Views of the Liquor Traffic and Prohibition

The social gospel typically advocated abolition--taking away the licenses--of the businesses that made, distributed, and sold alcoholic beverages, prohibition.
The "father of the social gospel," Washington Gladden, for instance, helped found the Anti-Saloon League that successfully engineered enactment of the prohibition amendment in 1919.

  • Neil Dow

    was the venerable prohibitionist who led the campaign in Maine in 1850 to secure the first state prohibition law. (cover of October 16, 1897)

  • Rescued and Protect that Boy are typical of the prohibitionist view of the need to save children from the life of drink. (1896)
  • Under the Cloak of the Law and Don't Shoot reflected the complaint that the law protected the liquor traffic and the saloon; drys sought to remove the license of the liquor trades to do business. (1896)
  • Appetite is the

    Slave Driver

    that takes a person into a debauched life. (January 2, 1897)

  • The


    Rumseller's Boast

    is that he creates poverty and fills prisons, hospitals, and asylums with people. (January 16, 1897)

  • Fat Enough To Kill

    shows a prohibitionist view of the saloon as overripe for killing. In fact, the proliferation of saloons, caused in part by competition in the brewing industry, meant that it was difficult to earn profits at with retail sales. (November 21, 1896)

  • By Authority of the People. The prohibition movement repeatedly pointed out that saloons and saloon keepers
    received a license to do business from the government, and thereby from the people.
You may wish to visit our material on the prohibition
movement in the United States.