The Bench & Bar magazine is published to provide members of the KBA with information that will increase their knowledge of the law, improve the practice of law, and assist in improving the quality of legal services for the citizenry.
Issue link: https://kentuckybenchandbar.epubxp.com/i/213936
FEATURE: BRIDLED SPIRITS LIQUOR CONTROL LAWS IN A HISTORICAL CONTEXT: WHERE WE ARE . . . AND Kentucky Historical Society, Ohio River Portrait Collection, contributed by James E. Quinn, Sr., Kentucky Historical Society Collections 4 I t may be difficult to understand why and how alcoholic beverages are currently regulated without knowing some of the history behind the laws regulating the traffic and sale of those products. To say that alcohol products are unique among other consumer products is an understatement. From a legal standpoint, alcoholic beverages are the most heavily regulated consumer products in the marketplace in the United States. They are the only products that are the subject of two amendments to th the U.S. Constitution — the 18 Amendment, which ushered in national Prohibist tion, and the 21 Amendment, which th repealed the 18 Amendment and prohibited transportation of intoxicating liquors into any state for delivery or use in violation 1 of that state's laws. B&B; • 11.13 The causes of national Prohibition, besides the political machinations underlying the adoption of the 18th Amendment, are generally attributed to the abuses associated with the "saloons" as they existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In his book Last Call, Daniel Okrent describes the urban saloon as a place where a customer could cash his paycheck, obtain credit, and get a cheap place to stay at five cents a night.2 The working-class saloon would offer a free lunch to patrons where the food was so salty that only copious amounts of beer could quench one's thirst.3 This is where the expression "There is no such thing as a free lunch" arose. Many saloons were owned by or were under contract with brewers and distillers to sell their products exclusively; these so-called "tied houses" had all the drawbacks of absentee landlords, who neither lived in the community nor had any ties therein. Their only motive was increased sales. The abuses associated with saloons are well documented by historians and in the literature of the times. After the turn of the 20th century, the temperance movement gained social and political momentum, eventually leading to the adoption of the 18th Amendment. With the 80th anniversary of the ratification of the 21st Amendment approaching on December 5 of this year, it seems an appropriate time for a review of how we got to where we are now. T he advent of national Prohibition begat a whole new set of problems that were unforeseen by the advocates who helped usher in that great experiment in social engineering. National Prohibition of products which were enjoyed by large