m. Prohibition

With the decline of the fishery, and the economic consequences of the war, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon seemed destined to fade into economic collapse. At this point, the legislative achievements of an American Senator, Andrew Volstead, unwittingly put the islands back on the tracks to prosperity.

This new era in the economic history of the islands came about as follows: on October 28th 1919, the United States of America became a “dry country” under the National Prohibition Act. In a peculiar turn of events, American rumrunners turned their attention to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and before long the islands had become North America’s alcohol warehouse. Powerful syndicates used the islands as a strategic base for rum running along the Eastern Seaboard of Nova Scotia and New England. The taxation system in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, along with the general activity surrounding the importing and exporting of spirits, provided employment and revenue for all.