violators was an easy way to pad government coffers. According to reports in The Bakersfield Californian, between 1920 and 1933, more than 2,100 arrests were made of 1,726 people in Kern County for Prohibition-related crimes, and at least $317,127 (equal to more than $1.06 million today) in fines were collected. Only 25 percent of the fines went back into enforcement, the rest were swallowed by the city’s general fund. Of those arrests, 50 percent occurred within the city limits of Bakersfield. Arrests were made in private homes, on streets, in parking lots, empty buildings and businesses. Perhaps the wettest street in Kern County was Humboldt Street (now E. 21st Street). The street was lined with hotel bars, saloons, and restaurants that served alcohol before 1920, but converted to soft drink parlors with Prohibition and were raided repeatedly. The French Hotel, National Hotel, and Universal Hotel alone weathered at least 15 raids between 1920 and 1929. Two of the most prolific violators in the county were arrested at these businesses. Martin Jaussaud was arrested six times and Albert Martin was arrested on seven occasions. As with other historical events, Prohibition is an interesting case study in human nature. Millions of Americans willingly violated national and local Prohibition laws. Some violators responded to the forces of supply and demand. Many violated the law for thrills. Whatever their motivations, people were just
as passionate about breaking the law as teetotallers were in their belief that Prohibition would make the nation a better place. On Dec. 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment. The Bakersfield Californian reported on that day that Prohibition’s “…fundamental failure was that it interfered in the moral judgments of the citizens [and was seen] as a curb on their liberty. This they asserted by defying the law until it was more honored in the breach than in the observance.”
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