Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - June 9, 1985
By Elizabeth Tuttle
Vigo County Historical Society

Cheers! Temperance society urges sobriety in bootleg era

After the Volstead Act of 1919 made the enforcement of prohibition mandatory, Americans began to drink in protest against the invasion of their rights.

"Bootleg" liquor was available either from illicit local stills or from abroad. "Speakeasies" came into being, and liquor could be obtained at these often-raided clubs.

Though no date appears on today's historical treasure, it certainly seems to fit into the Prohibition era of the 1920s. The treasure is a floral design card, 4 by 2 1/2 inches, published by the National Temperance Society, and donated to the Historical Society by Margaret Beecher. The following verse appears on the front of the card in the box:

" You may boast of your brandy
and wine as you please,
Gin cider and the rest,
Cold water transcends them
in all degrees.
It, is good, --it is better,
--'tis best."
National Temperance Society

The National Temperance Society and Publishing House was organized in 1865 by James Black of Lancaster, Pa. His abhorrence of liquor developed when, as a muleskinner at the age of 16 on the Pennsylvania and Union Canal, he joined some older workers in a carousal. When he awakened the next day with a pounding head and aching body, "he prayed to God to preserve him from another such humiliation."

In its first 60 years of existence, the National Temperance Society and Publishing House, located in New York City put out more than a billion pages of literature. It published three monthly periodicals: "The National Temperance Advocate" for adults, "The Youth's Temperance Banner" for adolescents, and "The Water Lily" for children -- which had a combined circulation of about 600,000.

In addition to the monthly periodicals some 2,000 plus books and pamphlets were published. Textbooks, broadsides and flyers also were steadily released.

James Black became one of the most persuasive individuals behind the third party trend. In the presidential election of 1872 the National Prohibition party ran James Black as its first presidential candidate.

Though he lost, the third-party platform achieved a high distinction because in addition to prohibition it included two other planks which eventually formed parts of the Constitution: the direct election of U.S. senators and suffrage for all citizen of voting age regardless of sex or race.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, located at 1411 S. Sixth St., is open Sunday - Friday, from 1 to 4 p.m. In addition, Dresser House, located in Fairbanks Park, is open to the public on Sundays throughout the summer from 1 to 4 p.m.