PROHIBITION ENDS WITH A WHIMPER

Duelling Editorials Heralded The End Of Three-Year Trial

Just three years after it was introduced, Prohibition was rejected by
the people of British Columbia. The vote wasn't even close -- 91,000
wanted it gone, with 55,000 voting for it to continue.

Both sides in the debate had fought hard as the vote drew near.

The Daily Colonist summed things up in an editorial. "By legislation
we have led to the development of a new class of criminals. The
saloons, which nine-tenths of the people want abolished, still ply
their trade. In the past drinking was done in the open and above
board, and those who abused the habit could be punished, whereas now
there is secret drinking all over the province.

"The Prohibitionists cannot know of what is happening, or how the law
has been brought into ridicule, or they would not be so earnest in
their advocacy that present conditions should be maintained."

The newspaper urged temperance rather than prohibition. Voters were
given a simple choice:

* The present Prohibition Act.

* An act to provide for government control and sale in sealed
packages of spirituous and malt liquors. The Colonist was in favour
of government control, the Victoria Daily Times did not like either choice.

The voters agreed with the Colonist's editors, and went strongly in
favour of government control. Every district of Vancouver Island
voted "wet," and as the Times noted, in some places the vote was 17 to one.

Prohibition officially came to an end on Wednesday, June 15, 1921.

The doors of the government liquor store at 755 Yates Street were
thrown open at 11 a.m. sharp. There did not appear to be much demand.

"The rush of parched citizens for this oasis was conspicuous by its
absence," the Daily Times reported. Part of the problem was that
individuals could not buy liquor if they did not have an annual
permit, which cost $5. The permits had to be obtained from the
police, not from the liquor outlet. The store remained open until 7
p.m. that day.

A second Victoria store opened soon after in the St. Francis Hotel
building on lower Yates Street, west of Government. Officials of the
liquor control board said the site was chosen because "customers,
especially women, could go there and get their supply without being
seen going in or out of the shop," the Times reported.

The end of Prohibition hurt some enterprising businesses.
Bootleggers, we might say.

Private companies that had been importing alcohol from Alberta for
eager customers vowed that they would stay in business, despite the
government's plan to grab a monopoly on the sale of liquor in the
province. Liquor control board officials said they would fight back
with a tax that would bring the cost up to the amounts charged at
government stores.

Those prices were low, by 2008 standards. A bottle of Canadian Club,
for example, went for $3.65 at private outlets and for $4 at
government stores. Gordon's London Dry Gin was $3.70 privately and
$4.25 from the government.

The Times noted that bootleggers were selling whisky for $5 to $7 a
bottle, higher than the government amount, but the bootlegger price
included free delivery day or night, and the purchaser would not need
a government permit.

The government ordered that every British Columbian with a supply of
non-government-issue liquor had to report it.

Stickers would be handed out to make the liquor legal. Liquor without
stickers could be seized after July 15, although citizens were
reassured that no liquor board employees would be going from house to
house looking for illicit stocks.

"Our liquor board offices will be inundated with reports as this
province is now just loaded down with liquors," said Col. W.N.
Winsby, the liquor board commissioner.

British Columbia was never completely dry during prohibition, and
drinkers could imbibe legally. All they needed was an ailment of some
sort, and a prescription from a doctor stating that an alcoholic
stimulant could be of benefit.

There was also near-beer, low-alcohol stuff known by a variety of
nicknames, none of them printable in a family newspaper.

Through Prohibition, near-beer was sold in saloons and bars and
clubs. They had been ordered to stop the sale at midnight on June 14,
and they unanimously stayed open to 1 a.m. -- midnight standard time.

Government control meant they could not sell beer at all -- not even
the low-alcohol variety.

In other words, British Columbia after Prohibition was more
restrictive than British Columbia under Prohibition.

There was some talk that the bars could be converted into soft drink
stands. The same talk had made the rounds when Prohibition was
introduced. Veterans groups vowed they would continue to sell beer
despite the government control.

In a letter to the Daily Colonist, Edward E. Hardisty said that
British Columbians had been trampled underfoot during Prohibition,
but would be even worse off with government control. The drinking of
beer would be discouraged, he said, while the drinking of hard liquor
would be encouraged.

The last word goes to Rev. Wilford Sipprell of the Metropolitan
Methodist Church.

He told a meeting of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union that it
was still important to work toward the eradication of the evil. It
was important to elevate the tone of social activities, Sipprell said.

"The modern dance, as I know it, tends to licentiousness," he said,
urging that young people should look to literary clubs or concerts
instead. The sensuous impulses were given man for divine purposes,
Sipprell said.

If misdirected, he said, those impulses could be mischievous.