Letter from Hannah Hall to Dan Tompkins

WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

John Falter (Creator)

Institution

Western Carolina University (WCU )

Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/

Advisor

Brian Gastle

Abstract: When Hannah Hall wrote this letter, prohibition was still officially in effect; the 18th amendment would not be repealed until December 1933. However, on March 20th, Congress passed the Cullen-Harrison Act, which legalized the sale of 3.2 percent beer and wine in any state whose legislature permitted it.On April 5 that year, the NC House of Representatives voted to permit the sale of beer and wine starting May 1st, which Dan Tompkins announced that day in the Jackson County Journal. The beer bill received overwhelming support: “75 for the and 27 against.” However, among the dissent was Dan Tompkins, along with the representatives from other mountain counties, Yancey, Buncombe, Haywood and Macon.Additionally, Tompkins pressed for an amendment to the bill, which would revoke “licenses… where the sellers of beer engage in bootlegging,” as well as ban the sale of alcohol in the proximity of churches and schools, and ban its sale on Sundays. The House of Representatives supported Tompkins’ amendment as a regulatory measure, providing some parameters many believed the bill lacked. As Tompkins writes, “The bill would have possibly have received more votes than it did, had the regulatory amendments been adopted. Some representatives state that they would have voted for it if it had been in proper shape.” By his vote against the bill and his proposed regulatory amendment, Tompkins made a name for himself as a supporter of temperance.By May 2nd, ads for beer began showing up in the Ruralite, the newspaper Tompkins edited. In response to these ads, Mrs. Hannah Hall, a supporter of temperance, writes to Tompkins, praising him for his legislative opposition in April and to express her fervent displeasure at the spread of alcohol in Sylva. And though she could have railed against Tompkins for publishing the ads, Mrs. Hall seems warmly supportive of him.This letter is housed in the Special Collections department of the Hunter Library at Western Carolina University.

Letter from Hannah Hall to Dan Tompkins
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Created on 12/9/2018
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Language: English

Date: 2018

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