DOCSLIB.ORG

Prohibition in the Taft Court Era

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Prohibition in the Taft Court Era William & Mary Law Review Volume 48 (2006-2007) Issue 1 Article 2 October 2006 Federalism, Positive Law, and the Emergence of the American Administrative State: Prohibition in the Taft Court Era Robert Post Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr Part of the Constitutional Law Commons Repository Citation Robert Post, Federalism, Positive Law, and the Emergence of the American Administrative State: Prohibition in the Taft Court Era, 48 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1 (2006), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol48/iss1/2 Copyright c 2006 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr William and Mary Law Review VOLUME 48 No.1, 2006 FEDERALISM, POSITIVE LAW, AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE AMERICAN ADMINISTRATIVE STATE: PROHIBITION IN THE TAFT COURT ERAt ROBERT POST* ABSTRACT This Article offers a detailed analysis of major Taft Court decisions involving prohibition, including Olmstead v. United States, Carroll v. United States, United States v. Lanza, Lambert v. Yellowley, and Tumey v. Ohio. Prohibition,and the Eighteenth Amendment by which it was constitutionally entrenched, was the result of a social movement that fused progressive beliefs in efficiency with conservative beliefs in individualresponsibility and self-control. During the 1920s the Supreme Court was a strictly "bone-dry" institution that regularly sustained the administrative and law enforcement techniques deployed by the federal government in its t This Article makes extensive use of primary source material, including the papers of members of the Taft Court. All unpublished sources cited herein are on file with the author. * I am grateful for the incisive comments of Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Amar, Nancy Cott, Steven Duke, George Fisher, William Fletcher, Charles Fried, Barry Friedman, Robert Gordon, Roderick Hills, Morton Horwitz, John Langbein, Daniel Meltzer, Bill Nelson, Edward Purcell, Ceceile Kay Richter, Reva Siegel, Kate Stith, and Bill Stuntz, as well as for the unfailing research of Deborah Dinner and Robert Wiygul. The recent retirement of Gene Coakley is an irreparable loss for all of us who have relied upon his inexhaustible assistance. WILLIAM AND MARY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 48:1 losing effort to prevent the manufacture and sale of liquor throughoutthe continental United States. This is surprising,because the Taft Court was in other respects dominated by conservative Justices, who were temperamentally opposed to the expansion of the national administrativestate, particularlyin contexts in which the national government sought to displace local police power. Prohibitionrepresented the greatest expansion of federal regulatory authority since Reconstruction.It caused a major crisis in the theory and practice of American federalism, as the nationalgovernment, which lacked the courts or police necessary for implementing the Eighteenth Amendment, sought to conscript state judicial and law enforcement resources. Close inspection reveals that the Taft Court's support for prohibition came from an unlikely alliance between two liberal Justices-Holmes and Brandeis--and three conservative Justices- Taft, Van Devanter, and Sanford. Three conservative Justices- McReynolds, Sutherland,and Butler-remainedadamantly opposed to prohibition. Holmes's and Brandeis'ssupport ofprohibition likely reflects pre- New Deal liberalism's conviction that courts ought to defer to democratic lawmaking. This conviction was sorely tested by the flagrant and persistent defiance of prohibition, as well as by the repressive criminal and administrative techniques used to secure prohibition'senforcement. Not only didprogressives grow suspicious of federal regulatoryefforts to enforce sumptuary legislation,but they began to question the legitimacy ofpositive law that lacked resonance with the customs and mores of the population. These trends in American liberalism are visible in Brandeis's famous dissent in Olmstead. They would vanish with the advent of the New Deal and not reappearuntil the 1960s, in cases like Griswold v. Connecticut, at a time when the American administrative state had become as effectively entrenched as it had been duringprohibition in the 1920s. The opposition to prohibition of McReynolds, Sutherland, and Butler represents the traditionalpre-New Dealjudicial conservative position that positive law, particularlypositive nationallaw, was to be judicially disciplined whenever it departed from customary social values. The vigoroussupport ofprohibitionby otherwise conservative Justices like Taft, Van Devanter, and Sanford, by contrast, 20061 PROHIBITION IN THE TAFT COURT ERA represents a new development in American judicial conservatism. These Justices fused a conservative belief in social control with-an embrace of legal positivism. This fusion disappearedfrom judicial conservatism with the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, and it did not reappear until the 1970s and the philosophy of Justice Rehnquist, when judicialconservatism finally came to terms with the entrenchment of the American administrativestate. The brief constitutionalizationof prohibition, in other words, forced Justices on both the right and the left to stop debatingwhether there should be anAmerican administrativestate, and requiredthem instead to reconstruct their judicial philosophy on the assumption that the administrativestate was an unalterablereality. It provoked a brief efflorescence of judicialperspectives that would not come into full flower until late in the twentieth century. Prohibitionalso forced a rethinking of the appropriatelimits of nationalpower, as well as fundamental developments in the meaning of Fourth Amendment limitations on law enforcement. WILLIAM AND MARY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 48:1 INTRODUCTION To recover the significance of prohibition in the United States is to engage in what Michel Foucault would call archaeology.' The normal history of the American administrative state simply omits the era of prohibition. The hiatus is especially striking because the Eighteenth Amendment's prohibition on the sale and manufacture of liquor prompted the greatest expansion of federal administrative responsibility since the days of Reconstruction. Yet the ordinary narrative of American institutional development leaps directly from prewar progressivism to FDR's New Deal, skipping lightly over the 1920s. Apparently the collapse of prohibition was so traumatic that the whole episode has simply dropped from our historical conscious- ness. This is a pity, for prohibition has much to teach us about im- portant themes of American constitutional history. The Eighteenth Amendment, ratified on January 16, 1919, prohibited "the manu- facture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors,"2 and the bone-dry Volstead Act,' enacted by Congress to implement the Amendment, defined liquor as intoxicating whenever it con- tained more than 0.5 percent alcohol.' Although the Eighteenth Amendment had been approved by forty-six of the forty-eight 1. See MICHEL FOUCAULT, THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE 7, 131, 135, 138.40 (A.M. Sheridan Smith trans., Pantheon Books 1972) (1969). 2. The Amendment provides: Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. Sec. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Sec. 3. This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. U.S. CONST. amend. XVIII, repealed by U.S. CONST. amend. XXI. 3. The official name for the Volstead Act was the National Prohibition Act, ch. 85, 41 Stat. 305 (1919), repealed by Liquor Law Repeal and Enforcement Act, ch. 740, 49 Stat. 872 (1935). 4. Id.; see The Nat'l Prohibition Cases, 253 U.S. 350, 387-88 (1920). 2006] PROHIBITION IN THE TAFT COURT ERA 5 states,5 and although the majority of the states had some form of local prohibition prior to ratification,6 national prohibition was 5. Although federal documents report Rhode Island as the only state not to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment, see CONG. RESEARCH SERV., THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION, S. Doc. No. 108-17, at 35 n.10 (2d Sess. 2004) (Johnny H. Killian et al. eds., 2002 & Supp. 2004), available at http:/www. gpoaccess.gov/constitution/pdf2002/007.pdf, in fact Connecticut also failed to ratify. See CONN. JOURNAL OFTHE SENATE CONFERENCE REPORT, S.J. Res. 56, Spec. Sess., at 1191 (1918); AKHIL REED AMAR, AMERICA'S CONSTITUTION: A BIOGRAPHY 616 n.28 (2005). 6. State prohibition laws preexisted national prohibition. The prevalence of such laws had increased dramatically in the years before the United States entered World War I. At the turn of the century there were only five states with "state-wide laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages," but by April 1917 that number had increased to twenty-six. JAMES H. TIMBERLAKE, PROHIBITION AND THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 1900- 1920, at 149-66 (1966). Of these, only thirteen-all in the southern or western regions of the country--"'had sought
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Volume 59, Issue 1
    Volume 60, Issue 4 Page 1023 Stanford Law Review THE SURPRISINGLY STRONGER CASE FOR THE LEGALITY OF THE NSA SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM: THE FDR PRECEDENT Neal Katyal & Richard Caplan © 2008 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, from the Stanford Law Review at 60 STAN. L. REV. 1023 (2008). For information visit http://lawreview.stanford.edu. THE SURPRISINGLY STRONGER CASE FOR THE LEGALITY OF THE NSA SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM: THE FDR PRECEDENT Neal Katyal* and Richard Caplan** INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................1024 I. THE NSA CONTROVERSY .................................................................................1029 A. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act................................................1029 B. The NSA Program .....................................................................................1032 II. THE PRECURSOR TO THE FDR PRECEDENT: NARDONE I AND II........................1035 A. The 1934 Communications Act .................................................................1035 B. FDR’s Thirst for Intelligence ....................................................................1037 C. Nardone I...................................................................................................1041 D. Nardone II .................................................................................................1045 III. FDR’S DEFIANCE OF CONGRESS AND THE SUPREME COURT..........................1047 A. Attorney General
    [Show full text]
  • A General Model of Illicit Market Suppression A
    ALL THE SHIPS THAT NEVER SAILED: A GENERAL MODEL OF ILLICIT MARKET SUPPRESSION A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Government. By David Joseph Blair, M.P.P. Washington, DC September 15, 2014 Copyright 2014 by David Joseph Blair. All Rights Reserved. The views expressed in this dissertation do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. ii ALL THE SHIPS THAT NEVER SAILED: A GENERAL MODEL OF TRANSNATIONAL ILLICIT MARKET SUPPRESSION David Joseph Blair, M.P.P. Thesis Advisor: Daniel L. Byman, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This model predicts progress in transnational illicit market suppression campaigns by comparing the relative efficiency and support of the suppression regime vis-à-vis the targeted illicit market. Focusing on competitive adaptive processes, this ‘Boxer’ model theorizes that these campaigns proceed cyclically, with the illicit market expressing itself through a clandestine business model, and the suppression regime attempting to identify and disrupt this model. Success in disruption causes the illicit network to ‘reboot’ and repeat the cycle. If the suppression network is quick enough to continually impose these ‘rebooting’ costs on the illicit network, and robust enough to endure long enough to reshape the path dependencies that underwrite the illicit market, it will prevail. Two scripts put this model into practice. The organizational script uses two variables, efficiency and support, to predict organizational evolution in response to competitive pressures.
    [Show full text]
  • Boardwalk Empire
    BOARDWAI,K EIITPIRE ,'Pi1ot " written by Terence Wint,er FIRST DRAFT April L6, 2008 G *ffi EXT. ATLAI:i"IIC OCEAN - NIGHT With a buoy softly clangring in the dist,ance, a 90-fooE fishing schooner, the ?omoka, rocks lazily on the open ocean, waves gentLy lapping at its hulI. ON DECK BILL MCCOY, pensive , 40, checks his pocket wauch, then spius tobaeco juice as he peers into the darkness. In the distance, VgE SEE flickering lights, then HEAR the rumble of motorboats approaching, twenty in atl. Their engines idle as the first pulls up and moors alongside. BTLL MCCOY (calling dovrn) Sittin' goddamn duck out here. DANIIy MURDOCH, tough, 30s, looks up from the motorboatr, where he's accompanied. by a YOIING HOOD, 18. MIJRDOCH So move it. then, c,mon. ON DECK McCoy yanks a canvas tarp off a mountainous stack of netted earqo -- hundreds of crates marked "Canadian Club Whiskey'. WiEh worlsnanlike precision, he and three CRSWI,IAN hoist the first load of two dozen crates up and over the side, lowering it down on a pulley. As the net reaches the motorboaL: MURDOCH (CONT'D) (to the Young Hood) Liquid go1d, boyo. They finish setting the load in place, then Murdoch guns the motorboat and heads off. Another boat putters in to take his s1ot, as the next cargo neb is lowered. TBACK WITH MURDOCH'S MOTORBOAT as it heads inland through the darkness over the water. Slowly, a KINGDOM OF LIGHTS appears on the horizon, with grand hotels, massive neon signs, carnival rides and giant lighted piers li-ning its shore.
    [Show full text]
  • Prohibition, American Cultural Expansion, and the New Hegemony in the 1920S: an Interpretation
    Prohibition, American Cultural Expansion, and the New Hegemony in the 1920s: An Interpretation IAN TYRRELL* In the [920s American prohibitionists, through the World League against Alcohol­ ism, sought to extend their war on liquor beyond the boundaries of the United States. Prohibitionistsfailed in their efforts due to anti-American sentiment, complex class and cultural opposition to prohibition, and negative reporting of the experi­ ment with prohibition in the U.S. Nevertheless, restrictive anti-alcohol laws were introduced in a number ofcountries. Moreover, the efforts ofAmerican prohibition­ ists furthered the larger process of American cultural expansion by emphasizing achievements of the U.S. in economic modernization and technical advancement. This episode in American cultural expansion occurred with the support of anti­ alcohol groups in foreign countries that embraced the message equating American reform with modernity. Prohibitionists abroad colluded in the process, thereby accepting a form ofAmerican cultural hegemony. En 1920, par l'intermédiaire de la World League against Alcoholism, les prohibi­ tionnistes américains se sont efforcés de pousser leur lutte contre l'alcool au-delà des frontières des États-Unis. Cependant, le sentiment anti-américain, l'opposition complexe des classes et de la culture à l'endroit de la prohibition ainsi que la mauvaise presse dont l'expérience américaine a fait l'objet ont fait échouer leurs efforts. Néanmoins, plusieurs pays ont adopté des lois restrictives contre l'alcool. Qui plus est, les efforts des prohibitionnistes américains ont favorisé l'expansion de la culture américaine en mettant en valeur les réussites des É.-u. au chapitre de la modernisation économique et de l'avancement de la technologie.
    [Show full text]
  • When Vice Was King
    When Vice was King A History of Northern Kentucky Gambling 1920 - 1970 Part 1 by Jim Linduff with Roy Klein and Larry Trapp Preface Northern Kentucky has been included in some studies, most notably one by Hank Messick, the crusading inves- Much has been written about organized crime in the tigative reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal who United States, primarily about activities in major cities: made his career writing about the illegal activities there. New York, the city of origin; Chicago, home of Al Several excellent articles listed in the Sources section of Capone; Miami; Tampa; New Orleans, with its possible this article have described the Northern Kentucky scene, connections to the assassination of John F. Kennedy; and some including descriptions of chips, dice and other mem- of course, Las Vegas, the city that crime built. orabilia of interest to collectors. CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | Fall 2007 53 Why then, our article? We asked this question several demanded alcohol and the gambling associated with it. times throughout the project as we searched for long-for- Large amounts of capital became available to buy and/or gotten references and recollections of clubs, some not build distilleries, distribute the booze made therein being in the news for over 60 years! First, and of most throughout the Midwest and establish lavish carpet joints importance to us, is our need to further document the peo- for people to drink and gamble. Northern Kentucky was ple and locations that made the Northern Kentucky gam- near the booze supply, centrally located for distribution bling era unique.
    [Show full text]
  • Jenny Parker Mccloskey, 215-409-6616 Merissa Blum, 215-409-6645 [email protected] [email protected]
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jenny Parker McCloskey, 215-409-6616 Merissa Blum, 215-409-6645 [email protected] [email protected] NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER TO BRING BACK PROHIBITION IN MARCH 2017 Original exhibit, American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, returns for a limited engagement Exhibit opens Friday, March 3 Philadelphia, PA (January 5, 2017) – The National Constitution Center is bringing back American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, its critically acclaimed exhibit that brings the story of Prohibition vividly to life. The exhibit, created by the National Constitution Center, originally debuted in 2012 and has since toured nationally, including stops at the Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry in Washington, Grand Rapids Public Museum in Michigan, and Peoria Riverfront Museum in Illinois. It will open to the public Friday, March 3 and run through July 16, 2017. An exclusive, members-only sneak preview opening party is planned for Thursday, March 2. The event will include an America’s Town Hall panel discussion on the constitutionality of Prohibition and its impact on American society today. “We are thrilled to have this superb exhibit back from its national tour,” said President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen. “American Spirits brings the U.S. Constitution to life. Visitors can educate themselves about the constitutional legacy of Prohibition and how to amend the Constitution today.” The exhibit uses a mix of artifacts and engaging visitor activities to take visitors back in time to the dawn of the temperance movement, through the Roaring ’20s, and to the unprecedented repeal of a constitutional amendment.
    [Show full text]
  • Prohibition (1920-1933) Internet Assignment
    Prohibition (1920-1933) Internet Assignment Name______________________________________ Period_____ Go to: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/ Click on “Roots of Prohibition” Read the section and answer the questions below. 1. By 1830, the average American over 15 years old consumed nearly _______ gallons of pure alcohol a year. 2. In which institutions did the Temperance Movement have their “roots”? Watch the short video entitled, “The Absolute Shall” 3. Why were the Washingtonian Societies rejected by the Protestant Churches of the 1830s and 1840s? 4. What was the anti-alcohol movement started by the Protestant churches called? 5. What was the “Cold Water Army”? Read the sections about the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. 6. Which two famous “suffragettes” were also involved with the Temperance Movement? 7. Who was the leader of the Anti-Saloon League? 8. Why did the ASL support the 16th Amendment making an income tax constitutional? 9. What types of propaganda did the ASL put forth during the years leading up to World War I? Page | 1 Go back to the top of the screen and click on “Prohibition Nationwide.” This will take you to a map. Click on the bottle depicted in the Pacific Northwest. Watch the video entitled, “The Good Bootlegger” about Roy Olmstead and his Pacific NW Bootleggers. 10. What was Roy Olmstead’s job? 11. After being convicted of bootlegging alcohol & losing his job, what did Olmstead decide to do? 12. From which country did Olmstead and his employees get the alcohol? 13. What were some of the ways in which Olmstead and his employees distributed the alcohol? 14.
    [Show full text]
  • Alice Rossi (1922-2009): Feminist Scholar and an Ardent Activist
    Volume 38 • Number 1 • January 2010 Alice Rossi (1922-2009): Feminist Scholar and an Ardent Activist by Jay Demerath, Naomi Gerstel, Harvard, the University of were other honors too: inside Michael Lewis, University of Chicago, and John Hopkins The Ernest W. Burgess Massachusetts - Amherst as a “research associate”—a Award for Distinguished position often used at the Research on the Family lice S. Rossi—the Harriet time for academic women (National Council of ASA’s 2010 Election Ballot Martineau Professor of Sociology 3 A married to someone in Family Relations, 1996); Find out the slate of officer and Emerita at the University of the same field. She did not the Commonwealth Award Massachusetts - Amherst, a found- committee candidates for the receive her first tenured for a Distinguished Career ing board member of the National 2010 election. appointment until 1969, in Sociology (American Organization for Women (NOW) Alice Rossi (1922-2009) when she joined the faculty Sociological Association, (1966-70), first president of at Goucher College, and her first 1989); elected American Academy of August 2009 Council Sociologists for Women in Society 5 appointment to a graduate depart- Arts and Sciences Fellow (1986); and Highlights (1971-72), and former president of the ment did not come until 1974, honorary degrees from six colleges Key decisions include no change American Sociological Association when she and her husband, Peter H. and universities. in membership dues, but (1982-83)—died of pneumonia on Rossi, moved to the University of As an original thinker, Alice man- subscription rates see a slight November 3, 2009, in Northampton, Massachusetts-Amherst as Professors aged to combine her successful activ- Massachusetts.
    [Show full text]
  • National Prohibition and Jazz Age Literature, 1920-1933
    Missouri University of Science and Technology Scholars' Mine English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works English and Technical Communication 01 Jan 2005 Spirits of Defiance: National Prohibition and Jazz Age Literature, 1920-1933 Kathleen Morgan Drowne Missouri University of Science and Technology, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/eng_teccom_facwork Part of the Business and Corporate Communications Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Drowne, Kathleen. "Spirits of Defiance: National Prohibition and Jazz Age Literature, 1920-1933." Columbus, Ohio, The Ohio State University Press, 2005. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars' Mine. It has been accepted for inclusion in English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works by an authorized administrator of Scholars' Mine. This work is protected by U. S. Copyright Law. Unauthorized use including reproduction for redistribution requires the permission of the copyright holder. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Drowne_FM_3rd.qxp 9/16/2005 4:46 PM Page i SPIRITS OF DEFIANCE Drowne_FM_3rd.qxp 9/16/2005 4:46 PM Page iii Spirits of Defiance NATIONAL PROHIBITION AND JAZZ AGE LITERATURE, 1920–1933 Kathleen Drowne The Ohio State University Press Columbus Drowne_FM_3rd.qxp 9/16/2005 4:46 PM Page iv Copyright © 2005 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Drowne, Kathleen Morgan. Spirits of defiance : national prohibition and jazz age literature, 1920–1933 / Kathleen Drowne. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–8142–0997–1 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0–8142–5142–0 (pbk.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Before Reading the Ghosts of Eden Park, How Much Did You Know
    1. Before reading The Ghosts of Eden Park, how much did you know about George Remus, Mabel Walker Willebrandt, and the Prohibition Era? Which historical aspects of the book surprised you the most? Did you learn new things about this period in history? 2. You meet two very different female characters in the book: Imogene Remus and Mabel Walker Willebrandt. Compare and contrast these two characters. With whom did you most identify and why? What did you like or dislike about them? How did they each adhere to—and rebel against— circumscribed gender roles? 3. George and Imogene’s relationship deteriorates after he’s sent to prison. Taking into consideration everything you’ve learned about Imogene, do you believe their love was genuine? Why or why not? Were you surprised by their fates at the end? 4. What role does the Jazz Age setting play? Do you think these events could have occurred in any other era? 5. What were your initial impressions of George Remus? Did your opinions shift throughout the story? 6. The Ghosts of Eden Park uses excerpts of trial testimony to foreshadow and create suspense. Did you know which character would commit murder? Did your assumptions change at all as you read? 7. As you read about the court proceedings, what reactions did you have to the trial-by-jury process? What are the most significant factors in getting a fair trial, or an intelligent investigation? Have you served on a jury, or been a defendant before a jury? If so, how did your experience compare to the one described here? How would you have voted had you been on that jury? 8.
    [Show full text]
  • Eugenics and Domestic Science in the 1924 Sociological Survey of White Women in North Queensland
    This file is part of the following reference: Colclough, Gillian (2008) The measure of the woman : eugenics and domestic science in the 1924 sociological survey of white women in North Queensland. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/5266 THE MEASURE OF THE WOMAN: EUGENICS AND DOMESTIC SCIENCE IN THE 1924 SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF WHITE WOMEN IN NORTH QUEENSLAND Thesis submitted by Gillian Beth COLCLOUGH, BA (Hons) WA on February 11 2008 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Arts and Social Sciences James Cook University Abstract This thesis considers experiences of white women in Queensland‟s north in the early years of „white‟ Australia, in this case from Federation until the late 1920s. Because of government and health authority interest in determining issues that might influence the health and well-being of white northern women, and hence their families and a future white labour force, in 1924 the Institute of Tropical Medicine conducted a comprehensive Sociological Survey of White Women in selected northern towns. Designed to address and resolve concerns of government and medical authorities with anxieties about sanitation, hygiene and eugenic wellbeing, the Survey used domestic science criteria to measure the health knowledge of its subjects: in so doing, it gathered detailed information about their lives. Guided by the Survey assessment categories, together with local and overseas literature on racial ideas, the thesis examines salient social and scientific concerns about white women in Queensland‟s tropical north and in white-dominated societies elsewhere and considers them against the oral reminiscences of women who recalled their lives in the North for the North Queensland Oral History Project.
    [Show full text]
  • The Noble Experiment
    Parkland College A with Honors Projects Honors Program 2014 The obleN Experiment Scarlett Longdon Parkland College Recommended Citation Longdon, Scarlett, "The oN ble Experiment" (2014). A with Honors Projects. 129. https://spark.parkland.edu/ah/129 Open access to this Essay is brought to you by Parkland College's institutional repository, SPARK: Scholarship at Parkland. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Scarlett Longdon Final Project History 105-201 Parkland College THE NOBLE EXPERIMENT Many in the early twentieth century believed alcohol to be responsible for the many problems plaguing America. Groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League pressed for prohibition laws banning the sale, manufacture and consumption of alcohol in the belief that it would reduce unemployment, domestic violence and poverty. With a massive push that was decades in the making, the Eighteenth Amendment is passed and prohibition takes effect in January 1920. With the desire to drink still looming over everyone, the illegal alcohol or moonshining business boomed, causing more problems in America and not fixing the old ones. The rate of alcoholism rose, and many even began dying off from the illegal poisonous alcohol they were consuming. Prohibition is when the infamous gangster Al Capone came to light, with many others like him murdering others to make a buck. Prohibition ended as a failure due to many reasons. The American’s determination to get drunk and make money overwhelmed the laws passed to prevent it. How illegal alcohol, money, and the people pulling the strings on both sides ended prohibition before it was even able to start will be the focus of my paper.
    [Show full text]