Purley Baker

Purley Albert Baker (1858 – 1924) was an ordained Methodist minister who strongly opposed any consumption of beverage alcohol and was superintendent of the Ohio Anti-Saloon League. He became head of the national Anti-Saloon League in 1903 and five years later created the League's Industrial Relations Department to promote the idea that imposing prohibition would be a good business investment. He raised large sums of money to create a major information campaign, an important component of which was to demonize the producers of alcoholic beverages.

Cultural stereotyping and bias

Most brewers were of German extraction and Baker stated that Germans "eat like gluttons and drink like swine". League posters vilified the "Huns" who were portrayed as Neanderthals threatening the U.S. and its way of life. Stigmatizing German brewers proved to be a highly successful strategy as World War I approached.^{[dubious – discuss]}

See also

• Temperance Row Historic District

External links

• Purley Baker (Westerville Public Library)

Persondata
Name	Baker, Purley
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1858
Place of birth
Date of death	1924
Place of death