
America, but tourists flocked to "historic old Qubec" and the provincial government reaped huge profits from
the sale of booze.

In 1920 BC voted "wet" and by the following year some alcoholic beverages were legally sold there and in the
Yukon through government stores. Manitoba inaugurated a system of government sale and control in 1923,
followed by Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1924, Newfoundland in 1925, Ontario and New Brunswick in 1927,
and Nova Scotia in 1930. The last bastion, Prince Edward Island, finally gave up "the noble experiment" in
1948, though pockets of dryness under local option still exist throughout the land.

Source:
Hallowell, Gerald, The Canadian Encyclopaedia,
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Params=A1ARTA0006515

Impact on Life in the 1920s

1.

Rum-Running:
One of the results of Prohibition was rum-running. For many Canadians, smuggling
liquor across the border meant a nice payday. A fishing schooner from the Maritimes could sit in Rum
Row off the U.S. coast and make a lot of money in one trip by selling to thirsty American customers. In
winter, the smugglers ran ice sleds across Canadian rivers in order to avoid being caught at border
crossings by customs officers. Whatever the method, the smart smuggler made good profits during
the prohibition period.

2.

Home-Made Brew:
Many people who felt they needed to get a drink used their imagination and found
a way, Some would get it as a prescription from a druggist, while others would make their own. Drinks
such as Jamaican ginger, Jack Brandy, Panther Whiskey, and Soda Pop Moon were made from
poisonous rubbing alcohol, fuel oils, iodides, and burnt sugars. Many of these home made recipes
were dangerous to drink, often causing internal bleeding and paralysing the drinker. People soon
discovered that it was not wise to experiment with these brands and had to look elsewhere for a
drink.

3.

Rise of Bootleggers and Gangsters:

The answer to the question Where can I get a drink? came in the
form of saloons (bars) disguised as private associations such as the Bombay Bicycle Club. These
clubs would be known as speakeasies. You would knock three times and tell them Joe sent you.
This led to the rise of gangsters such as Scarface Al Capone, who built his empire on bootlegging,
gambling, prostitution, and drugs. By 1927, he had a $60 million business and a private army of 1000
hoodlums who would rub out any group who tried to move into his territory. He would drive
through the streets of Chicago in a $30,000 armour plated car, surrounded by scout cars and dozens of
bodyguards. At one time, he had police captains and hundreds of policemen on his payroll. In 1933,
Prohibition ended and the influence of the bootleggers was gone. In the end, Al Capone went to jail for
tax evasion (not paying his taxes).


Questions:

1.

What two groups were against drinking?

2.

What was wrong with making your own alcohol?

3. For what reasons were Al Capone sent to jail? Why is this surprising?

4. How is alcohol sold in Ontario today?

5. What are some rules about buying or consuming alcohol today? What are some reasons
for these rules?