Eight Million Sots in the Naked City

How Prohibition was imposed on, and rejected by, New York

Jackson Kuhl from the November 2007 issue

(Page 3 of 3)

The offensive off New Jersey and Long Island’s southern shore, as well as off Block Island east of the sound, had the desired effect, scattering the Row. But the victory was temporary. By the end of summer 1925, the Coast Guard ships began rotating into port for maintenance, opening cracks in the blockade. Rum Row would never again become the place it had been before 1924, but neither did it evaporate entirely.

Waters’ reminiscences can be tiresome; many of his stories involve nothing more than enlisted men pranking their officers by sneaking liquor onboard, and there is an air of hearsay about facts and incidents he was not party to. (For example, he confuses the prices of cases out on the Row with their subsequent shore prices, which were considerably higher.) Yet occasionally he provides perspective on the larger issues. During one stint, Waters was ordered to accompany court-martialed Coast

Guardsmen from Maryland to a Navy brig in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. To a man, they were guilty of having accepted bribes from rumrunners to let them pass through to shore. One of the prisoners turned out to be an old crewmate of Waters’ who had accepted $50,000 in a single year. But in true sailor style, he had nothing to show for it, having spent it all on “fast women and slow horses.”

By the mid-1920s, New Yorkers had shaken off their fear of Anderson and his Anti-Saloon League, returning the wet Democrat Al Smith to the governor’s mansion and electing (and re-electing) the “nightclub mayor” James J. Walker in 1925. The city’s cosmopolitan worldview spread beyond the Hudson, very nearly resulting in Smith’s election to the presidency in 1928, his loss due to his Catholicism rather than his wetness.

By the early ’30s, city and nation alike had grown tired of paying $16 million a year for a law 70 percent didn’t want. The 21st Amendment repealing Prohibition was ratified on December 5, 1933.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Saloon League discovered William Anderson had been embezzling funds. He eventually spent nine months in Sing Sing for forgery. Upon his release, he formed the American Protestant Alliance, which worked with the Ku Klux Klan to curtail liquor and immigration.

Prohibition was a national phenomenon, and most previous historical scholarship has treated it as such. Yet because the peculiarities of a place—the makeup of its population, its terrain and waterways, its nearness to foreign borders—determined the success of aridity there, the issue must be studied locally. Did Prohibition prevent intoxication and lead to more righteous living somewhere in America? Probably. But not in New York City.

Jackson Kuhl is a writer in Connecticut.

Comments

Ska|10.26.07 @ 11:20AM|#

My favorite part of having a drink at Claudio's in Greenport is knowing that during prohibition the place was a warehouse for illegal booze. Prohibitionists drive me to drink.

|10.26.07 @ 11:56AM|#

Of foreign imports, an estimated two-thirds came over the border by land from Canada. The rest arrived via Rum Row, a flotilla of ships with holds full of hooch brought in from Canada, Britain, and elsewhere.

maple sucking, puck slapping rum runners...

BTW: Diary of a Rum Runner has been out of print for years. I would like to get a copy as it is part of local folklore where I live.

|10.26.07 @ 11:57AM|#

Fun informative posting! Thanks, Jackson.

|10.26.07 @ 11:58AM|#

Aresen, take a bow. BTW my maternal grandparents were Canucks.

The Rest Of The English Langua|10.26.07 @ 12:14PM|#

Fuck "chock-a-block."

dhex|10.26.07 @ 12:42PM|#

this was a very neat article!

Jackson Kuhl|10.26.07 @ 1:07PM|#

Aresen,

Findeth what you seek here.

I highly recommend it. There's a great series of entries regarding a flapper turned rum-runner, and Moray's capture of her jazz-age slang is alone worth the price.

VM|10.26.07 @ 1:18PM|#

"Of foreign imports, an estimated two-thirds came over the border by land from Canada. The rest arrived via Rum Row, a flotilla of ships with holds full of hooch brought in from Canada, Britain, and elsewhere. "

think: that scene in the Untouchables with the mounties (Aresen? Dief the Chief? Eddie Shore?) and KC's group - where Sean Connery shoots the dead guy - great scene!

Jackson - fantastic phrase, "flapper turned rum runner". love it!

|10.26.07 @ 2:06PM|#

I think prohibition failed because alcohol was already culturaly acceptable. The drug prohibitionists have successfully vilified drugs, because they cause death, insanity, and harm. Funny they have never tried to ban cars, those things cause 41,000 deaths in the US every year.

|10.26.07 @ 2:09PM|#

VM

In Canada, that scene from The Untouchables induced mass cringes in every theater in which it was shown.

For a parallel: Imagine a movie portrayal of the Battle of Kasserine Pass in which the American Seventh Cavalry* on horseback** commanded by George Patton* won the battle.***

*Not there.
**No longer used horses.
***Didn't happen.

VM|10.26.07 @ 2:19PM|#

Aresen-

no doubt!

actually, if I may suggest a different parallel (but Rommel's comments in the movie "Patton" certainly were spot on; and the similar scene in "The Big Red One" was also good!) -- I'd like to liken the cringe to any time Jar Jar was on screen!

Plus, had THE SHAT (NOT ALAN THICKE) been in charge, it would have been different!!!

Paul|10.26.07 @ 2:22PM|#

Sort of kind of thread jack (apologies in advance):

NPR claims that Prohibition works, too. Well, ok, not "Prohibition" but prohibition (small p).

Not once in the story do they make the connection with the drug war, leading one to ask the obvious questions regarding banning any illegal substance and addiction issues. If smoking bans work, then so must every other narcotic ban, no?

Paul|10.26.07 @ 2:26PM|#

Funny they have never tried to ban cars, those things cause 41,000 deaths in the US every year.

No kidding, gun violence only kills around 12,000.

|10.26.07 @ 2:44PM|#

"THE SHAT"

CRINGE

|10.26.07 @ 2:48PM|#

So the responsibility for all of the alcoholism in the United States can be placed at the feet of Canada, eh? The Canadian menace strikes again.

Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|10.26.07 @ 2:49PM|#

Anyone that hasn't should read The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol when they get a chance. It's surprisingly captivating.

Paul|10.26.07 @ 2:52PM|#

Anyone that hasn't should read The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol when they get a

I got the "spirits of America" in my living room every friday night.

|10.26.07 @ 2:56PM|#

Just like a puck slapper to bring a Thicke to a Shat fight.

The Hanson Brothers|10.26.07 @ 3:00PM|#

The machine took my quarter.

Ogie Ogelthorp|10.26.07 @ 3:10PM|#

*drops gloves*

|10.26.07 @ 4:47PM|#

Prohibition failed not because people realized it "wasn't working" or whatever. It goes directly to taxes. The US was in the midst of the depression when the government realized there was lots of money to be had legalizing booze and then taxing it.

|10.26.07 @ 6:04PM|#

Prohibition wasn't a failure.

That is, if your name was Bronfman or Labatt.

;)

BakedPenguin|10.26.07 @ 7:01PM|#

Or Capone.

|10.26.07 @ 7:08PM|#

Jackson Kuhl

Thanks for the link. Missed it earlier.

|10.26.07 @ 10:52PM|#

The US was in the midst of the depression when the government realized there was lots of money to be had legalizing booze and then taxing it.

I've always thought a campaign to legalize pot based on the tax revenue it could generate might get some real traction. I wonder if anyone's done a study estimating that?

|10.27.07 @ 12:01AM|#

I think income tax is the major revenue source now and if you have income from selling pot, it's taxable. So pot is already taxed.

BakedPenguin|10.27.07 @ 9:05AM|#

george - technically, so was alcohol during Prohibition (that's how they got Capone). The point is still valid, though because people who have to hide what they're doing to make money will have to hide the money as well.

I think it's a good idea - especially if the additional source of income for farmers means that we can stop their welfare subsidies.

|10.27.07 @ 6:02PM|#

Anyone that hasn't should read The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol when they get a chance. It's surprisingly captivating.

TPG, I just checked and it's available at the public library here. I'll check it out Tuesday. God I love the internet.

|10.28.07 @ 9:46PM|#

Rum row sounds awesome.

Imagine, a giant flotilla of boats, stuffed to the stern with booze.