Countdown on the Great War: October 17, 1918. The Allied Advance Continues, so does the U-Boat War, and Bishop McGovern comes out for Prohibition.

1.  The Allies took Thourout, Ostend, Lille and Douai, Belgium.

At this point the Allied advance was becoming relentless.  As a result, it actually becomes somewhat harder to track.  It was no longer the case, usually, that we saw big set piece battles so much as the wear began to resemble the late stages of World War Two with constant advancement.

2.  The British launched a major attack on the Selle and captured Le Cateau.

3.  The Americans completely cleared the Germans from the Argonne Forest and the French reached the Aisne.

4.  The British cargo ship Bonvilston was sunk in the Irish Sea by a U-boat.

5.  The American cargo ship Lucia was sunk in the Atlantic with the loss of four hands.

Funeral for American soldiers who died at sea, victims of the U-Boat war, in Scotland.

6.  Gas ban on Sundays were called off, Bishop McGovern backs prohibition.

The Spanish Flu didn't make the cover of the Wyoming State Tribune on October 17, 1918, but the looking reality of Prohibition did.

Bishop McGovern, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne, came out for it.

In the folklore of Prohibition you usually hear that opposition to it was strongest in the Irish and German communities, which is quite true. By the same token, however, the drinking culture of both ethnicities meant that the problems associated with drinking were reflected back in them.  Hence, its not really surprising that Bishop McGovern would come out supporting Prohibition, even though that was undoubtedly not universally a popular opinion among all of his flock.

Bishops had to worry less about public opinion then as opposed to now and of course even now they aren't subject to a voting recall or anything. The Bishop had some leeway therefore in expressing his opinion, but it was a bold one to take, which is now doubt why he ended up on the cover of the paper on that day.

Bishop Patrick McGovern was a Nebraskan by origin and had been an orphan.  He was in ill health much of his life which makes his incredibly long tenure as Bishop amazing.  He served  nearly the entire first year of his appointment in the hospital for a stomach aliment and was hospitalized for ten weeks in 1940.  He was appointed in 1912 and served until his death in 1951.  His diocese was enormous and his tasks quite daunting.