In H.L. Mencken’s essay, “Portrait of an Ideal World” (1920), he presents the idea that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol will have salutary effects on people because it brings out characteristics of “amiability, generosity, toleration, humor, and sympathy”. Mencken modestly proposes that people should drink enough so that “half-stewed, they would be ten times genial, and perhaps at least half as efficient” compared to a sober person. He effectively appeals to his readers by stating many reasons as to why drinking a small amount of alcohol is not deadly. With that, Mencken provides enough support in his argument to persuade readers who want to ban alcohol by giving modest opinions, a counterargument, and repetition of reasons as to why drinking miniscule amounts of alcohol will keep people happy. The idea of “prohibition” seemed to be a far-fetched idea to Mencken, and thus, he gave his own modest opinions on why consuming small amounts of alcohol is “healthy”. He believes that being “gently stewed” will give people a peace of mind and simply states that alcohol is a necessity for those who feel somber and need to be relieved of any drawbacks or stress. He proposes that those who drink alcohol sparingly are “more liberal, more tolerant, [and] more kind”. With much confidence, Mencken argues that alcohol unwinds people and that it accentuates more positive qualities and eliminates the more negative qualities such as “combativeness, shrewdness, diligence, and ambition”.
