[Magdalen] Bishop Cook: Another unfortunate piece of the story

[Jim Guthrie]

From: ME Michaud

>It makes sense historically. Most of the early American Protestant
>churches were proudly pro-Temperance, then rabidly Prohibitionist.

Well,mostly post Civil War.

>And anti-immigrant, too, so the home consumption of wine made
>them flinch. Many Protestants "signed the pledge," promising never

And given the terrible working conditions of the time and the jobs immigrants 
typically could take, the corner saloon was about the only recreation available.

>to drink any alcohol ever. Our cousins the Methodists were frontrunners.

Particularly after one of the chief beneficiaries -- remember the name Welsh? --  
invented the process of pasteurizing Grape Juice.

>Episcopalians were more urban & urbane, tended to have traveled
>outside the USA, and had a much more relaxed attitude about alcohol
>consumption.

Hardly. They might drink (like the Saudi Princes sipping their Scotch behind 
closed doors) but the Gilded Age Episcopalians believed that alcohol reduced 
production, and therefor lowered profits.

But one of the realities of American life at the time was that excise taxes on 
booze supported much of the Federal (and state) governments during the gilded 
age (tariffs were the other major source of revenue). One of the things the 
temperance crowd had to do was to get the Sixteenth Amendment passed -- an 
income tax to replace the taxes on alcoholic beverages.

The other thing they needed was to make sure voters would not overturn the 
Eighteenth Amendment -- so came the Nineteenth Amendment, assuming that Women 
would always vote against alcohol. I realize that there's a lot of romantic 
notions about Women's Suffrage, but the fact is that it was a cold and 
calculated move to ensure liquor would be forever banned. Even the moguls ended 
up supporting it as a way to keep their wage salves working hard and not slowing 
down due to drink -- enhanced profits was a major reason for the Nineteenth 
Amendment.

The narrative on repeal of the Eighteenth amendment generally ignores the 
reality -- the moguls (1%ers?) of the time hated the Graduated Income Tax and 
thought repeal would put excise taxes back so as to tax the lower classes and 
save them from the income tax.

Cheers,
Jim Guthrie


That history of tolerance has come back to bite us.
-M

BTW, one of my friends had to explain to a hard-partying young fellow
that: if he showed up drunk at his wedding, my friend wouldn't marry him.
The young man squawked, so my friend explained that it was not because
it would be unseemly, but because he wouldn't be able to make his vows
unless he was sober. The bride listened. The groom arrived sober. Roger's
point makes sense over here, too. And not a bad modeling of responsible
behavior at a crucial time in this young man's life, either.

On Wednesday, February 4, 2015, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sally,
> I was speaking of The Episcopal Church.  Having grown up an Episcopalian in
> SC, and having my best friend's father removed as our parish priest for
> galloping alcoholism,
>