Sean B.C Question D
Do these two sources prove that Prohibition was successful?
Sources G and H both give evidence that proves prohibition was successful. Although you could say that the evidence may be corrupt or unreliable, because both tables of statistics were published by the law enforcers of America, who wanted to show they were doing their job right. Source G shows that the federal agents were seizing more stills and spirits each year between 1921 and 1929. These figures show that the agents must have been really good at their job, because between 1921 and 1925 the gallons of spirits seized, rose from 414,000 to an amazing 11,030,000. This rise in the number of gallons seized shows us that Prohibition was working. The amount of illegal stills being seized also rose between, 1921 and 1925 this also supports the idea, that Prohibition was successful. Although these figures look good, we can see that between 1925 and 1929 the gallons of spirits seized had not risen anywhere near as much as it had in the last four years. There could be two explanations for this, either the people who made the spirits became better at hiding it or stopped altogether. I know that the figures between 1925 and 1929 do not make sense, because there was a lot of corruption in the police at that time, which could explain the statistics. I can support this because if you look at source I it says “The national gesture”, which meant that everyone was taking bribes, including the federal agents.
