Rare Map Issued 6 Years Before the Prohibition Amendment Passed

"Wet and Dry Map of the United States",

This rare and interesting piece of persuasive cartography shows the temperance movement's progress in drying out America as of January 1, 1914. Dry areas are depicted in white, while the wet areas are shaded black. (New Jersey is the only state that is completely blacked out.) "It is the Tremendous Force of the Anti-Saloon League of America, 'The United Church in Action Aainst [sic] the Saloon,' That, More Than Anything Else, Has Whitened This Map in Twenty Years," begins the text beneath the map. The map was published on September 18, 1914, in the Westerville, Ohio-based temperance newspaper The New Republic (not to be mistaken with the progressive magazine that was first published in November 1914). It was printed in the lead-up to a week-long campaign for National Constitutional Prohibition; the same map was incorporated into a broadside for a series of rallies in Massachusetts from September 21st to the 27th. On verso there is a political cartoon by Sophus Long titled "The Ambush" that depicts a wholesome cafe scene with a menacing saloon on the other side of the door, represented by a lurking ape with a club labeled "Liquor."

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Condition: B+

Issued folding, now flat, with a few splits along the folds that have been closed on verso with archival materials. The map has been trimmed to neatline at left, right, and bottom.