, 1891-11-21

corning divorces as in Maine, the same pros
portion-viz. 1854 out Of 1868. 1t seems
impossible to suppress the liquor traffic in the
larger owns. Between the Maine laws and
the high-licence system is an intermediate
system-local option. According to this, it is
left to the citizens of a village, town, city or
q larger district, to vote for local prohibition.
This system seems to work somewhat better
than the Maine laws. and it may prove useful
in rural districts, the control in small COM
muuities being more easily carried through
but in larger towns it is probably Ineffective, 4.
tempting as it does to a surreptitious liquQr
traffic. The third ~system-high licences
has been introduced in several States. Under
this system licences for the sale of liquors
can be taken out, but the fees are"s consid-
cradle lfor instance, 500 or 1000 dollars year:
ly) that many small Saloons disappear. In
some cases the sale Of liquors through grocery
stores is entirely stopped (lllinois). This
system is reported to work Well by
reducing the number of drinking saloons,
thus lessening the opportunity for drinking.
lti maintained that the high-Iicence sys-
tenn has thrown the liquor traffic into the
hands of a more respectable class of dealers;
and that those whopay high licences "Relp
the authorities in the conviction of breakers of
the law, under the fundamental principle Of
self preservation. 1t is also TO be recon-
mended to limit the numbers of licences that
may be taken out. This is the case with the
Dutch law Of 1881. Still more effective have
been the efforts i'll Sweden, Norway, and
Finland. The numbers CT bars have been
gradually greatly reduced, especially in the
rural districts; and in most of the towns the
so-called "Gothenburg .system' has been
introduced. According to this system, adopt
ed since 1865 in Gothenburg, all or most of
the licences in q town are given to q company
which is not allowed to pay more than a
fixed rate of interest to the shareholders, the
surplus being spent for the benefit of charit-
able institutions or forming part of the NUM-
cipal income. The result has been u great
reduction of the number of bars. In Goth
enburg the company i'll 1865 took out 40 Ii
cences, but at once reduced the number of
saloons to %. The persons who manage the
saloons get a fixed salary for the sale of spirits
and are therefore not tempted to encourage =
the customers to drinking. Moreover, there
isa limitation of the hours during which the
saloons are open, and other steps have been
taken to prevent abuses. Undoubtedly this
system-in connection with the great
diminution of the number of bars in the rural
districts of the courtry-has contributed very
much to the conspicuous reduction Of the al
coholiSm in the three countries before-men-
toned. A very practical eXpedient. is also
the prohibition of sale of Intoxicating liquors
at groceries and similar shops, and this pro-
vision ought never to be omitted where steps
are taken to limit the number ofs saloons.
And last, not %least,it is highly desirable
to regulate the opening hours of the saloons.
DR.. Isambard Owen, of London, said he
took part in the discussion solely to correct
the numerous mis-, quotations current of the
collective Investigation Report on Iptem-
perance of the British Medical Association"
of which Report he was the author. A Ger
tain table of figures contained in the Report
had been quoted apart from the context in
such a mannera as to lead the public to believe
that, in the view of the author of the Report
the longevity Of ~abstainers fell below that,
not only of moderate drinkers, but even of
the decidedly incorporate. The conclusions
of the Report, as far as concerned the general
health of the public, were the following
~ That habitual indulgence in alcoholicli-
quors, beyond the most moderate amounts,
has a distinct tendency to shorten life, the av-
erage shortening being roughly proportional
to the degree Of indulgence. (2) Thatofmen
who have passed the age of rs, the strictly
temperate live On the average, at least ten
years longer than those who become decidedly
Incorporate. (3) That in the production Of
cirrhosis and gout, alcoholic excess plays the
worry marked part which it has long been
recognized as playing, and that there are no