The Good Old Days, or Were They?

Sixteenth century Nuremberg in Germany had fourteen public bathhouses with low admission prices, special hours for city employees and gave free admission once a week for prostitiutes and for children accompanied by their parents.  The possibilities of infection, both physical and moral, were so high that they were forced to close.

The Abbaye of Toulouse, in medieval France, was a municipal brothel that supported the University of Toulouse with its revenues.  It bore a royal charter and prospered until the prositutes went on strike.

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In 1909, Annette Kellerman, who was an Australian swimming star, appeared on a Boston beach wearing a figure fitting jersey bathing suit (an exact replica appears in the photo above).  It was considered lewd and scandalous and she was arrested on the spot.

Life for a woman was very difficult in seventeenth century America.  Not only were they forced to do heavy labor, had no rights and endured abuse, they gave birth to an average of thirteen children.

If you think tobacco laws are tough now, wait until you read about smoking laws in colonial Massachusetts. At that time, one could only smoke when traveling and had reached a location that was five miles away from any town.  Although earlier regulations were enacted on moral grounds, this 1646 law was based on the danger of fire.

During Prohibition in the United States, there were more than 200,000 illegal “speakeasies.”  In New York City alone, an estimated 32,000 speakeasies were up and running quite profitably.  Since they were selling illegal booze, there were no regulatory practices in place for making alcohol.  A great number of deaths were attributed to poisoning from tainted drinks.

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The Prohibition in the United States was meant to curb alcohol addiction.  Ironically, it served as a springboard that encourage organized crime and wanton behavior to flourish by forcing out of work brewery workers into moonshining.  Mobsters were as powerful as most law enforcement officials and politicians, making it almost impossible to control the violence that resulted from gang rivalry.

Modern politicians don’t hold a corner on the market when it comes to being corrupt.  In fact, President Warren G. Harding only paid lip service to prohibition laws.  It was commonplace for him (and most other elected officials) to abstain in public and drink freely at home.  A common expression used in the Prohibition Era to describe this attitude was that “Congress votes dry and drinks wet.”