Social Issues Of The 1920S

The 1920s saw the rise of a variety of social issues in lieu of a rapidly changing world. Conflicts arose in what was considered acceptable, illegal, and respectable. The conflict quickly became developed into one between the liberal urban areas against the conservative rural areas.
Speakeasies
Speakeasies were formed in the 1920's as a means to get around the everyday hassle of lawenforcement watching for people to violate the 18th Amendment. As a result of Prohibition, the speakeasy was an established institution. For every legitimate saloon that closed as a result of the new law, a half dozen underground palaces sprung up. These speakeasies were one of the many ways that people during the 1920's and early 1930's obtained illegal alcohol. By the middle of the decade there werethought to be 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone. Patrons often said you could get a glass of liquor at any building on 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in New York City--if you knew where the speakeasies were and if you had the password to get in. Federal agents also reported that this area was on of the "wettest" in the country. (Crime and Punishments166)

Although speakeasieswere illegal there were many benefits to those who took the risks of ownership. A speakeasy could net its owner a lot of money, but it also took money to make a profit. One of New York's proprietors estimated his operation costs at abour $1370 per month. Of this sum, $400 was graft money to Federal Prohibition Agents, police officers, and the New York District Attorney. In addition, the cop onthe beat would get an extra $40 to turn his back whenever beer was being delivered. The alternative to these payments was to have an elaborate and expensive system for concealing the evidence whenever there was a raid. At Manhatten's "21" Club there were four alarm buttons at various points in the vestibules. If a raid prevented one of them from being pushed, the doorman could reach for another.There were also five separate liqour caches, reachable only through secret doors, and the switches were instantly short circuited whenever an alarm button was pressed. These safety features were an expensive alternative to paying off public officials!

In addition to speakeasies, the American populus also came up with innovative ways to circumvent the law. They used hip flasks, false books,coconut shells, hot water bottles and garden hoses to transport illegal liqour. People also stored the contraband in prams with babies perched on top and in carpenter's aprons with big fat pockets. One man was even caught hustling liqour over the border in two boxes of eggs: He had drained the eggs of their original content and refilled them with liqour.

Many average American's became criminalsduring the age of Prohibition. They found innovative new ways to drink, produce and transport liquor. Prohibition, truly a noble experiment in intent, became a dismal failure for the populus did not support it nor did the government adequately enforce it.

Prohibition of alcohol
During the 1920s the populations in cities swelled. Crime and political corruption became much more common andaccepted. Following a relatively conservative period following the First World War, a liberalism began to spread throughout urban areas during the years following 1925. Urban areas began to hold increasingly liberal views of sex, alcohol, drugs, and homosexuality. The view that women and minorities were entitled to equality became increasingly prevalent in urban areas, especially among the educated.For example, the actor William Haines, who was regularly named in newspapers and magazines as the #1 male box-office draw, openly lived in a gay relationship with his lover Jimmy Shields. Many people in rural areas became increasingly shocked at all the changes they saw occurring and many responded by becoming reactionary. The Volstead Act, a law meant to uphold the Eighteenth Amendment, became...