This cartoon is in favor of prohibition slightly before it passed, being published January 4, 1919, prohibition was passed January 16, 1919 and started the same day in 1920. It urges the rest of the world to follow in America’s footsteps and try to ban booze, booze being represented by an octopus wrapping its tentacles around the world, which is labeled world, just in case the reader didn’t know what a ball covered in latitude and longitude lines was. Each tentacle is labeled with one of the things people blamed booze for, debauchery, crime, poverty, disease, and waste. The world is being urged to smack the octopus with a club labeled American anti-saloon methods, which one would think would be prohibition.
The cartoon was published in a newspaper run by the Anti-saloon league. The Anti-saloon league was a group dedicated to the cause of temperance. They blamed alcohol for all the social problems of the world: Poverty, crime, debauchery, et cetera.
While the Anti-Saloon league had lofty goals, their means left much to be desired. They put every kind of pressure on everyone they could to pass prohibition, from cartoons to buying politicians and everything in between. They printed ¼ billion pages of propaganda per month, which is enough so that every legal adult in America today could grab a page and there would still be some to spare. They associated alcohol with Germany, because some brewers are german, and then used post WWI german hatred to drum up popular support. Then they blamed the immigrants, then the jews, then the catholics. They supported the KKK, for crying out loud, because it was anti-catholic and pro-prohibition.
They firmly believed that the end justifies the means, but they didn’t justify the leaders. Their leader, a Mr. Anderson, in addition to spouting the anti-immigrant/jew/catholic hate speeches, embezzled from the ASL and was convicted of forgery. Another high ranked member was convicted of buying politicians with church funds, hoarding flour during world war one to sell for a profit, embezzled, and tried to illegally manipulate the stock market. The next two weren’t convicted of anything, but one was proud of lying to promote the cause, and the next only retired after people started looking into his spending in political campaigns.
As a final note, they are still around today as the American counsel on alcohol problems, but a corrupt and anachronistic organization by any other name…
Anti-Saloon League." Alcohol Problems and Solutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/Controversies/Anti-Saloon-League.html#.VCA-yVa4nFI>.
"The 18th Amendment." Albany.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/18th_amendment_final.html>.
Henderson, Russel. "The "Pick Up the Club" Cartoon by Russell Henderson." Vulgar Army. Vulgar Army, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://vulgararmy.com/post/388337631/the-pick-up-the-club-cartoon-by-russell>.
"State and Country Quick Facts." USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. United States Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html>.
The cartoon was published in a newspaper run by the Anti-saloon league. The Anti-saloon league was a group dedicated to the cause of temperance. They blamed alcohol for all the social problems of the world: Poverty, crime, debauchery, et cetera.
While the Anti-Saloon league had lofty goals, their means left much to be desired. They put every kind of pressure on everyone they could to pass prohibition, from cartoons to buying politicians and everything in between. They printed ¼ billion pages of propaganda per month, which is enough so that every legal adult in America today could grab a page and there would still be some to spare. They associated alcohol with Germany, because some brewers are german, and then used post WWI german hatred to drum up popular support. Then they blamed the immigrants, then the jews, then the catholics. They supported the KKK, for crying out loud, because it was anti-catholic and pro-prohibition.
They firmly believed that the end justifies the means, but they didn’t justify the leaders. Their leader, a Mr. Anderson, in addition to spouting the anti-immigrant/jew/catholic hate speeches, embezzled from the ASL and was convicted of forgery. Another high ranked member was convicted of buying politicians with church funds, hoarding flour during world war one to sell for a profit, embezzled, and tried to illegally manipulate the stock market. The next two weren’t convicted of anything, but one was proud of lying to promote the cause, and the next only retired after people started looking into his spending in political campaigns.
As a final note, they are still around today as the American counsel on alcohol problems, but a corrupt and anachronistic organization by any other name…
Anti-Saloon League." Alcohol Problems and Solutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/Controversies/Anti-Saloon-League.html#.VCA-yVa4nFI>.
"The 18th Amendment." Albany.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/18th_amendment_final.html>.
Henderson, Russel. "The "Pick Up the Club" Cartoon by Russell Henderson." Vulgar Army. Vulgar Army, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://vulgararmy.com/post/388337631/the-pick-up-the-club-cartoon-by-russell>.
"State and Country Quick Facts." USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. United States Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html>.