WHEELER DECLARES 'DRY' LAW IS SUCCESSFUL, OPPOSES REPORT OF ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On May 7, 1925, The Washington Times reports that today Wayne B. Wheeler, "generalissimo of the drys," said...
"'Thou shall not drink' is being enforced just as successfully as any of the Ten Commandments."
Mr. Wheeler was responding to a "sensational report" by the Iowa branch of the Anti-Saloon League** which says that prohibition is turning Iowa farmers into "bootleggers and illicit distillers."
He argues that farmers, "the backbone of the dry movement," are not turning their corn into liquor. Wheeler further states that the Volstead Act*** reduces or mitigates liquor violations.
*Wayne Bidwell Wheeler (1869-1927) was born in Ohio & graduated from Oberlin College, 1894. WBW became a leader of the Anti-Saloon League & leading advocate of prohibition using mass media communication to support the movement.
**Anti-Saloon League was founded in Ohio in 1893. The lobby group played a key role in the temperance movement & the push for prohibition.
***Volstead Act (1919) sponsored by Andrew Volstead of Minnesota was also known as the National Prohibition Act. It implemented the 18th Amendment prohibiting the manufacture, sale & transport of intoxicating liquor in the United States.
SOURCE
"'Dry' Law Not Failing, He Declares," The Washington Times, May 7, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
