Kansas Prohibition

This Day in Kansas History

The idea of prohibition has been a part of Kansas since her earliest territorial days. During this time prohibition had become a leading political, social, and moral issue. Kansas’s first temperance organization was the Independent Order of Good Templar which was founded in the 1850s. Following the end of the Civil War the Kansas State Temperance Union or the K.S.T.U. and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union joined the struggle for statewide prohibition with the Good Templars. By 1878 the Temperance movement was extremely well organized and had significant influence throughout the state. Supporters pushing towards constitutional prohibition staged the first National Temperance Camp Meeting in Bismark

Grove near Lawrence. It was a twelve-day gathering held in late August and early September 1878. By the mid-1870s Kansas Republicans had adapted the major temperance principles as their own. Voters elected Republican prohibitionist John St. John Governor that same year and in his inaugural address to the state legislature he called for decisive action to deal with the liquor issue. Governor St. John was an ardent and influential champion of the temperance cause.

In 1879 the legislature passed and submitted to the people of Kansas a joint resolution that provided an amendment to the constitution as followed, “The manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors shall be forever prohibited in this state, except for medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes.” This amendment was put before the people at the polls on November 2, 1880, and out of a total vote of 176,606 it was carried by a 7,998 majority. At the next Republican State Convention St. John was re-nominated for Governor and his platform pledged the party to a policy of Prohibition of the liquor traffic. The Legislature representing the temperance element of the state passed on February 19, 1881, an Act of 24 sections prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors except for medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes and regulating the manufacture and sale thereof for such excepted purposes. The Act also made it unlawful to give away liquor and for a person to become intoxicated. This carried a fine of $5 or imprisonment in county jail for one to ten days.

The effect upon liquor traffic was not immediately recognized and so in different parts of the state vigorous prosecutions were instituted. The new Prohibition Policy had many enemies who thought that the amendment was a mistake. Among these enemies was Governor George W. Glick who succeeded St. John in 1883. In his message to the Legislature Glick dealt with the subject of prohibition and the operation of the law. Glick tried hard to modify the law, but it fell on deaf ears and was not changed.

In the early 1890s Agora Magazine held a symposium on the condition of Prohibition in Kansas, which had been in effect for just over a decade. The general consensus was that the public sentiment was constantly increasing in its dislike for liquor traffic. Many men who had voted against prohibition in 1880 had after viewing the results of the law only partially enforced were convinced in 1890 that Kansas was way better off without open saloons. Continuing to promote the movement were the churches, the State Temperance Union, and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The temperance movement experienced a decline in the 1890s but came back with a renewed zeal before the turn of the century. The K.S.T.U. began the publishing distribution of the Kansas Issue throughout the state and its annual meeting drew more and more attendance. While established organizations continued working to get stronger laws and better enforcement some radical prohibitionists had grown tired of waiting. Whether led or inspired by Carry A. Nation of Medicine Lodge, men and women throughout the state took up the hatchet. A movement toward more enforcement of state laws became a policy of many politicians seeking office, not only in Kansas but elsewhere.

Nation used rocks when she smashed her first saloon in Kiowa in June 1900 and frustrated after five years of conventional temperance activity in and around Medicine Lodge, she began a campaign that attracted national attention. During February 1901, while also leading raids on Topeka joints, Nation and State Librarian Annie Diggs met with the Governor. Nation addressed a joint session of the Kansas Legislature, went on a lecture tour, and began publishing the Smasher’s Mail a temperance newspaper. A former Populist Mrs. Diggs was an active member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and like other temperance organizations, the W.C.T.U. did not always agree with Nation’s tactics but they endorsed her objectives. Nation had attracted a lot of attention to the liquor issue. However, it wasn’t until 1907 that real enforcement of existing prohibition laws began. It was during Governor Hoch’s administration that the Legislature revised and strengthened the statutes. The 1909 revision would close a major loophole in the old laws that had allowed druggists to sell liquor for “medicinal purposes”. It seemed that Kansas was on a course toward the prohibitionists’ goals.

In 1914 the country was moving closer to a national prohibition, and many looked to Kansas as an example. During this time Charles Sheldon of Topeka’s Central Congregational Church and others worked to make the state “Bone dry”. For these crusaders the goal was total elimination of alcohol from the state. Accomplishing this meant they were forced to attack the private use of liquor in the home. In 1917 the state took what many believed would be the final steps to real and effective prohibition. In February of that year the Kansas Legislature passed and then Governor Capper signed the so called ‘Bone Dry’ Bill. Under this new bill it became unlawful for anyone to keep or have in his possession, for personal use or otherwise any intoxicating liquors. The lone exception to this was Communion wine. Anti-liquor forces across the country held Kansas up as an example for what should be done on a national scale. Thus in 1919 the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified and made the prohibitionists dreams a reality. This became known as the “Noble Experiment” and for 14 years national, state, and local law enforcement officials tried in vain to “dry up” the country. However, the State of Kansas maintained prohibition until 1948. In that year, despite the efforts of the W.C.T.U. and other “dry’s” voters rejected prohibition by a vote of 422,294 to 358,485. Kansas returned to the local option law that had been abandoned nearly 70 years before.

Between 1948 and now there have been many revisions to the state liquor laws with the first coming in 1949 when the legislature enacted the Liquor Control Act which created a system of regulating, licensing, and taxing the package sales of alcohol. It also created the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control to enforce the act. In 1986 Kansas voters passed a liquor by the drink law that stated that any establishment that made 50% of its revenue by the sale of food could legally sell liquor by the drink. This was passed in a 59.9% to 40.1% vote and at the time only 36 counties approved the measure. It wasn’t until April 1, 2019 that the law changed to allow convenience and grocery stores to sell alcoholic beverages with up to a 6% alcohol content. Today, out of the 105 counties in Kansas, there are 39 that have a no food sales requirement for liquor by the drink and 63 that require 30% food sales. There are 3 counties today that still do not allow liquor by the drink and these counties are Wallace, Stanton and Haskell in Southwestern Kansas. While it may be hard to imagine that prohibition was at one time a reality in Kansas, for 67 years this great state was nearly “bone dry”.