Police - Prohibition - A smashing good time 1921 Business Card

Colorized photo from 1921 July 8 Original Title: Man with ax breaking barrels on sidewalk Location: Washington DC In America, there was a very dark time. From around 1920-1933, it was decided that drinking alcoholic beverages was immoral, and so it was banned. This was called prohibition. It was illegal to sell it, and anyone that had any, had it all confiscated and destroyed, as you can see here. It attracted great crowds, some of them grinning like idiots. If you were lucky, you were in the splash zone. It seems that when you hit a barrel with a large ax, the barrel sprays near by people. Beyond that, there were probably fumes, and if there isn't anything to drink, that's the next best thing. Prohibition was started by the "dry" movement. A group of rural Protestants, created the Volstead Act, which defined what was and was not allowed. For example wine used in religious ceremony was OK. But beyond that, the entire US had to be sober. The act was successful, it reduced people from drinking. The theory was, it would stop crime because crime was made by drunk hooligans. However making it illegal encouraged it to go underground. The mafia controlled it all, and it actually increased violence. Once that happened, it was dropped.