Source E is also reliable because it can be backed up by other evidence. Source E says that “drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before”. All of these things are supported by other historians. Source A says that “[Prohibition] created the greatest criminal boom in American history”, which is in agreement with Source E where is says “a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared… and crime has increased to a level never seen before”. Source B also agrees with Source E where is says “By 1928 there were more than 30,000 ‘speakeasies’ in New York”, which backs up Source E where it says “the speakeasy has replaced the saloon”. Sources G and H, which are factual statistics, also back up Source E. Source G can be seen in two different ways, but one of these is that the number of illegal stills were increasing over time, and so were the amounts of alcohol produced. This supports Source E where is says “drinking has generally increased;… citizens have openly ignored Prohibition;… and crime has increased”. Source G proves that people were ignoring the Prohibition laws, like Source E says. Source H also supports what Source E says. Source H, another group of statistics, proves that the number of drunk people were increasing over time, which proves that Source E is correct in saying “drinking has generally increased”.
As well as all the support from other sources, Source E can also be proved reliable by facts. For example, it is a fact that many people were ignoring Prohibition, as so many new lawbreakers were caught, which is mentioned in Source E.
However, Source E is also unreliable in some ways, although not in anywhere near as many ways as it is reliable. Source E is just an opinion; one way of looking at Prohibition, even if other historians do agree. Also, he uses no factual evidence to back up what he is saying in his letter.
Source F is far less reliable than Source E. Source F cannot be backed up by any other sources. The man speaking in Source F is only saying what he thinks will happen, as Prohibition was only just beginning and he had not yet seen what the writer of Source E discussed. He couldn’t know anything for sure, and therefore there are no facts at all included in the source, which immediately makes it unreliable. However, this source does show that there were people involved in the reinforcement of Prohibition who were detirmined to make it work, and so it is proving that in fact not everybody was against Prohibition. Some of the other sources suggest that there was nobody willing to give it a go.
In conclusion, I can say with no doubt at all that Source E is far more reliable than Source F. The main reason is of course that Source E can be backed up by facts and other sources, and Source F cannot.
