Well, what do they do when watching Game of Thrones and a) there is nudity, b) there is a sword fight, c) someone refers to a god, d) someone uses a catchphrase referring to a house or family, e) any dead soldiers appear, f) there is a meeting of the small council, g) someone uses the word “hand”, h) someone dies, I) someone uses the word “bastard”…
Most people had much cheaper and easier access to water than alcohol at the time. Not only did farmers not have good sources of alcohol - that was for city dwellers - but alcohol was relatively expensive. Before the income tax, the federal government had to get its money from excise taxes, taxes on specific goods. As much as 25% of the entire federal budget was raised just from taxes on alcohol, and many states also levied excise taxes on it.
The dependence of the budget on alcohol taxes eased after the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913 making income taxes legal. Now that the government wasn’t dependent on alcohol, the prohibition forces had a much easier case to make.
The effects of alcohol on families played a huge role in persuading people that alcohol - like other drugs than had recently been banned - needed to go. But it never would have happened without the 16th Amendment.
There remain parts of the world where women still must be paid in scrip, because if their male relatives find their money, it’s not hers any more; he’ll take it from her, by force if necessary, and drink or gamble it away.
That would be Carrie Nation.
… In 1865, Moore met Charles Gloyd, a young physician who had fought for the Union, who was a severe alcoholic. Gloyd taught school near the Moores’ farm while deciding where to establish his medical practice. He eventually settled on Holden, Missouri, and asked Moore to marry him. Moore’s parents objected to the union because they believed he was addicted to alcohol, but the marriage proceeded.They were married on November 21, 1867, and separated shortly before the birth of their daughter, Charlien, on September 27, 1868. Gloyd died in 1869 of alcoholism.…
[wikipedia-Temperance Movement]