Grace C. Root

No organization put more effort into defeating Prohibition than the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR). Founded by the wife of Charles Sabine, an influential businessman, the WONPR evolved into a powerful political organization with a million members and chapters in forty-four states. The WONPR became the political antithesis of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

The WONPR did not advocate the return of the old saloon and its rowdy lawlessness but did believe Prohibition was a failure. The following selection is the WONPR's Declaration of Principles. It lists their mission statement and the reasons why Prohibition should be repealed. The declaration details the organization's belief that the government did not have any right to force temperance onto the people. The selection also mentions the disastrous consequences of Prohibition including loss of life, property, and individual rights.

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES

1. We are...