Why Temperance Drinks?

The modern soft drink industry owes much of its existence to the temperance movement of the nineteenth century. While often dismissed nowadays, temperance activists sought to transform a rugged, hard-drinking America into a rational, productive society. The replacement of alcohol with soft drinks was a major change in how Americans ate, played and worked. In the twenty-first century, the excess consumption of high-calorie soft drinks is seen by modern activists as an equally problematic aspect of our society.