This Time We Must Win

This article from The Word and Way newspaper was 2 years before prohibition began in Missouri. The Word and Way is a Baptist newspaper, and thus has a lot of religious influences. The article above from October, 1918, shows strong support for Prohibition.

The title of the article itself, “This Time We Must Win” tells us enough itself. Prohibition had been rejected by the public twice before the 1918 vote. The author believed that 1918 would be the year they finally passed Prohibition and got rid of the “inefficiency and economic waste” of liquor consumption.

The Word and Way article also mentioned that the war has been a major factor in the increasing support for prohibition. Similarly, the article “WORLD WAR I PLAYED KEY ROLE IN PASSAGE OF PROHIBITION” written by Claire White states the same. White discusses that the government needed grain for the war effort, and alcohol production took away from the war supply.

Before prohibition, alcohol production and consumption were big industries in Missouri. According to the article “A Century Ago: Prohibition in Missouri” written by Barb Brueggeman, it is stated that Missouri was the 2nd largest wine producing state. Missouri also had a large German immigrant population that was against prohibition. As stated in The Word and Way article, the earlier vote in 1910 was against prohibition largely due to the German-American Alliance, which was an organization representing German immigrant interests in the country. By 1918, the organization was “out of business” due in part to anti-German sentiments generated by the beginning of WWI. The organizations collapse along with the need to support the war effort led to the eventual passing of prohibition and the long term devastation of the alcohol production industry in Missouri.