The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-11-13
CONTROL OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
Rev. f. r. Dewhurst Explains and
COmmends the NOrweEian System.

comments the NOrNyeS1un system.
Rev. F. E.. Dewhurst gave his people a
discourse yesterday a little out of the or
binary, but one to which the audience lis
tened with the closest attention. the sub
ject being, 1.-The Norwegian System of the
Liquor Traffic as set forth in the Gould
report to the National Labor Bureau and
sent to Congress by President Harrison,
which was fully set forth in the Journal. "a
few weeks since.
Preliminary TO the explanation of the
Norwegian plan Mr.. Dewhurst said that
there seemed to be an exaggerated value
put upon temperance legislation and pro-
hibitory laws. A statute has only the
force of public opinion that enacts it, and
it is generally confusing to the moral sense
to make immoral that which the general
conscience does not admit to be immoral.
Law is not the driving wheel of society,
but more a ratchet which keeps social
udgment and moral insights already at
tanned from slipping back into chaos. Law
is the scribe, not the prophet, of social
progress. The saloon, he went on to say,
has not it's origin in an appetite, but in a
social instinct-an instinct that is the slow
deposit in human nature of centuries of
association and habit. Temperance efforts
nave been directed toward moral, rather
than social. conditions-to remove the
means of gratifying an appetite rather than
to direct social instinct into better chan
nelS. Sane methods of reform must deal
with the Anglo-SaXon tavern instinct. The
same instinct which draws the ariStocratic
to the club draws other men to the saloon
both are forms of the tavern instinct. This
instinct must be recognized as a social
force which has been ignored by many
who have Zealously undertaken TO deal with
the Unreasonable evil Of intemperance and
its menace.
The Norwegian system of controlling the
liquor traffic is based upon a recognition of
the social features of the liquor habit. The
preacher then proceeded to briefly outline
the Norwegian method which has been in
successful operation nearly twenty years
a system by which corporations composed
of men who realize the evils of intemper-
ance and DESTROYS of reducing such evils
TO the minimum are given a monopoly of
the traffic in the cities of Sweden and Nor
way. 1t is a scheme by which as little
liquor as possible is sold, and sold under
conditions which remove the objections to
the saloon methods. There are different
grades of saloons, but all are kept clean
and orderly. The corporation receives G
per cent on its investment, and the rest
of the profit goes to state, city and public
charities The price of liquor has been in
creased and the percentage of alcohol in
drinks reduced. The minor cannot puchase
and the 6rukard is forced to be a teeto-
taller. The share which the government gets
from the traffic is very large. The results
are significant. In Gothenburg the saloon
consumption of liquor has been lowered 80
per cent. in sixteen years. The same eX-
1 CcIlCuI IcSOllo appear Ill lOuIICGU Clues,
says the report OF the British minister to
Lord Salisbury.
In recapitulating the advantages of the
Gothenberg system, as it is often called,
Mr.. Dewhurst said: First: The system
means the elimination of private gain from
the sale of liquor. Now individual profit
exploits a great traffic from the weakness
and the irresolution of human nature. Ev-
cry man in the liquor traffic is not a scoun-
drel. but the constituency OF the business
is such and the results proceeding from il
are so disastrous to the home and the State
that the personal gain Of the traffic is a
| terrible temptation to put in the way of
the average cupidity of human nature. 1t
is a tremendous advantage to eliminate the
private gains of the traffic and the univer-
placing the saloons in better localities.
| Second: The system means the absolute
| elimination of the saloon element as q po-
litical power-a most conspicuous merit.
The saloon, from it's enormous profits, fur
nishes a corruption fund that makes it a
| potent factor in elections. To eliminate the
| element Of private gain destroys the sinews
Of war and all motive for political domina-
ton.
In the course of his discourse Mr.. Dew
hurst asserted that the method Is not an
impossible one for other countries. a bill
embracing the essential features of the
Norwegian plan, having the support of
Gladstone and Chamberlain, the Earl of
Meath and the Bishop of Chester and such
journals as the London Times and Specta>
tor. will be introduced in Parliament. The
last Massachusetts Legislature appointed a
commission of distinguished men to con-
slider the subject. and it has already pre-
pared a bill which will be presented to the
next Legislature.
The foregoing is but a brief outline of
Mr.. Dewhurst's discourse, which so inter
ested his audience that they were surprised
at it's apparent brevity.