Benefits of National Prohibition

(Quoting E. Deets Pickett, who was Associate Editor of the American Prohibition Yearbook; the actual sources are unidentified.)

  • Wife beating and lack of family support decreased 82%
  • Drunkenness decreased 55.3%
  • Assault decreased 53.1%
  • Vagrancy decreased 52.8%
  • Disorderly conduct decreased 51.5%
  • Delinquency decreased 50.0%
  • Deaths due to cirrhosis decreased 50.0%
  • The number of inmates in jails and prisons decreased 75%, and
    many correctional institutions were closed entirely
  • General domestic complaints decreased by two-thirds
  • County hospital death rates were historically low
  • Alcohol became almost unavailable
  • Prostitution decreased
  • The national crime rate (excluding Chicago) declined 38%; in Chicago, the crime rate declined 25% (despite some well-publicized criminal events)
  • Savings accounts tripled
  • Insurance policies written doubled
  • Real estate values increased dramatically, due to home improvements
  • Families became better clothed
  • Attendence at churches and schools became more regular
  • Factory job attendence and job performance greatly increased
  • Demand for services at welfare missions decreased by half

(Ed. note: None of the above were demonstrably caused by Prohibition. There is only a temporal association of these events with Prohibition. But, taken all together, and also noting that these social indices rose toward their pre-Prohibition levels after Repeal, it is difficult to deny that National Prohibition was a beneficial influence on American society during the 1920s.)

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