Born Sober: Prohibition in Oklahoma, 1907-59
Jimmie Lewis Franklin
Language: English
Pages: 212
ISBN: 0806109645
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Book by Franklin, Jimmie Lewis
were greeted as an army preparing for combat. Wayne Wheeler, at the time superintendent of the Ohio League, told the gathering with un restrained eloquence : "We welcome you to the launching of the most beneficial and far-reaching movement since the civil war. As Moses said to the children of Israel that they should go forward, just so the time has come for the moral forces of this nation to march on against the last bulwarks of the enemy. A great national evil has been localized and
pointed to the records of the federal authorities in pressing their claims that violators were experiencing the terrible wrath of the law. Eagerly and enthusiastically, the prohibitionists noted that in the first two years following enactment of the law more than 1 ,400 arrests had been made in Oklahoma, 2 00 stills seized, and more than 350 illicit distilleries destroyed. Moreover, they took comfort in noting that during this pe riod nearly 30,000 gallons of illegal liquor and beer, which
"Prohibition Survey," Enforcement of the Prohibition Laws, IV, 813. 7 Lack of sufficient funds and a small enforcement staff proved a con tinuing problem in all states. For comment, see James J. Britt, "Views as to the Improvement of Prohibition Enforcement," NCLOE Records, RG 10, NA. -9 1 - BORN SOBE.R AN OFFICIAL INDICTMENT AND MURDER ern area he paid unqualified respect .to the officers in only Noble, Cimarron, and Woods counties for their diligence ; but even in some of these counties,
there appeared little support to counter Klan opposition. Even Hoover, some Dem ocrats concluded grimly, looked better to them than this Tammany Hall-supported, wet East Sider from New York, who seemingly spoke in an indistinguishable tongue, com pletely foreign to southern speech. The leader of the Oklahoma Klan had threatened in Hous ton to bolt the Democratic party and support Hoover ; and no doubt there were many who pledged good-by and good riddance.42 During the subsequent campaign the
opposition in the senate.16 12 February 22, 1933 . 13 For the resolution in "SUDS," THAT'S ALL : REPEAL A N D BEER Governor William "Alfalfa Bill" Murray promptly vetoed House Joint Resolution 3 2 . Murray, one of the state's found- , ing fathers and self-assured experts on Oklahoma's consti- 1 tution, had never openly registered any noticeable hostility toward a vote on the Twenty-first Amendment. In fact, he once voiced the necessity for such action. But he vetoed HJR 32 because it would