When The Public Pushed Prohibition Policy to Poisoning
During the 1920s, resistance to Prohibition drove the U.S government to extremes in an effort to prevent the country from perceived moral decay
From 1920 to 1933, the United States was under the constitutional ban of production, importation, transportation, or sale of alcoholic beverages. It is a period known as Prohibition. With a 68 percent majority in the House, a 76 percent majority in the Senate, and ratification in 46 of the then 48 states - the Volstead Act was popular in the political sphere.
Carried forward on fears of the country slipping into moral decay on the heels of World War I, the Volstead Act passed with ease, and on January 1, 1920, the alcoholic drinks were no longer legal. As is usually the case with drastic policies, some public reactions often surprise the political body.
Such was the case when it came to expected impacts on America’s alcohol consumption. One of the goals of enacting the Volstead Act was to reduce total alcoholic consumption. Yet through the 1920s, insurance companies would report increases of alcoholism by as much 300 percent.
The Birth of the Bootlegger
When we think of Prohibition-era America, we often picture bootleggers shuttling homemade liquor in growlers through the early hours of the morning under cover of darkness. Despite the government’s attempts to ‘purify’ the country, when alcohol for consumption became illegal, the urge to drink didn’t subside. Rather the means in which to obtain it became more complex - and the so-called “wets” would try just about anything to get it.
One such way in that those in pursuit of alcohol found their fix was through the fermentation of grape juice. During Prohibition, grape fruit juice output quadrupled. Waiting sixty days for grape juice to ferment, those who sought a glass of wine would find themselves in possession of a fresh batch with alcohol content around twelve precent.
Grape juice wasn’t the only source of illegal alcohol though. While the Volstead Act banned alcohol for sale, the production of industrial alcohols continued. Soon a war of chemistry would break out as bootleggers sought ways to make the industrial alcohol consumable.
The federal government had anticipated attempts to target industrial alcohols as a source for consumable alcohol. Thus they issued orders to place traces of poisons in the batches to dissuade consumption. The bootleggers were not deterred. Gathering their own groups of chemists, the bootleggers were able to successfully renature industrial alcohol batches. And the heat was on.
The Casualties of Chemistry
Meanwhile, while the government and the public were entangled in chemistry battles, the medical community began to notice a change. Cases of alcohol poisoning had become rather common. Many who consumed bootlegged whiskies and gins were falling ill as a result of several impurities - namely tainted metals.
Patients began presenting with similar and familiar symptoms. Doctors and nurses would offer treatment as well as warnings regarding the ingestion of bootlegged liquors. Despite how serious this may sound, it had become commonplace in Prohibition era America.
Upping the Ante
The Federal government grew frustrated as the business of bootlegging continued to grow, and with it, the consumption of alcohol. They were surprised that in the face of a law that was designed to steer citizens to a dry life, there was still so much resistance.
Opting for a more aggressive strategy, the U.S. government increased efforts to poison batches of industrial alcohol. The Treasury Department issued orders for higher poison concentrations, specifically for increased amounts of methyl alcohol. Still crime syndicates continued to redistill and sell potable batches.
The government discovered that the bootleggers were paying their chemists better than the government’s chemists. Growing ever more frustrated, then President Calvin Coolidge upped the ante. The recipes to prevent alcohol consumption ramped up to include the use of denaturing chemicals like kerosene, benzene, formaldehyde, amongst others. Most notably, up to ten percent of the content became methyl alcohol.
Sounding the Alarm on the Government
The lethality of this move was almost immediate. In New York City in 1926, around 1,200 cases of alcohol poisoning were reported. An estimated 400 deaths occurred. By 1927, shortly after Coolidge’s action, the death toll rose to 700. The spike was so significant that Charles Norris, the New York City medical examiner sounded the alarm.
His statement cleverly tip toed around the accusation of murder when he said, “…knowing this to be true, the United States government must be charged with the moral responsibility for the deaths that poisoned liquor causes, although it cannot be held legally responsible.”
Norris became the loudest voice regarding the dangers of the government’s program. He publicized every alcohol poisoning death in the city. He had his toxicologist examine confiscated liquors which helped produce the lists of known poisons that were being used to deter drinking. He warned the city’s citizens that they should consider all liquor in the city limits to be poisoned.
Next, he set his sights on accusing the government of a policy that disproportionately impacted the poorest residents of the country. While wealthy people could afford more expensive and safe liquors, the poor largely made up the dying and sickened as they were left to “deal in the low-grade stuff.”
As Norris’ voice grew louder, so to did his influence. Soon more pressure against the government’s alcoholic chemistry program rose. Missouri Senator James Reed declared, “Only one possessing the instincts of a wild beast would desire to kill or make blind the man who takes a drink of liquor, even if he purchased it from one violating the Prohibition statutes.”
In 1930, a famous bootlegger would come out of the woodworks. George Cassiday, known as the ‘man in the green hat,’ would publish five articles in the Washington Post. His revelations included his experiences as a bootlegger for 10 years and he noted that 80% of congressmen and senators drank illegally.
The mounting pressures would cause the chemistry battle to quietly subside. While the Volstead Act would not be officially repealed until December 1933, the government would grow more and more quiet on the issue.
Once repealed, many crime syndicates pivoted to legal liquor businesses. As for the government’s denaturing program in which alcohol was laced with poison, it would seem that amidst the craziness that was the Prohibition-era, few know how far the government went to try and dissuade citizens from consuming alcohol.
History for the Hurried:
October 16, 1793: During the Reign of Terror and the French Revolution, Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded. She had become the symbol of the people’s hatred for the old regime due to extravagance expressed and frivolity.
October 16, 1859: The abolitionist John Brown seized the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry.