Prohibition at its Worst by Irving buy Fisher, Vintage 1927 Book published by Alcohol Information Committee

Irving Fisher begins in Chapter 1 of his book “Prohibition at its Worst” with the statement “I knew that all laws affecting personal habits are resented by those whose personal habits are thereby reflected on, and that such laws are, therefore difficult to enforce. I realized then, as I realize now, that laws without sufficient public sentiment behind them are apt to become a dead letter and to lead to disrespect for law in general.” He then continues with how you can reach the great objective in “the reduction in the flow of alcohol down human throats” although history has shown it wasn't necessarily effective as prohibition in the United States under a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverage only lasted from 1920 to 1933.

“Prohibition at its Worst” was first published in September 1926 by the Macmillan Company (1st through 4th editions), it was then revised and published by the Alcohol Information Committee of New York (5th through 11th editions) of which this book is the Eleventh Edition published May 1927. The purpose of the book was for “promoting the distribution of information on the Alcohol Question and the working of the Eighteenth amendment”. Fisher does this through the use of graphs and charts that were buy used to invalidate the information from the Moderation League (while the league was unsuccessful in its battle over the alcohol content, it helped win the repeal of National Prohibition with the Twenty-first Amendment to the US constitution).

Irving Fisher (1867 – 1947) has been described as “the greatest economist the United States has ever produced”. He was an economist but also a statistician, inventor, eugenicist and progressive social campaigner. With an undergrad degree from Yale, in 1891 he was the first person to receive the first Ph. D. in economics from Yale. After graduation he studied in Berlin and Paris but from 1890 onward, he remained at Yale, first as a tutor, then after 1898 as a professor of political economy, and as a professor emeritus until 1935. While today he is widely remembered for his work in economic theory it was probably his work as an active social and health campaigner, as well as an advocate of vegetarianism, prohibition and eugenics advocate that had the greatest societal impacts. As this book shows he was an early supporter of the legal prohibition of alcohol on the grounds of public health and economic productivity. He was also a proponent of eugenics and help found the Race Betterment Foundation in 1906. He defended eugenics, serving in the scientific advisory board of the Eugenics Record Office and as the first president of the American Eugenics Society (much of this latter activity was addressed but downplayed in his Wikipedia entry, which is true of many prominent men from that time period).

Condition: Light moss green cloth hardbound boards with black text to the spine and front boards. The spine and boards are in exceptionally good condition with only slight edge wear at the top and bottom of the back strip and along the bottom board. Corners are all sharp with the tiniest bit of wear at the tip. Spine is straight with no cracking to the endpapers. Text block is solid and all pages are firmly attached. Age tanning throughout with some darkening to the endpapers. Between pages 208 – 209 a piece of paper was left in the book which caused a fade mark but otherwise all interior pages are clean with no tears, cracks or previous owner marks. Revised Edition. 255 pages including the index, no dustjacket. Dimensions: H – 7-1/2” W – 5-1/4”

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