The First World War marked a point of high Beatty influence in Fergus. The family took pride in their Irish identity, in contrast to the predominantly Scottish local population. They also heavily promoted Methodism amongst their employees and within the local community, alongside promoting contemporary Methodist values and political initiatives, such as the temperance movement and opposition to sex work. They also made informal attempts to enforce prohibition within the community by taking the extreme step of buying up and demolishing taverns and brothels through proxy agents, destroying many historic buildings in the community in the process. Sunday shopping was restricted in order to promote Sabbatarianism, and there were attempts to censor the local library over concerns about "unsavoury" literature.
