What Are The Pros And Cons Of The 1920's

The Roaring Twenties was a time of glitz and glamour, but those were really just embellishments of what was actually a dark, twisted time in our nations history. The production of alcohol was illegal as of January 16, 1919. Although this was seen as the next step towards a more cultured and moral society, it actually did the exact opposite. Corruption and crime arose. Although it is true that substances such as alcohol can be abused, the prohibition of alcohol prevented the advancement of our society due to the corruption in public officials, negative effects on the economy, and increased crime rates.

Prohibition was a major event in American history. It showed the weaknesses of morale in the United States, and how much people loved alcohol.

Bill Cooke wrote in the article “Sixty Years Before the Cocaine Cowboys, Miami was the Wild West of Prohibition”, “It didn’t take long for the public officials to get in on all the cash flowing from illegal rum casks.” Although it may have seemed that the government was actually trying to get rid of alcohol and bootleggers, they were participating in the booze smuggling just as much as the smugglers themselves. Violence also erupted in the American society. James Horace Alderman, a notorious Miami bootlegger, was hanged in a Coast Guard base located in Fort Lauderdale. The men who were serving to protect the country were harming the people whom they were

First off, jobs are created because someone must make, transport, and distribute the alcohol. Also, due to the higher than normal sales taxes on alcohol, it had a great tax revenue for the federal government. It’s a win-win situation: the Feds get money, while the people have fun and get drunk out of their minds! Alcohol also positively affected the economy because it heavily depended on railroads, telegraphs, and mechanical refrigeration. (The Brewing Industry) Railroads are gaining profit because alcohol producing companies are paying them to distribute their product to stores. Telegraph companies are benefiting due to different companies interacting and negotiating with each other. Lastly, mechanical refrigeration units are not cheap, so if alcohol companies are buying the units, the makers of the refrigeration units are making huge profits. This complex flow of money helps the economy run smoothly. On the other hand, the prohibition of alcohol had a very negative affect on the economy. Distilleries were being shutdown due to the ban of production of alcohol. Railroads lost products to distribute, therefore, profit was lost. Stores where alcohol was sold had less product to sell, therefore, money was being lost. Since alcohol had a high tax, the tax revenue decreased tremendously, which caused more government spending. (Alcohol Prohibition) Lastly, since the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, the