Let's Pop A Cool One
Today is the anniversary of Repeal. For those who don’t realize it, Utah (of all states!) cast the deciding vote to repeal the Prohibition Amendment which, for a while, made us a “dry” country.
Well, sort of. Kinda. Like, a wink-wink, nudge-nudge dry country, if’n ya know what I mean.
The Noble Experiment is what Prohibition was called, although it was anything but noble. People often went blind from bootleg; others flat-out died. The better stuff went to the speakeasies in the larger cities and, apparently, stuff of some quality came to the two we had right on the street where I reside.
Then, again, if it weren’t for Prohibition and bootleggers, we’d never have NASCAR, as that’s how it began. Good ole guys outrunning the revenuers in souped-up cars, lights off, tearing through country roads. The cops would get better cars and the country boys would rebuild theirs to just a bit higher standards.
On their days off, they’d race each other. That is, the bootleggers would race each other, not the good ole boys vs the revenuers. Although, now that I think of it, that would be neat to see. Let them be enemies on the job, but friendly competitors on the oval.
I don’t think those days are over; guys in the deep woods are still turning the stuff out. Others are trying to catch them.
Well, sort of. Kinda. Like, a wink-wink, nudge-nudge dry country, if’n ya know what I mean.
The Noble Experiment is what Prohibition was called, although it was anything but noble. People often went blind from bootleg; others flat-out died. The better stuff went to the speakeasies in the larger cities and, apparently, stuff of some quality came to the two we had right on the street where I reside.
Then, again, if it weren’t for Prohibition and bootleggers, we’d never have NASCAR, as that’s how it began. Good ole guys outrunning the revenuers in souped-up cars, lights off, tearing through country roads. The cops would get better cars and the country boys would rebuild theirs to just a bit higher standards.
On their days off, they’d race each other. That is, the bootleggers would race each other, not the good ole boys vs the revenuers. Although, now that I think of it, that would be neat to see. Let them be enemies on the job, but friendly competitors on the oval.
I don’t think those days are over; guys in the deep woods are still turning the stuff out. Others are trying to catch them.
posted by Tom Carten at 2:27 AM
1 Comments:
Rhode Island was the first state to vote for repeal; it never voted to accept Prohibition.
My Mom came of age during Prohibition, and lived in northern Vermont. She took the opportunity to run booze over the border for fun. Don't know if there was profit, too.
Post a Comment
<< Home