The Role of Women & Prohibition in the 1920’s

The 3 MASSES Mass Consumption Mass Production Mass Media

LIBERATION! The “Flapper”

LIBERATION

LIBERATION

LIBERATION?

AGNES MACPHAIL Won her riding in Ontario to become Canada’s first female MP She called for prison reform, which investigated prisons in the mid 30’s But there were MANY women who took liberation seriously, advancing the causes of women everywhere.

AGNES MACPHAIL She was appointed to Senate in 1954, but died before the appointment was fulfilled

The FAMOUS FIVE Emily Murphy becomes the first female judge in the British Empire, 1916 Lawyers challenge her right to preside, stating that women were not “persons” under the BNA Act Lawyers challenge her right to preside, stating that women were not “persons” under the BNA Act Emily Murphy Nellie McClung Henrietta Edwards Louise McKinney Irene Parlby

The FAMOUS FIVE 1928 – the Famous Five appeal to the British Privy Council to consider the “Persons Case” 1929 – the Council states that women are to be considered “persons” 1927 – Famous Five ask Supreme Court to rule on whether or not women should be considered “persons” 3 months later, the Supreme Court rules that the Fathers of Confederation had not intended for “persons” to apply to women!

The WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION This American organization influenced gov’t to ban all production, sale and consumption of alcohol – PROHIBITION!

“There are today, in round numbers, about 190 000 churches in the United States. Suppose a church averages in deprivation of one male member a year through the saloons. This is a low average. It means an actual deprivation of the church by saloons of 190 000 male church members per year, or over 900 congregations of 200 members each. More Christians than there are today in the whole state of Maine. Therefore, let the Church strenuously war against saloons as the best means of increasing her membership and saving men. The Wisconsin Issue Newspaper, 1905

The WCTU, 1924

PROHIBITION Lasted from 1920 – 1933 in America Lasted 3 years in Quebec, 4 years in BC and even up to 48 years in PEI!

PROHIBITION Resulted in “Gangsterism” or “organized crime” Al Capone profited 100 million/year Between 1925-30

Criminal career started when he was a kid in Brooklyn, stealing, fighting, organizing kid gangs. Saw a woman be robbed of her washer board. Organized a kid gang to beat up the thieves and organize a parade to show what he had done… popular! Dropped out of 6th grade after he smacked his teacher. Learned how to shoot pool and guns. Worked in a munitions factory, pin setter in a bowling alley, cloth cutter, and then a bouncer at the Harvard Inn bar. (Owned by Franky Yale). First taste of mob life.

He approached a woman in a bar, and said loud enough for all to hear – “Honey you have a great ass and I mean that in the nicest possible way”. The woman’s brother grabbed a knife and slashed Capone across the left cheek – hence the nickname “Scarface” – which Capone hated.

If you didn’t buy Capone’s beer, you would get a visit, and then would bomb you. Then they’d offer you the money to repair your place, which effectively put you in business with them. $120 million /year in sales. Equal to a medium size corporation. Capone was a brilliant business man and organizer. All cash business stopped government from tracking him. He bribed cops and politicians. 50% of Chicago’s police force worked for him. the Hawthorne Smoke Shop opened in Cicero. He started fixing horse races and gave hot tips to his friends who would win big sums.

Robert St. John, a newspaper editor, was disgusted and started writing condemning stories about the Capones. He was jumped by the Capones and beat savagely. One of the interesting instruments was a cake of soap in a knitted sock. If you were hit in the base of the skull, you could die. St. John survived and was hospitalized. When he left the hospital, the nurse told him that his bill was paid. The man who paid was described as having a slight scar on his cheek. Capone also bought controlling interest in St. John’s newspaper. Al’s accountant said he had been kicked around by a local bootlegger. Al killed him point blank emptying a 6 shooter. 3 witnesses ‘forgot’ what they saw. He turned himself in, saying he was out of town and he once again beat the rap.

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. One of the most complicated hits and most celebrated in gangland history. February 14, 1929 – Moran was late getting to his warehouse – his men were there awaiting a shipment of whiskey. Capone’s gang came in dressed as police. They gunned down Moran’s men. No one would testify against Capone and he got away with it. The city and country was sickened by the killing, but the bloodshed wasn’t over. Now Capone was the target of criminals and lawmen alike.

Capone made his next move – May 1929, he was told gunmen were conspiring to murder him, so he earned their confidence, invited them to a banquet, then he and his bodyguards beat them to death with baseball bats before shooting them to death. It was a hideous crime, so bad that other gangsters started to distance themselves from Capone. Public sentiment was growing against him and there was a $50 000 contract against him. He felt he would only be safe in jail.

Capone’s newest enemy was the federal government. Elliott Ness was given a lot of credit for shutting down Capone’s bootlegging business, but the reality is the IRS men were behind bringing down Capone. Nothing was in Capone’s name, but the IRS got a hold of ledgers that were coded and allowed them to track the evidence back to Capone. It took 5 years. They indicated him on 22 counts of income tax evasion. $215 000 dollars was what they found Capone to owe. George EQ Johnson was the prosecutor. Capone tried to plea bargain, then to bribe the jury. Judge switched jurors moments before the trial was to begin. There wasn’t a lot of sympathy for Big Al when so many Americans were paying taxes on minimal incomes. Capone was sentenced to 11 years behind bars, the stiffest sentence of any income tax crime to date. As he left court he said to the photographers “Get enough boys, you won’t be seeing me for along time”.

He eventually was sent to Alcatraz He eventually was sent to Alcatraz. In 1936 a fellow prisoner tried to kill him with a pair of scissors. In 1938, he was diagnosed with syphilis, his mind going. January 1939 he was transferred to another prison and then to hospital. Syphilis ate away at him in Florida, 1947, January 25th he died of cardiac arrest.

PROHIBITION “Speakeasies” opened up as illegal and secret places that sold forbidden alcohol

“Blind Pigs”

PROHIBITION Canadians “bootlegged” alcohol across the border Prohibition ended in Canada when provinces opted to sell liquor in government controlled stores

PROHIBITION Doctors would prescribe alcohol to patients… a dramatic rise in the number of patients seeking treatment through a quart of whiskey!