Overall I feel that prohibition was bound to fail. This is because the American people are used to drinking. I think if the American people tried hard enough to stop prohibition they wouldn’t have able to even if they tried. This is because people were bringing in alcohol from other countries.
B)
Sources C and D tell me that the artist was for prohibition because in source C the caption says ‘slaves of the saloon.’ This caption means that the man is the slave because he is giving him all his wages. In the cartoon the man behind the counter is a fat a person. He looks very healthy and obese. This tells me that he is wealthy and can take care of him and his family. He has also got a smile on his face. This is because he is happy that another mug has given him his wages. The title on top of the cartoon says ‘the poor mans club, the most expensive in the world to belong to’ this caption means that most of the people who go there are poor. They spend all their money in the bar and have non to take home and care for there family. At the bottom of the picture is a woman crying. She is probably the poor mans wife. There is also a baby in the cartoon. The baby is holding an empty bowl. This suggests the baby is hungry and the mother is crying because she has no food to give it because the husband has spent all the money in the pub.
Source D is a picture of a boy and a girl standing out side the saloon. I know this because in the cartoon you have the old fashion saloon doors. The title for this is ‘daddy’s in there.’ The caption for this carton says ‘and our shoes and stockings and food are in the saloon too, and they will never come out.’ This caption has two meanings. The first one meaning that the father is spending all the money to buy these products. The second meaning is that the father is selling all these things to get money to buy alcohol. The picture of the girl and boy suggest that they are poor. The faces show that they are sad and miserable. The two posters have a similar meaning. And this is to ban the sale of alcohol. The two sources have a 5 year gap between them. Source C is published in 1910 and source D is published in 1915. These posters were published before prohibition. Overall I feel that sources C and D are for prohibition.
C)
I think source E is more reliable than source F because source E is a letter. It is personal. It contains opinions. Some of them are drinking has been increased, the speakeasies have replaced the saloon, a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared and crime has increased to a level never seen before. All the things Rockefeller describes are true. He is one of the wealthiest families in USA. The letter was written in 1932 which was the dying year of prohibition. H is saying that prohibition has failed. He is disappointed the prohibition had failed. He says ‘I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinions.’ He says they are more lawbreakers and more crime. There is less respect for the law. Warren Harding was the president of USA. He was a heavy drinker. He was also a law breaker. Rockefeller has admitted to be wrong about prohibition. He is being truthful. I think source E is not biased because he wanted prohibition to occur. Rockefeller is looking back on prohibition. He already knows what has happened. Source F is written at the start of prohibition. It is written by the 1st prohibition commissioner. He is certain it will work. He is positive. It is his job to enforce the law. He doesn’t know it will fail. Kramer can’t talk about prohibition because nothing has happened yet. He is just saying what will happen. I know he is wrong.
D)
I think source G and source H prove that prohibition wasn’t successful. This is because in source G it says that in 1921 they were 414,000 gallons of stills and in 1925, 2 years later they was 11.030.000. In source H they didn’t bother to check for drunk drivers in 1920 because it wasn’t an issue. Source H is a bit biased because it is only contrasting one city, Philadelphia so it is not a fare table. Source G is a record of 1920-1925-1929. It is not complete. Source H is 1920-1923-1925. This is also not complete. Source G is official figures. It tends to exaggerate. Prohibition finished in 1933. Source H relates to the people that are drunk not the people that are supplying the alcohol. The police were corrupt. They took bribes. This makes the table a bit less efficient. Source G focuses on prohibition whiles source h focuses on the statistics related to drunkenness. They were no convictions.
E)
Source I proves that the police man in source J is telling the truth because in source I they are, a clerk, party officer, magistrate, politician, police officer and a prohibition officer. All these people are involved in covering up a crime or turning a blind eye. There weren’t many prohibition agents. They were only 1500 agents. A party official can get people elected in certain areas. Suck as a magistrate. They are all corrupt and bribe able. The carton is telling me that there hands were behind their backs because they were waiting for a bribe. They are all in it together. The term ‘backhander’ means bribe. The title is ‘the national gesture’ which means that every body does it. The source suggests that American society is corrupt. Source J is telling us that the police officer got bribed. The money was given by a stranger. The police officer did nothing. In source J he says ‘saloon.’ This makes it sound like a common thing. He is being welcomed into the saloon. Everyone was being bribed. His superior officers were involved. If you tried to arrest them they would kill you. He says that they will throw you in a river. The quote is ‘if you tried to enforce the law they’d put you in the post where there was nothing but weeds.’ Both sources say that there is bribery. They are a conspiracy and that the superior officers are involved. If you tried to enforce them they will wipe your past. They are also police men in both of the sources.
F)
I think prohibition was bound to fail from the start because in source A it says there was a criminal boom, they were anti-saloon leagues, they preserved the grain for food because of the war, their was a bad influence on saloons, both are anti social, the desire to drink. These are all the agreements. The disagreements are women’s Christian temperance union, pre-prohibition, a dry state, speakeasies, enforcement, legal to drink but illegal to sell, national campaigns against German Americans. Source B has no agreements because it for prohibition. The disagreements are man laughing because he has taken his wages, family at home crying for food and clothing, kids are loafing the streets, very sad, very poor, father spending all the money on beer.
Source C agrees on a few points. The few are prohibition failed, more crime, less respect for the law. The disagreements are, a personal letter, written start of prohibition, law will be enforced, he is positive.
Source D agrees on many things. The table shows that prohibition was failing and that drunkenness was increases. They are no disagreements for this part because the table agrees on prohibition.
Source E agrees on many thing, people were bribed. Important people such as clerks, party officials, magistrate, politician, police officer and prohibition agent. They were involved in covering things up and turning a blind eye. They wernt many agents. American society corrupt, they are no disagreement for this source because it is against prohibition.
