Keith wrote: "Prohibition in the US wasn't exactly a resounding success, it just drove it underground and boosted organised crime. I've read that the consumption of alcohol went up, by as much as 80% some have said. The attraction of the illicit."
Some interesting related info: In researching the history of alcohol fuel I learned the prohibition movement was primarily funded by JD Rockefeller. At the time alcohol was the dominant fuel in the US and he had found out that the byproduct of petroleum they had been pouring into rivers could be made into gasoline and used for vehicle fuels. He funded the Women's Christian Temperance Union to help make drinking alcohol illegal. They took their hatchets into bars and broke bottles and kegs and caused a big ruckus that led to the Constitutional amendment outlawing drinking alcohol. He also funded enough Congressional campaigns to get supporting legislation to shift the balance from alcohol fuel toward gasoline. By the time the new amendment overruled prohibition, Standard Oil had consolidated its market. During Jimmy Carter's presidency there was a big push for homegrown alcohol. We easily got a permit and made it in our barn with our home-built equipment. Carter sent people to see how we little guys were doing. His man liked our operation so much he hired Jock to take his still to the government sponsored alternate energy fairs and teach farmers how to make their own stills and fuel. One man came up to him after he said why alcohol was so much better than oil and told him, If you keep talking like that you won't be around very long. Someone told Jock he was from Shell Oil. Maybe he was also talking about Carter, who was the biggest alternate energy president we ever had. He lasted only one term, partially due to a major oil country, Iran, who took American hostages and brokered a deal to release them only after Reagan was elected. Another victory for big oil. Marilyn
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