- Study sources C and D
Were the artists of these two posters for or against prohibition?
Both of these sources, C and D were produced by the anti-saloon league; founded in 1893 in Ohio. The anti-saloon league was an organisation opposed to the sale of alcohol. Therefore both of these posters are going to be supporting prohibition.
Source C is titled “The Poor Man’s club. The most expensive in the world to belong to” This is trying to say that because alcohol was so expensive, the people that go to bars become poor because they spend all their money on alcohol. There is also a man handing over a small bag labelled “week’s wages” on the poster and this is trying to show that people are spending so much money in pubs that they don’t have any money left for other things. Towards the bottom of the poster it says “a club member in good standing. Paying his dues” and is referring to the man handing over his weeks wages which are effectively his ‘subs’ to be in the ‘poor man’s club’. At the bottom of the poster it says “slaves of the saloon” which is trying to say that these people can’t leave the saloon because of the addiction from the alcohol. Near the bottom of the poster there is a picture of a woman collapsed at home, with bills on the floor and two children sitting at an empty table, a caption reads “the saloon’s well named the poor man’s club. It keeps its members and their families always poor” This is trying to show people that if they go to the saloons and spend their money, they will become poor and stay poor and is also showing what alcohol is doing to families- its wrecking families and leaving them poor. The bills on the floor show that they cannot pay off their bills because of the man spending all his money on alcohol. The fact that the mother and children are collapsed at an empty table shows that because of the man spending all of his money on alcohol they cannot afford to buy food and so are starving. On the poster the barman looks as though he has lots of money- he has good clothes and a big smile on his face showing that he is very happy to be taking the man’s money and he can afford good clothing because everyone is spending all of their money at his saloon. He also appears to be fat showing that he has money to buy food and that he can afford to buy good food. On the side of his till it says “cash eater” and is showing that this till is collecting a lot of money and that the people are spending a lot of money at this saloon because the till is nearly overflowing with money. There are also people at the left of the poster that are drinking and gambling showing that they are just wasting their money in this saloon instead of caring for their families.
