The sun., 1883-12-16
THE BRANDY KING OF swEDEN.
How Smith, the Great DistiIIer, Is Fighting
the License System.
From the ra,l ua,t Ga,eue, Nop. 80.


Sweden, the country where at one time
thlrty-aye gallons Of brandy fell annually to the
share Of each inhabltant, where there were
itants. and where instead of their wages ser
wants received n quantity of the farmers home
made brandy, is the natural realm Of II brandy
king. Such a state of affairs led to vice and
ruin among the population; it led also to great
brandy wars at the Exchange, and in ono of
cisivc victory and became the Brandy King OF
Sweden. The home, Of this nncrowncd monarch
IS famons m % Norhern saGas tell " US that each
year a human being is drawn into its depths.
which independent Of wind and waves, myste-
tho tempeerament Of his island home, 1.-Two.
as Lars Olsson before he adopted the namo OF
his first employer He served his. apprentice
ir IS w.b g Ss
ing us intcrmcdiary at the negotiations OF tho
bought the, brandy from the farmer at cheap
price to soil It again in the Stockholm market
BY tho loan Of about $4,000 which his former
employer made to him. he was enabled to COM
mence his operations in the stocknoln brandy
His fortune grew, with it his fame: but his
@ Sockhom hnpL PaLc M House as reu after Rs he
had pledged himself not to do business in
In Ills sehed IN s Gowever a. he did not s
and because he failed lie organized the attack
on the Gothenburg system WHICH Is now at
snppy H' the Work Workmen s' Of the capital with
SPIRITS at lower prices than had before iS
they, would not 60 into any public house
OF the municipal monopolists. Instead Of
W so Ts sysem had
duced the number Of pubic houses at stock;
holm, with l6OO 900 inhnbitants, to eighty. and
twenty Smith was not allowed to supply
spirits within the town, so no started steam
veyed gratis to his distilery outside the limits
the city Ills Ee% ana
nssocintion. In order to rally the workmen
round his flag and e e1tend his operations; be
ciubs' While co5perative tenement houses are
being built in all parts OF the kingdom: Thus h,ps
nny kE in Is ad
have become the king Of the working classes.
The latest phase OF his war against the m mu.
| most excellent and commendable scheme, hav,
| Ing for its object the cooperative housing o!
essaries @ T Of lifs at What wo @ should cali store
PRICES. the Whole OF this philapthIopc scheme n
Erandy ns which is to oil B%yeott tie
pal gr,og shops, and rretstnbish something ap-
to f S % free adS
viable notoriety of being the most drunken
sudpIy in EuroGe His latest Erosa is in
|
substitute for the prom levied by tho mum epa
monopoists upon all drink sold in their shops
an Increased excise duty, by which means the
| revenue now accrning to the municipalities
would be diverted to the Government.
II the only object Of the Gothenburg system
was to render, drink artificially dear, this o.
course would leave the dstier, and the toner
| Of drink is concerned: but tho artificial en-,
| hencement of the cost OF the brandy is only one
| OF the many methods by which the Gothenburi
reformcrs sought to reduce the consumptiof
| OF intoxicants Their primary idea was to con
vert the publican into an agent for the promo
tion OF temperance A keeper Of q municipa
tavern is bound, over by. his own personal in
terest to push the sale OF tea coffee, &C.; and L
discourage to the utmost Of his ability the con
! sumption of drink. On the profits OF tho for
mcr he is allowed "a liberal commission, wheree
for brandy. The extent TO which this system
has diminished the sale of stiInuants may b.
inferred from the. strenuous eXertions whci
the Brandy King is making to drive them on
Of the field, The issue in Sweden is still doubt
| full but il is exceedingly interesting to not
that both Temperance men and reformers hay
carried the contest into the social and philRn
| thropic Held.