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Beer is dangerous. Not just to your liver or your morals, but also to your wallet.
That was the pro-Prohibition message delivered to New Haveners by one Professor Henry W. Farnam back on this date, Sept. 25, 1917.
Farnam, of Yale University’s economics department, was weighing in on the national debate about the 18th amendment to the Constitution barring the sale and distribution of alcohol across our — in the view of the “dries” — far-too-inebriated land. Just a month later, the official language of the amendment would be finalized by Congress. With two thirds of the states eventually ratifying, the amendment became law in 1920, enduring until 1933.
For a discussion of this unexpected economic argument for Prohibition — that the millions of bushels of barley, corn, and other grains used by the breweries raise the cost of flour and bread for the average New Haven family — tune in to the latest episode of WNHH radio’s “This Day In New Haven History.” To listen, click on the audio above or find the show in iTunes or any podcast app under “WNHH Community Radio.”
