Did Prohibition Succeed Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Did Prohibition Succeed - Research Paper Example This was shown already in the states that were already dry – some of the states issued permits for people to bring alcohol from one state to another, and there were 34,000 of these permits issued in Washington state, a state where there was, at the time, only 44,000 registered voters. Before the ratification of the amendment, Michigan was a dry state, and Ohio was a wet one, and the highway between Michigan and Ohio was so convenient for the smugglers that the highway became known as the â€Å"Avenue de Booze† (Okrent, 2010, p. 102). This meant that there would be an underground avenue for people getting booze, long after Prohibition was enacted, and this is exactly what happened. Part of the problem is that, as Sinclair Lewis brilliantly noted, during this time there was an overall change in the American landscape. The people were coming from more of a prairie lifestyle into one that was becoming more and more industrialized, and, with this came both disillusionment an d rebellion (Lewis, 1922, p. 56). This was the overall wrong time to try to outlaw booze. The generation had just came from war, or at least seen it or known people who have been in it, and they were coming into a period of increasing change. Alcohol becoming forbidden would be a way to rebel, if the people of the twenties engaged in it, while, at the same time, alcohol could be seen as a way to soothe the nerves of the people who are undergoing this powerful change. So, in this way, Prohibition could not have come at a worse time. In the years that followed the ratification and enaction of the 18th Amendment, there was considerable evidence that the Prohibition Amendment was nothing but a sham. For instance, in February of 1920, which was the year that the Prohibition Amendment actually took effect, Leo J. Grove seized three barrels of homemade wine from the basement of an Italian grocery store, and this was only one of many examples of people who still supplied alcohol to the mass es (Okrent, 2010, p. 120). In that first year, there were 900,000 cases of liquor that came from Canada and made its way to the United States – and this was just in the first seven months of 1920, which was considered to be a â€Å"dry-but-wet year† (Okrent, 2010, p. 124). In New England, the alcohol came from ships that were anchored beyond the three mile limit, and these were ferried to shore. These were the more professional endeavors, but there were also countless moonshiners that would make the alcohol, some of them in their bathtubs, and would distribute them (Okrent, 2010, p. 125). Worse, Prohibition led to crime on a wide scale. The first alliances were between the gangsters, such as Capone, Torrio and Lansky, and these alliances were the first signs of a crime syndicate that had gone across the United States. Moreover, these mobsters had respectability. They took part in anti-Ku Klux Klan campaigns, and they were considered to be glamorous. Longy Zwillman was dating actress Jean Harlow, and there were many mobsters who owned popular nightclubs. Another gangster had an affair with actress Mae West. Al Capone was involved in charities for the poor (Okrent, 2010, p. 274). The reason why there was so much crime, and that these mobsters and others were seen as glamorous was because there was so much money in selling alcohol underground. There were some annual sales of $3.6 billion nationally by 1926 –

Statistical Inference and Regression Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Statistical Inference and Regression - Essay Example Those who impress statistics tend to improve on the quality of data, the experimental designs, as well as survey sampling. They also give tools for forecasting, as well as prediction using statistical models. On the overall, statistics is quite applicable in many academic fields and it cuts across, the natural science, the social sciences, businesses and government. Statistical methods are used in summarizing and describing of collected data. Descriptive statistics is particularly useful in research work especially when communicating the experimental results. Patterns in data can be modeled in such a way that it accounts for the uncertainty or randomness in the observation, which are then used in drawing of conclusion about the given population under study (Bethea, & Boullion, 2005). This is what is called the inferential statistics. Inferences are extremely crucial elements as far as scientific advancements are concerned. It helps in providing a means through which conclusions are d rawn for the data that are subject to random variations. The application of both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics comprise applied statistics. The theoretic statistics are concerned with the logical arguments that underlie justification of certain approaches to statistical inference. Mathematical statistics involves the manipulation of the probability distribution that is necessary for deriving outcomes that are closely related to methods of estimation and the inferences (Bethea, & Boullion, 2005). Probability cuts across various fields and encompasses many definitions. This paper discusses statistical inferences and cuts across other areas of statistics including regression, linear regression, nonlinear regression, least-squires method, and the maximum likelihood method. Statistical Inference The term statistical inference as used in statistics is taken to mean the process of drawing or making conclusions from data that are subject to random variations. The example of statistical inference is the sampling variation or the observational errors (Bethea, & Boullion, 2005). More often than not, the terms inferential statistics, statistical inference and statistical induction are used in describing systems of procedures that may be used in drawing of concussions’ from data sets that arise from systems that are affected by random variations including random experimentation and observational errors. The initial requirements of the system of processes for the inference and the induction are that the system produces reasonable answers whenever applied to defined situations. It should also be general enough so that it can be applied in all situations. Maximum likelihood method. Estimation problems involve estimating the value of the one or many population parameters from any random samples of the population (Bethea, & Boullion, 2005). Point and interval estimation are the two categories of estimation. Interval estimation is used in determining t he probability of the outcome that occurs in any given limits while point estimation takes Fisher’s estimation. The term likelihood is also, one key concept used in statistical inference, and it is always calculated for any fixed sample while providing information about the relative probability of any sample data that is as a function of the distribution parameters. The likelihood function is used to measure how likely a given data sample is as the function of