In the 19th century, the Temperance movement gained a lot of steam in the United States and culminated with the Prohibition of Alcohol from 1920 to 1933.
The Temperance movement was founded by those who believed that alcohol was killing nations as people became intoxicated and got into all manner of social ills as well as it having negative effects on their social, professional and family lives.
The picture described above is trying to link alcohol to evil with the black flag and the snake around the cup meant to symbolize that. The people falling are intoxicated and the woman crying is meant to show the negative effects alcohol had on families.
