Ann Arbor Beer by Bardallis David;

Author:Bardallis, David;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2013-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

From the March 1931 Gargoyle. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

Reactions to the “Great Raid of 1931,” as it came to be called, were fierce on both sides. University of Michigan president Alexander Ruthven praised and defended the action, while Ann Arbor mayor Edward Staebler condemned it as too harsh. The raid made national news, and hundreds of letters poured in from alumni around the country weighing in on the matter.

Oreon Scott, partner in an insurance and loan company, wrote from St. Louis to express his support for the raid, opining that “the great majority” of alumni “believe in the enforcement of the law” to protect the reputation of the university. A letter from Oakland County realtor Carl Bradt criticized the raid as “terribly drastic and certainly most unfair,” considering alcohol “could be found in at least fifty percent of the homes in Ann Arbor,” including those of some professors.

Student reaction was also mixed, with some affecting indifference but others willing to publicly express their disgust. Under the editorship of senior Paul Showers—future New York Times writer and children’s book author—the campus humor magazine Gargoyle devoted most of the March issue to lampooning the raids. A series of cartoons portrayed a policeman busting people sleeping, praying and playing chess for “disorderly conduct” before concluding, “Aw—to hell with prohibition.” Satirical articles purported to chronicle the simultaneous raid on the “Gramma Eta Yam” sorority and explained the rules for a new game called “Getting Evidence” in which players (aka cops) receive points for busting into random fraternities, scooping up all the booze and drinking it themselves.

That the law was a joke was well understood among a public weary by the 1930s of prohibition’s negative effects, including increased crime, greater government corruption and intrusiveness and, worst of all, libations with serious quality control issues. Opinion had finally and overwhelmingly turned against the great Yankee busybody crusade. When ordinary Ann Arborites like Bill Metzger of Metzger’s German Restaurant could be severely punished for innocently selling juice that had fermented while gangsters freely amassed fortunes with which to bribe public officials, it was time for a change.

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