Through the years a variety of laws were passed in Nebraska to limit the sale of alcoholic beverages. But until the second decade of the 20th century, these laws fell short of complete prohibition.
Initially the prohibitionists pushed for a “county option” to permit individual counties —- as opposed to cities and towns — to declare themselves wet or dry. This allowed the prohibitionists to drum up support among rural residents far from towns who would not be directly effected the way business owners who served or sold liquor in towns were. In the end, that bill was defeated by the anti-prohibition forces.
Nationwide both sides used hyperbole, heavily biased statistics, and ominous rhetoric to promote their position, but this ad that ran in the The Alliance Herald in Box Butte County, Nebraska on October 19, 1916 takes the cake.
The Truth About Prohibition and Murder
Murder is being committed in prohibition Kansas with far greater frequency than in Nebraska.
KANSAS– Sentenced for Murder in 2 years 85
NEBRASKA-Sentenced for Murder in 2 years 29
Eighty-five Kansas murderers convicted and sentenced in the short space of two years ending June 30, 1916, as against twenty-nine in Nebraska in the same period!
The appalling murder record of Kansas carries a lesson of terrible import to the citizens of Nebraska. Under prohibition there has grown up in Kansas the inevitable “Alley Joint” evil. In these “joints” liquors of the vilest sort are dispensed to men and boys by dissolute characters, both male and female, spreading crime and debauchery to every part of the state.
Excerpts from article in “The Topeka Daily State Journal” of August 29, 1916.)
- Of the 166 criminal cases docketed for the September term of court, 106 are for violations of the prohibitory law.
- As a rule, about one-tenth of the cases brought charging violations of the prohibitory law are tried. They cost the county about $50 each.
“One noticeable thing about the criminal docket for the September term is that forty-six of the JOINT cases arm against women.”
If you are opposed to the Alley Joint evil and the increase of crime, vote No on the prohibition amendment.
The Nebraska Prosperity League
OPPOSED TO STATE PROHIBITION. IN FAVOR OF LOCAL OPTION, HIGH LICENSE
President, L. F. CROFOOT Treasurer, W. J. COAD Secretary, J. B. HAVNES
The Alliance Herald, October 19, 1916
The wonderful work of archivists have preserved far more material than we usually see. Our goal here is to unearth and present some of the stuff we never saw in school.