The Anti-Saloon League held many large meetings in their campaign to bring a prohibition on alcohol consumption to the U.S. Meetings continued for a time after the 18th Amendment’s ratification, and the Volstead Act, which took effect January 17, 1920.
At the time of this meeting, in Washington, D.C., on December 8, 1921, Prohibition had been in effect for almost two years. The banner showing the number 18 probably celebrates the passage of the 18th Amendment.
Anti-Saloon League at Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 1921. J. M. Naiman, photographer. Library of Congress image. Click image for a larger version.
Sadly, as much time as I spent along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, I can’t identify the building and location of the photo.
Political dissension crippled the League in the late 1930s, partly caused by the Leagues attacks on drinking by ethnic groups, such as Germans, and hostility towards Catholics; at one point the League seemed allied with the Ku Klux Klan.
Eventually moving from Washington to Westerville, Ohio, where it had a legendarily large publishing house cranking out anti-drinking pamphlets, the League still exists today as the American Council on Alcohol Problems.
More:
- Anti-Saloon League Museum at the Westerville, Ohio, Public Library — an excellent source for history classes
- Website of the American Council on Alcohol Problems (when did they move to Birmingham, Alabama?)
Posted by Ed Darrell 
