The arguments by John Gordon Cooper (1872-1955), “Prohibition is a success” (1924) and “Prohibition is a Failure” (1926) by William H. Stayton (1861-1942) will form this summary paper. Cooper in his arguments portend that prohibition should be upheld with much important consideration as much as the other parts of the constitution. Thus is because disregarding the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibits the intoxicating liquor remains a basic and fundamental part of the constitution and as such cannot be given less consideration.
The effectiveness of prohibition as advanced by the author includes a number of well illustrated points that stand to support his arguments. First, prohibition is effective in that it has increased drinking and intemperance throughout the whole nation. Secondly, prohibition drastically led reductions in the levels of violations in that it was obeyed by bootleggers and moonshiners after the war time. This is demonstrated in its active role in the reduction of bribery and smuggling in the intoxication beverages to the thoughtless and the indifferent. In analyzing the effectiveness of prohibition, Cooper underlines the fact that it saved the nation millions of dollars from unscrupulous businessmen who had the intent to employ their act of bribery and graft to hoodwink the law enforcers into supporting their acts. This entailed enlisting the support of corrupt politicians while making use on continuous propaganda to portray the good face of law and order. Prohibition ensured that these illegal business dealings were reduced or remained under control and surveillance. According to Cooper, the opponents of prohibition formed alliances with corrupt politicians thus subjecting the whole country into unending propaganda aimed at law and order and a sober and decent America; unfortunately this propaganda was able to increase due to the leniency of the courts and petty fines practically licensed the bootleg trade and the law’s delay made conviction impossible in many cases.
Detriments of prohibition
While prohibition was effective in the reduction on the consumption of illegal and intoxicating liquor, nevertheless, it completely failed in the total elimination of the consumption of these liquors. This was due to the rampant levels of corruption and the inability by the law enforcement authorities to effectively institute and ensures that the prohibition provisions are upheld. In addition the above, police statistics reveal that there was a recorded increase in the number of arrests for drunkenness from the year 1920. This in fact is denoted by the author as the year in which the constitutional prohibition was recognized. While the general aim of the legislating prohibition was aimed at reducing the drunkenness by consumption of illegal liquor, taking such as fast and drastic action was not appropriate. This figure is well demonstrated by the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (1) in stating that “The Bureau placed the consumption of alcoholic beverages at 73,831,172 gallons, or 0.6 gallon per capita in fiscal year 1930 as contrasted with 166,983,681 gallons or 1.7 gallons per capita in 1914”.this increase in the consumption of alcohol was the reason behind the consequent increase in the number of arrests.
The failure of prohibition has generated the greatest level of corruption within the most critical departments of the government that has led the general population into wondering on the effectiveness of the government in protecting them. The integrity of the government has thus been put into question because of the reverberating effects of the failure of prohibition. This is due to the inability to protect the law and uphold this section of the constitution with all the executive and legislative requirements it deserves. Furthermore, the enforcement of prohibition has burdened the government as a result of resources needed to enforce the law.
Benefits of prohibition
The first two benefits of prohibition as detailed by Cooper include the reduced death rate and the America’s increased prosperity. Statistics provided by Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (3) illustrates that prohibition has reduced the rate by 873, 000 in the first four years. In this connection, crime levels have come down in that even though many people are continuously arrested, the charges preferred are not directly linked to drunkenness. In the analysis of the increased prosperity, large amounts of dollars that formerly destined to the saloon have been adequately used to buy a whooping seven million cars that have been domestically manufactured thus translating to a robust manufacturing sector. This is because approximately three billion dollars have been channeled from the destructive uses to more constructive uses that are beneficial to the economy.
In addition to the above, Pletten (2), in giving support to Cooper’s assertion that prohibition was a success that reiterates that “Bottom line, notwithstanding the mismanagement and politicization, Prohibition was a success, despite the many efforts to sabotage it.” The benefits of prohibition are not limited to the above mentioned but have extended to the increased number of people joining the stock market as investors and those acquiring enterprises. In summary, the man remains the greatest benefactor from prohibition. This is because there has been noted increase in the volumes of earnings and levels of productivity that are products of prohibition.
Works Cited
National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse. History of Alcohol Prohibition. 2009. Web.
Pletten, Leroy J. Prohibition Was A Success – Here is the evidence. 2010. Web.