In their eyes introducing prohibition could decrease the levels of prostitution, gambling and crime in the cities .The war provided prohibitionists with more ammunition to support their cause. They argued that as the government was calling for maximum agriculture production, so how could they justify the wasteful use of grains for beer and spirits? The prohibition lobby was also able to harness anti-German wartime hostility as the majority of brewers were of German origin, and that their trade organisation helped finance the National German-American Alliance which was a potent source for the Kaiser. Alcohol was also said to undermine military discipline and the virtue of young soldiers. Although world war one played a significant factor in giving ammunition to prohibitionists such as the patriotic feeling, and the fact that the government had begun to interfere
Although both the coming and the arrival of the Great Depression did have some influence over the decision to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment, other factors played a part – most importantly the simple fact that prohibition didn’t work. In the early 1920s and throughout the 1930s America suffered through a period of economic decline, and because of this, the government in particular, was in need of funds to fuel its weakening economy. Taxation on alcohol would contribute towards the resources for relief, and prevent higher taxes in other areas of business which would only compound the situation. Each year the government was missing out on a sum of around $500 million which would be brought in by a tax on alcohol, and would significantly help America during the crisis. As well as this, an end to prohibition would eliminate the costs required to enforce it – an extra expenditure the government could not afford at this time.
Any state can lower the age of legal drinking within their boundaries if they choose too. However, if any state chooses to lower the age, they will be cut off from highway funds from the government. So the debate has begun in many states whether lowering the drinking age would benefit our country or take it downhill. Many colleges are supporting the idea of change for reasons including reduced binge drinking among college students and eighteen year olds should be able to have a beer if they can fight and die for their country. Many people oppose the idea arguing eighteen to twenty year olds will only drink more if they are legally allowed to.
Others saw as a way to make more money than ever, charging twenty or thirty dollars for a bottle of champagne and two dollars for a drink of whiskey. In his article on Prohibition for The Observer, Dominic Sandbrook wrote that “more people started drinking now than before the amendment was ratified.” Prohibition was created to try and abate the moral evil and crime that arose due to public drunkenness. The reasoning behind Prohibition was actually sound. Writing in 1920,
Prohibition had a negative impact on the United States because of the resulting organized crime, the corruption of police and government officials and the lack of enforcement of the law. After the American Revolution there was a marked increase in drinking of alcoholic beverages. In an effort to circumvent this, various societies were organized as part of a Temperance movement which attempted to convince people to refrain from imbibing and becoming intoxicated. One of the most prominent and efficient of these was the Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement established in 1874. Initially these organizations encouraged moderation, but eventually the movement's focus shifted to complete prohibition of alcohol consumption.
The US government also raised tariffs on US exports and imports, to and from Europe in an attempt to strengthen the economy and establish the US as economically independent (Williams, 1954). The tariff rates were raised by nearly 40 percent and this strongly discouraged external trade and made it extremely difficult for the Europeans to pay back their debt to the
Irene Joseph Professor Johnson ENGL 1301-219 January 31, 2012 Why Doesn’t GM Sell Crack? A Rhetorical Analysis of Moore’s “Why Doesn’t GM Sell Crack?” This text is an essay by Michael Moore entitled “Why Doesn’t GM Sell Crack?” It is taken from his political book Downsize This! published in 1996. This essay bought up a lot of radical thinking but at the same time, it helped the author get his point across. Moore persuades his audiences by saying as a society; we tend to forget what the outcome is when big corporations decide to fire workers because the CEO wants more for their salary.
A War That Can’t Be Won Should the United States fight a war that can’t be won? The war against marijuana is a costly and inconvenient war that the United States seems to be losing. It started in 1915 when Utah passed the first law against marijuana and it is still going to this day. Recreational use of marijuana has been increasing and is easily accessible. The money that our government is spending on this fight against marijuana could be saved and instead of losing money the government could make money by taxing legal marijuana.
Ashley Guzman September 22, 2011 Eng 099 The article “Smoking is bad for everyone” by Sally Chen mainly speaks about the consequences of smoking. Sally mentions how companies tend to profit from peoples death and how the “No one under 18” sign is taken as a joke. As mentioned in the article “Politicians use the tax money on their favorite programs, which are designed to attract more voters.” Also said in the article is that no matter how high the price may be smokers wouldn’t quit. Although Sally Chen has her points about smoking, I agree with the fact lax enforcement of underage smoking needs to be addressed. Reason in being is because it’s not healthy; especially if you start at a young age it’ll affect more as you get older.
Was the Great Depression the main reason why the Nazi party grew between 1929 and 1932? The Great Depression occurred in 1929 and affected Germany because America took all their loans from Germany so business’ close and the standard of living in Germany decreased. After the Great Depression, the public went to the extremist parties, the NSPD and the Communists. This was because the German government didn’t have a reasonable plan for amending the crisis – the Chancellor Bruning believed that decreasing government spending and increasing the taxes would get Germany out of their economic crisis. This angered the German public as they thought that the government’s plan would just make living harder if they did increase the taxes.