The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-05-11
DRINK ROADS OF NORWAY.
The Gothenburg system of Reducing the
Liquor Traffic.


Liquor Traffic.
The visitor to Norway has not infre-
Quently occasion to admire the beauty
of the roads that climb to the SUBMITS
of the loftiest hills. They are in no
hurry to finish their journey, for, in
deed. hurry is quite out of the question
if they are to perform itwith any bene-
fit to the wayfarers. They make a
long zigzag and wind serpentwise in
innumerable repetitions of the letter S
to the mountain tops. The distance as
the crow flies may be two or three
miles, but the road-maker thinks moth
ing of making a dozen of it. The peas
ant reaches his hut from the plain at a
cost in engineering of many thousands
of pounds. Yet Norway is poor coun-
try, and the traveller who is new to it
and who has not overhauled his guide
book is at first at little puzzled to I'M
derstand by what magic of admins
trative liberality the work has been
done.
His wonder is not diminished when
he is told that this triumph of public
spirit is all due to the sale of drink.
The road is probably drink road"
that is to say, it has been made out of
the profits of the drink trade. 1t is by
no means the only benefit derived from
the same source. The drink not only
helps to make the roads-it gives sub
stantial grants in aid to education, mu-
seums. libraries and gymnastic schools,
to hospitals, homes for the poor, orphan
asylums and many other institutions of
the same kind. 1t even, in lofty disre-
gard of the precept against seething
the kid in its mothers milk, contributes
to the support of the total abstinence
movement.
All these benefits are said to be due to
the fact that Norway has imported the
Gothenburg system from Sweden, the
sister country of its origin. The Goth
enburg system, as everybody knows, is
an attempt to reduce the drink traffic
by limiting the profits of those engaged
in it. and consequently reducing their
temptation to promote the consump-
ton. Associations or companies sane
toned by law obtain total or partial
monopoly of the supply of drink in par
ticular districts, and all the money they
make over per cent, which is regard
ed as the legitimate interest on their
capital, is devoted to purely public and
philanthropic objects.
The barkeeper Is, In measure, a
public officer. He receives a salary
which is wholly Independent of the
amount of business done on the prem
ises, and he is under very strict regula-
ton as to his dealings with drunken
persons and minors. He is quite disin-
terested in a pecuniary sense and has
no more temptation to push the sale
than a vender of postage stamps. This
is the Gothenburg system in its ideal of
purpose. and. as many contend, in the
realized benefits of its results.
1t has now in its application to Nor
way been made the subject of a valu-
able foreign office report by Consul
General Mitchell, of Christiania, the
publication of which, at the present
moment, is most timely service to
those engaged in the discussion of pub
lie affairs. Some of them, however,
will derive but small comfort from Mr..
Mitchells studies. 1t has been alleged
that the Gothenburg system is admins
tered better in Norway than in Sweden.
In the latter country the profits are APP
piled to the reduction of public burdens
to an extent which tends to stimulate
the drink traffic. Norway in this re-
spect, was supposed to be superior to
the sister kingdom in purity of mo-
tive" Mr.. Mitchell is not of that
opinion.
The mere preferential payment of five
per cent. to the shareholders. he says,
in itself affords an exceedingly strong
motive for the promotion of the traffic.
A safe five per cent is not so easily
earned nowadays, and, as matter of
fact. the shares of the authorized drink
companies are often above par. The
municipal right of re-purchase at par
value alone prevents them from being
constantly SO. Moreover, their position
gives great political and social power
to the shareholders, and thus creates a
strong drink interest of another kind.
There are both conservative and rad
zeal drink rings in the smaller towns.
The larger the benefits at the disposal
of a company the greater are the bene-
fits which the town expects to reap.
The drink profits harmonic with the
ignorant Impotence of taxation com
mon to the whole human race, and the
municipalities are constantly tempted
to make the liquor pay for all. Some
of the companies have as good an eye
victualer before them; and, so far from
being Indifferent to the spread of their
business. they are trying to drive all
the remaining publicans out of the
field.
As the people are compelled to pur-
chase in large quantities, in order to
diminish dram drinking, they are often
rempted TO an indulgence far beyond