The Implementation of Prohibition and the Early Prohibition Era (1910-1919)
In 1914, the Enabling Act was passed by the Virginia legislature. It exclaimed that a referendum on prohibition for Virginia would need to be made.[1] In the months that followed, leading up to the referendum, the amount of propaganda skyrocketed from both wet and dry sides.
The dry side argued that by enacting prohibition, home life would improve, and the amounts of crime and poverty would both decrease. On the other hand, the wet side argued that enacting prohibition would deprive Virginia of money, leading to an increase in taxes.[1] It also argued that drunkenness and domestic abuse would still exist below the surface. Furthermore, they announced that the dry’s claims regarding a decrease in crime and poverty were not true. The wets believed that, if anything, Prohibition would make it more likely for the population to disregard state laws.[1] They felt that a large part of the population ignoring prohibition laws would lead to a domino effect for more important laws. However, the wets had one fatal flaw; they simply could not declare that drinking itself was a positive thing, something that was beneficial for health and quality of life.
Both wet and dry sides made fliers against each other during these intense several months of a propaganda war. This one was made by the wets, and it is easy to see how they were pushing individuals to vote against prohibition here.
Despite the efforts of the wets, the dry side won in the end. They received almost 60% of the vote.[1] As a result, The Mapp Law was passed in the spring of 1916. This law was somewhat stricter than prohibition laws passed in other states, and it made the state of Virginia dry as of November 1st, 1916, which was a few years ahead of the 18th amendment. The banned alcohols for Virginia included brandy, whiskey, rum, gin, wine, porter, ale, beer, all-malt liquors, absinthe, and all mixtures of any of them.[1]
However, it was not long before the state population started to find ways to get around this law. The consumption of alcohol at home was fine if it was purchased before November 1st, Virginia had several resorts which could legally obtain alcoholic beverages for cooking and massages, doctors could order alcohol to help treat patients, and wine was legal if it was sold for religious reasons.[1]
This is a letter that a Rabbi from Norfolk wrote to his Prohibition Commissioner in 1919. He was arrested for accidentally not owning permits which granted him permission to ship alcohol for Passover. Early in the prohibition era, there were many cases like his, where individuals in Virginia got in trouble for not knowing all the ins and outs of their state’s Prohibition laws. This helps to show what life was like during prohibition in our state, and how some reacted to it.
[1] Benbow, Mark. The Old Dominion Goes Dry: Prohibition in Virginia. Journal of the Brewery History Society. http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/138/Bendow.pdf