The Anti Saloon League

Anti-Saloon League
  The Anti-Saloon League was a leading organisation in the United States for prohibition from 1893-1933. It was founded by Howard Hyde Russell who also became the first leader of the Anti-saloon League. The members of the organisation believed that American society was in moral decline and that as more and more people began to move from rural areas to urbanized ones that they were losing touch with their religious values. The Ohio Anti-Saloon League hoped to reduce alcohol consumption, if not outright prohibit it, by enforcing existing laws and by implementing new ones. This organisation also sought to eliminate bars, taverns, and saloons, believing that these businesses promoted the consumption of alcohol. This same year, temperance supporters in Washington, DC, formed their own Anti-Saloon League. In 1895, the Ohio and Washington organizations united to create the National Anti-Saloon League, which eventually became the Anti-Saloon League of America.
The anti-saloon league recruited followers by using local churches, especially Methodists ones. They were also able to influence people’s opinions and share their message through print. The Anti-saloon league developed its own publishing house “The American issue Publishing Company”, based in Ohio and lead by Ernest Cherrington. The organisation also lobbied members of the Democratic and Republican Parties to support Prohibition. An example of this is the governor's race in Ohio in 1909. Governor Myron T. Herrick was a member of the Republican Party and strongly opposed the Ohio Anti-Saloon League's attempt to allow local communities to prohibit alcohol. The Ohio league first sought a Republican to challenge Herrick for the party's nomination. Upon failing to find a potential candidate, the League endorsed the Democratic candidate, John M. Pattison. Pattison easily won the election, illustrating the increasing power of the Ohio Anti-Saloon League and the Anti-Saloon League of America.
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