Hobby to Martin McNulty Crane,
February 9, 1918
Prohibition was one of the foremost public issues of Hobby's term in office. In the special session of the legislature in 1918, several measures were under consideration, from banning of the sale of alcohol near military bases (in effect, banning alcohol from all major Texas cities) to a drive for "statutory prohibition" that would ban the sale of alcohol without the necessity for a constitutional amendment.
In this letter, Hobby writes for political advice on the prohibition question from Martin McNulty Crane, one of the most prominent Texans of the era. Crane was a well-known progressive attorney who had served both as lieutenant governor and attorney general. In 1917 he had been the chief counsel in the impeachment proceedings against Governor Ferguson.
In the end, the Texas legislature ratified the federal Prohibition amendment in 1918, and for good measure, Texas voters approved a Prohibition amendment to the Texas constitution in 1919.
Hobby to Martin McNulty Crane, February 9, 1918, Records of William P. Hobby, Texas Office of the Governor, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.