Utah’s Liquor Lobby Fights Back: Salt Lake City Businessmen Rebuff Prohibition

In a bold move, Salt Lake City’s business elite has launched a campaign against the growing tide of prohibition in Utah. The Salt Lake City campaign, spearheaded by the Manufacturers and Business Men’s Associations, aims to counter the rising demand for a ban on liquor sales in the state. ‘It would be the ruination of this town to have prohibition,’ declared W. S. McClure, a prominent businessman in the region. ‘It would set it back 10 years in recovering.’

According to McClure, prohibition would not only devastate the local economy but also lead to a surge in clandestine liquor sales. ‘A man wanting a drink would be satisfied with one if he secured it in a saloon,’ he explained. ‘But if he had to go around and find it, he would buy a bottle.’

The campaign’s headquarters are located in the Utah National Bank Building, where Secretary Carl H. Allison can be reached at phone extensions Bell 995 and Ind 376. The association has calculated that a ban on liquor sales would cost the city an estimated $235,000 in revenue annually. ‘The city would receive no revenue,’ McClure noted, highlighting the economic implications of prohibition.

While some may view the campaign as a defensive move by the liquor lobby, it is clear that the Salt Lake City business community is determined to preserve the status quo. As McClure emphasized, ‘I am opposed to prohibition because it does not prohibit. It causes more clandestine soiling of liquor than it would otherwise.’

The association’s stance on the matter is unequivocal: prohibition is not the answer to Utah’s problems. As the campaign gains momentum, it remains to be seen whether the tide of public opinion can be turned in favor of the liquor lobby.