Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-10
THE oornKxBURo PLAN.



Liquor Trs1ne.
From the Boston Herald.
The control Of the liquor tfafac BY the 90
called aothenburg licensing system seems TO
have met with SUFFICIENT favor in Sweden to-
have been adopted In almost all Of the centsrs
Of population in that country, and although it
has been and is opposed beth by the believers
in total abstinence and the distillers Of liquor,
the population support II has received has out,
weighed this opposition. The plan In brief is
this; The entire monopoly Of the liquor trade
in 0 municipality is granted to single CON-
pany. The franchise is given under conditions
which compel the reduction of the number of
hquor-selling establishments to the lowest pos
sble point, and the keeping of them in sanitary
and orderly condition. After the expenses are
paid aOd small stipulated profit on the capt.
tai invested has been deducted. all receipts are
handed over to the municipal government for
public purposes. Neither the stockholders Of
the company, its directors nor any Of the en-
ployes are allowed to make the least profit be-
yond fixed percentage on the investment or
the stated salaries for their services.
The effect of this is to do away with the
temptation to make large sales. and to make
those interested prefer to do q small rather
than large, business. This plan was first in
trodaced at Gothenburg in 1874, and has since
that time met, rs we have said. with a large
measure OF success. When the system was in
troduced into Stockholm il was bitterly OPP
posed by Mr.. Smith. the so-called brandy king
OF Sweden, man who had previously manu-
featured and sold quite three-fourths of the
liquor consumed in that country. But it is
asserted that his opposition was partly based
on the fact that those interested in the monopoly,
backed by municipal influences, seemed to be
disposed to sell the poorest qualities of liquor
that Is, Installations containing large amount
Of fusel oil. He insisted that the monopoly
should be compelled to sell a pure beverage,
and in maintenance of his position he estab-
lished saloons outside Of municipal limits and
carried people to these places free of charge.
The success met with by this means may be es-
hmated when it il said that be would some
times have in day as many as sc, 900 customers
from Stockholm. This opposition forced the
municipal government to change its method by
having the monopoly sell liquors of a very
much higher grade, and when this end had
been attained the brandy kings competition
came to an end although he still seriously OBJ
jects to the present licensing system.
In Stockholm, where there was formerly one
liquor saloon to every $50 inhabitants, there is
now one to every 100. Both the consump-
enness have been very materially reduced.
The early hours of closing necessitated by the
statutes of the Stockholm company are be-
lleved to have had very much to do with this.
When the new system was introduced the
liquor establishments were closed every night
at 10 o clock, and on Sundays and holidays re-
manned unopened for seven and half hours
during the day. But few years ago. in COM
pliance with a petition signed by more than
10000 workingmen, a change was made, SO that
now no liquor is sold on Sundays or holidays,
unless foods taken at the SAME time, and on
Saturday evenings and the days preceding hol-
idays these establishments are closed at
O'Clock.