the
Eighteenth Amendment been put through with anything like such
smoothness and celerity. The intimidation exercised by the AntiSaloon
League was potent in a degree far beyond the numerical strength of the
League and its adherents, not only because of the effective and
systematic use of its black-listing methods, but also for another
reason. Weak-kneed Congressmen and Legislaturemen succumbed not only
to fear of the ballots which the League controlled but also to fear of
another kind. A weapon not less powerful than political intimidation
was the moral intimidation which the Prohibition propaganda had
constantly at command. That such intimidation should be resorted to by
a body pushing what it regards as a magnificent reform is not
surprising; the pity is that so few people have the moral courage to
beat back an attack of this kind. Throughout the entire agitation, it
was the invariable habit of Prohibition advocates to stigmatize the
anti-Prohibition forces as representing nothing but the "liquor
interests." The fight was presented in the light of a struggle between
those who wished to coin money out of the degradation of their
fellow-creatures and those who sought to save mankind from perdition.
That the millions of people who enjoyed drinking, to whom it was a
cherished source of refreshment, recuperation, and sociability, had
any stake in the matter, the agitators never for a moment
acknowledged; if a man stood out against Prohibition he was not the
champion of the millions who enjoyed drink, but the servant of the
interests who sold drink. This preposterous fiction was allowed to
pass current with but little challenge; and many a public man who
might have stood out against the Anti-Saloon League's power over the
ballot-box cowered at the thought of the moral reprobation which a
courageous stand against Prohibition might bring down upon him. Thus
the swiftness with which the Prohibition Amendment was adopted by
Congress and by State Legislatures, and the overwhelming majorities
which it commanded in those bodies, is no proof either of sincere
conviction on the part of the lawmakers or of their belief that they
were expressing the genuine will of their constituents. As for
individual conviction, the personal conduct of a large proportion of
the lawmakers who voted for Prohibition is in notorious conflict with
their votes; and as for the other question, it has happened in State
after State that the Legislature was al