News

Pro-Palestine Encampment Represents First Major Test for Harvard President Alan Garber

News

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Condemns Antisemitism at U.S. Colleges Amid Encampment at Harvard

News

‘A Joke’: Nikole Hannah-Jones Says Harvard Should Spend More on Legacy of Slavery Initiative

News

Massachusetts ACLU Demands Harvard Reinstate PSC in Letter

News

LIVE UPDATES: Pro-Palestine Protesters Begin Encampment in Harvard Yard

CARVER WRITES BOOKLET ON "BABY VOLSTEAD" ACT

STATES SIGNIFICANT FIGURES TO SHOW POINTS

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED

"We have to choose between no enforcement of prohibition at all, or some form of check like the Massachusetts 'Baby Volstead' law, and I prefer to have the law", said Thomas Nixon Carver, professor of Political Economy in a recent interview.

Professor Carver is one of the campaign leaders against the repeal of the Massachusetts Dry Enforcement law, commonly called the "Baby Volstead" law, and has just written a pamphlet expressing his views on the subject.

Continuing, Professor Carver stated, "The dangers of repeal are very great. For instance, the wets are found of quoting figures showing an increase in the arrests for drunkenness since 1920. They refrain from saying that 1920 was a prohibition year, that we had had war-time prohibition since 1919, and constitutional prohibition since January, 1920.

"To compare one prohibition year with another is not the way to measure the effects of prohibition. The only way is to compare prohibition years with pre-prohibition years.

"Another important fact which the wets refrain from mentioning is that the increase in arrests for drunkenness in this state all came before the so-called 'Baby Volstead' law. The entire increase came between 1920 and 1924.

"It is very significant that the enforcement law which they call the 'Baby Volstead' law did not become operative until December, 1924. Since this law became operative there has been no further increase but a slight decrease in arrests for drunkenness."

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.

Tags