The Anti-Saloon League in the USA - Essay Example

The Anti-Saloon League As with any developing country that is coming to terms with modernism and rapid industrialization, the American society in the1800s was also impacted by a lot of changes that modified the way that people lived, worked and interacted with each other. With a drastic change to the life style that was characteristic of the villages seeming inevitable, folks from the rural interiors of the country soon took to various habits that were not in terms with their more pietistic rural settings. With women becoming more active in the social front, problems at their homes also started to crop up within the society. Drinking in those days started to become popular and soon men started spending more time in saloons and pubs than their own homes. The interest of the family was often affected by the habits of men who took to drinking and the effects of alcoholism soon started reverberating in the modern society. With pressures of life mounting in the towns and cities, it became fashionable for men to display their machoism by immersing themselves in booze and smoke. Other than machoism, visiting the saloon started to be considered as a social requirement. It was considered as a place where a man could enhance his awareness and also eat and booze cheaply. “The saloonkeeper is the only man who keeps open house in the ward. It is his business to entertain. It does not matter that he does not select his guests; that convention is useless among them. In fact, his democracy is one element of his strength. His face is the common meeting ground of his neighbours - and he supplies the stimulus which renders social life possible; there is an accretion of intelligence that comes to him in his business. He hears the best stories. He is the first to get accurate information as to the latest political deals and social mysteries. The common talk of the day passes through his ears and he is known to retain that which is the most interesting.” (Moore 1897). It was the later part of the 1800s that the sentiment against alcoholism slowly started to catch up in the American society. People awakened to the effect of the drink and taking a cue from families that were often deprived of basic necessities because of their breadwinner’s drinking habits, began to assimilate ideas against alcoholism. Even though many anti-alcoholic forums were active in those days, the Anti-Saloon league became a force to reckon with and soon played a major in changing public opinion about alcoholism in the country. The league went on to become so powerful that it could control politics significantly and could control policies that were implemented in the country. However, the league later under its own weight and ceased to be a power mainly because of internal rumblings and squabbles. The Anti-Saloon League was formed in 1893 at Oberlin, and was a group that sought for prohibition in the United States. The league was formed by advocates of temperance who believed that alcoholism and drinking was destroying the moral fabric of the country. To an extent, what the league said was true because families were increasingly being affected by people who took to drinking and could not escape the clutches of the drink because of its habit-forming nature. The league was strongest in the south and the rural north of the country, which shows that the league had more supporters in the rural areas than the cities, where drinking was almost a way of life. One of the most important strength of the league was that it drew support from pietistic Protestant ministers and their congregations, especially Methodists, Baptists, Disciples and Congregationalists. These groups could in turn, control public opinion and therefore the propaganda against alcoholism soon permeated into the society at a very fast rate. It must be said that the league played a very important role in controlling drinking in the United States. It must be observed that the league attacked the heart of the issue and was able to muster public support against drinking in such a way that people considered banning alcohol was a morally necessary objective. The reach of the league rapidly increased and with more volunteers joining its ranks, the political ambitions of the league were ignited. In 1895, it established itself as a national organization and became the most powerful prohibitionist lobby in America. As part of its growth, it was able to reduce in significance the importance of other anti-alcohol groups such as the Womans Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition Party. One of the main reasons that made the league a success was the way in which it was established. It grew on to become a strong pressure group, not only on the basis of strong views on alcohol consumption. On the contrary, the founder of the group, Howard Hyde Russell (1855-1946), and his supporters utilized bureaucratic methods that they learned from their businesses that later went on to build a strong organization. The League had many organizational levels and the leaders saw to it that the bottom levels were built so as to make the whole group a coherent pressure-campaign group. The league ensured that able young men were recruited at appropriate levels of the leadership and also at the grassroots level, thereby enhancing the support and loyalty of the masses many of whom would not have been actively involved in the concept of prohibition (Lamme 2004). Another major strength of the league was that it owned a publishing company, The American Issue Publishing Company. The league used its publishing arm to print propaganda material that were popular with the public and helped to create public opinion in favour of the league. It is believed that the publishing company printed as many as 40 tons of mail per month to be distributed to the public. One of the other major and prudent operational styles that the league adopted was that it was apolitical in nature. The league had its own political ambitions, but it never allowed itself to be swayed by external political influences. As a result, the league could maintain an identity of its own and did not have to toe the line of political parties. It must be said that the political loyalty to the league was one of the major attributes that helped the league to influence national politics and build itself up as a powerful lobby. The organization lobbied members of the Democratic and Republican Parties. Although they never endorsed a party, they were careful to endorse the candidate who was more attuned to prohibition. For example, in the governor’s election in Ohio in 1909, Governor Myron T. Herrick, a republican, was strongly opposed the leagues attempt to allow local communities to prohibit alcohol. In response, the league first sought a Republican candidate to replace or challenge Herrick for the partys nomination. When it failed to find a suitable candidate who matched its ideology, it shifted its support and endorsed the John M. Pattison, the Democratic candidate. Pattison won the election with a comfortable margin, highlighting the power and influence that the league had among the masses (Anti saloon league of America. 2005). If the league had agreed to compromise on the issue, it would have dealt a death blow on its credibility and support base. De-centralization was strength of the league. The idea to have a decentralized operation paid rich dividends to the overall strength of the organization. For example, the parent organization made the idea popular that closing down saloons would prevent people from sourcing alcohol, which in turn would encourage prohibition. The job of pressurizing local saloons to close was left to the local units who could get the job done easily than a centrally administered unit. The local units of the league worked so well that by 1919, many states had implemented prohibition and in 1919, alcohol was prohibited in the United States. The league also used emotion to get people recruited to its ranks. For example, it had a strong religious backing and the services of the church were used to recruit committed people to its ranks. In addition, it also used emotions against the Germans during the First World War to further its bigger needs. Since the Germans were seen as makers and curers of wine, it was easy to generate public support by belittling the Germans. The league successfully painted the hope of a dry, saloon-less nation, whose citizens were more homely and committed to the family. No wonder that it could easily muster the support of women in large numbers who were apprehensive of the effect of alcohol in their families. The emotional pressuring paid rich dividends as the league was able to form opinion in favor of them in political circles as well as government run organizations such as the police where officials performed beyond their official duties to help the designs of the prohibitionists (Kerr 1985). The Anti Saloon League was successful in creating public opinion in favour of prohibition. The strategies used by the league may serve as reference on how to devise, manage and administer a lobby group to actualize its objectives. Bibliography Anti saloon league of America. (2005). Ohio Historical Society. [online]. Last accessed 11Novemeber 2007 at: http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=845 Kerr, K. Austin., 1985. Organized for Prohibition: A New History of the Anti-Saloon League. The standard history. Yale University Press. Lamme, Margot Opdycke., 2004. Tapping into War: Leveraging World War I in the Drive for a Dry Nation. American Journalism. 21(4): 63-91. Moore, Ernest., 1897. The Social Value of the Saloon. American Journal of Sociology. Read More