United States · Prohibition
Marine Gen. Butler Calls Prohibition Class Legislation in Oakland Speech
The former Philadelphia public safety director, once a dry enforcer, says the law favors the rich and leaves the poor man with nothing.
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Brig. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, who commands the Marines on the Pacific Coast, told an Oakland, California, luncheon club that he has changed his mind about the Volstead act, the Associated Press reported on Thursday. Butler spent months as Philadelphia’s director of public safety fighting bootleggers and graft.
He denounced the prohibition law as class legislation that reacts against the poor man and favors the rich one, and called its principal fault the manner in which enforcement has grown out of it. He said he originally believed the act applied to everybody but has found that it does not.
As quoted by the New Britain Herald, Butler said there is plenty to supply the demand for vice and corruption in the upper crust, but the poor man is left with nothing. The Evening Star’s headline summed up his view as enforcement being just a bluff against those with influence.
Sources
- Evening Star (Washington), Jan. 6, 1927: Butler’s remarks in Oakland <https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1927-01-06/ed-1/?sp=1>
- New Britain Herald, Jan. 6, 1927: Butler’s quoted remarks on the poor man and the upper crust <https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014519/1927-01-06/ed-1/?sp=6>
This article was drafted with automated tools from the sources listed, checked by a review pass, and published by Daniel Varrone. Corrections: editor@monochromechronicles.com