The Anti-Saloon League was an important part of progressive movements for the betterment of society in the late 1800s. It was founded in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1893, and was focused on combatting the abuse of alcohol and its attendant domestic violence and deleterious effects on women and children. Not waiting for a national prohibition of the sale of alcohol, which would have to wait for the ratification of the 18th Amendment in 1919, the Anti-Saloon League was active in encouraging the passage and enforcement of prohibition laws by villages councils and state legislatures. Lakeview went dry in the late 1890s, and Dr. Straith was among those civic leaders who championed the benefits of an alcohol free society through his membership in the local Anti-Saloon League. (More than a century later, this work continues here in Michigan through the Michigan Council on Alcohol Problems or MICAP.)