In 1925, the number of illegal still seized increased by 2,277 to 12,023. This shows that in 4 years the amount of illegal activity increased by. The number of gallons of spirits seized increased from 414,000 to 11,030,000. This is an increase of nearly 3000%. That is a very big increase in a very short amount of time. This can show us that Prohibition wasn’t exactly successful because there are more and more people joining in the criminal activity.
In 1929, the number of illegal stills seized increased from 12,023 to 15,794. This umber shows that the amount of illegal activity is increasing and the amount of crime is therefore increasing. The number of gallons of spirits seized has increased from 11,030,000 to 11,860,000. This also an example of the criminal activity taking place due to the introduction of Prohibition.
This source shows us that while the Prohibition agents may be doing their jobs, there is also illegal and criminal activity taking place.
In source H, it has a table of the drunk, drunk and disorderly, drunk drivers and the total. In 1920 the number of drunken people was 14,313. This number increased to 45,226 in 3 years and in 2 more years it later increased to 51,361. This is an increase of 300 % in 5 years. (Increase of about 60% a year.)
In 1920, the number of drunk and disorderly conduct was 6,097. It then increased to 8,076 in 1923. In 1925, there was a decrease of drunk and disorderly conduct.
This decrease was from 8,076 to 5,522. The decreases of drunk and disorderly conduct maybe due to the fact that people weren’t openly committing sinning. The introduction of stills encouraged people to drink in the comfort of their homes.
In 1920, the number of drunk drivers was 0. In 1923, this number increased to 645. This number then increased to 820 in 1925. This increase was due to the fact that in 1920, a lot of the American people didn’t have access to a car, only the upper class had them. During 1920, the car became available to the people on a bigger scale thanks to the introduction of Henry Ford’s Model T. It was a car available on schemes such as ‘buy now, pay later.’
Source G figures are of the federal government which is the entire country, but source H figures are those of the Philadelphia Police department.
In conclusion, I believe that these two sources do show that Prohibition was successful but to a certain extent. I believe that they portray the image that there was criminal activity going on. In source H, I think that the numbers are as high as they are because it was just a county, not the whole of America. I believe this because the police would’ve had more serious things to deal with. I also think that these figures aren’t really accurate. In Prohibition, there was a great amount of corruption so the figures won’t be that accurate. So I therefore believe that Prohibition wasn’t successful because if it was successful then there wouldn’t have to be figures as high as these in sources G and H.
