In source D, the cartoonist is trying to express the fact that the alcohol will not only destroy your father’s life but it will also destroy yours too. In the cartoon there are two children who are waiting for
their father to come out of the saloon. They both have sad faces, especially the girl because I think she has accepted the fact that her daddy is a slave to alcohol. The girl is saying to her brother that “daddy is in there and our shoes and stockings and food are in the saloon too, and they will never come out”. This means if their dad keeps on using their money for alcohol they will end up poor and lose all that they live for.
c) Study Sources E and F
Which of these two sources is the more reliable as evidence about prohibition?
I think source F is the more reliable source about prohibition because it was written in 1920 when prohibition law enforcement came into action. John F. Kramer the first prohibition commissioner wanted to put the fear in the eyes of anyone who tried to abuse alcohol. So when he started the campaign he was very positive that he would achieve his goal. The statement that was said by him in source F was very over ambitious and highly exaggerated. He thought that he could stop the abuse of alcohol in every state by a certain time but this was a very unlikely and impossible task to achieve. All in all source F is a very reliable source which gives us evidence that alcohol sale and manufacturing was a crime and it would most definitely be banned and enforced.
I think both sources are reliable but sources E is more reliable then source F because it was written after prohibition came about. You can tell that John D. Rockefeller was very biased towards prohibition and is only backing one side of the argument, which implied that he put all the thing wrong with alcohol in that letter and started to build on thoughs points.
- Study Sources G and H
Do these two sources prove that prohibition was successful?
In sources G it shows that prohibition was very unsuccessful between 1921 and 1929.
In source G alcohol that was seized was at a low of 9,746, but by 1929 it had increased by 1/3 to 15,794 which was 60% higher from when they started. In 1921 gallons of seized was at 414,000 this too increased by
1929 to 11,860,000. These facts showed that prohibition wasn’t successful in the 1920s. The evidence shown in source G is very reliable because the figures produced in the table show more alcohol and spirits were being transported to certain areas in America that’s why the amount of alcohol seized went up.
In source H statistics published by the City of Philadelphia police department show the number of arrests for drinking-related offences from 1920 to 1925. The statistics published look very sketchy and unreliable because the number of drunk and disorderly conduct arrests went from 6,097 to 8,076 then back down to 5,522. The selling and buying of alcohol was at a high at these dates, so the number could not have decreased so quickly when a lot of people were buying and selling it. Saloons were very popular too at this time.
- Study Sources I and J
How far doe’s source I prove that the policeman in source J is telling the truth?
In the source I cartoon there are politicians, policemen and other important people standing in a line with their right hands out behind their backs implying that they were taking something. The title of the cartoon is ‘the National Gesture’; the National Gesture is something that many people in authority in that nation did. The cartoon is cleverly called this because most people were involved with alcohol. The cartoon means that a lot of people were taking bribes for alcohol even policemen and politicians. No one cared, especially policemen, because they were getting paid ridiculous amounts of money for not taking people to jail for buying and making alcohol.
Source J is basically building on what source I means, which is that bribes were being accepted by policemen for alcoholic drinks being sold in saloons. It also tells us that policemen will be dealt with if they try to enforce the law on anyone for selling alcohol. The policemen in source J received a $75 bribe after he visited a saloon in Chicago. This shows bribes were being giving out all over the country. It was 1920 when this statement was said by a policeman, the show bribes were being given out just as prohibition came into action.
- Study all the sources
Do they support that the failure of prohibition was inevitable?
Nearly all the sources that I have analysed have given facts, reasons and evidence which point out the inevitability of prohibition failing.
First of all I took into account sources A and B which informed use how the banning of alcohol was introduced by twenty-three states in America by 1917, and how an Anti- Saloon League was set up to prevent alcohol being sold. Even though sources A and B are giving use these facts, sources G and H are telling use that the alcohol seized and the number of drunk people arrested were rising. This shows people and gangsters didn’t care about laws passed, it also shows signs of the failure of prohibition.
Sources C and D are cartoons that are basically telling use how alcohol will effect your life badly. These cartoons are very much for prohibition, and are trying to say prohibition will not fail if they make people aware of the effects and consciences. The approach of the sources C and D are very much different to the one in source I.
Source I is opposite to sources C and D because sources I is talking about how prohibition was failing. Most people were taking bribes this included judges and policemen. This source is one of the most inevitable reasons for prohibition failing.
Source J is further evidence of the failure of prohibition that is about a policeman talking about a bribe he took for allowing a saloon to sell liquor. Sources G and H support the failure of prohibition because its published information on how alcohol seized went up between 1921 to 1929. Sources E is for prohibition but it contains many biased views towards alcohol and source F is also for the banning of alcohol.