The Newtown bee., 1894-12-28
Editorial Ink Drops.
THE TEMPERANCE PROBLEM.

To control the liquor traffic and keep it within bounds is serious problem, and one which to thoughtful people is at prese mt in an unsatisfactory condition.
 To those who have not investigated the so called Norwegian plan, we can commend an article in The Forum from the pen of Dr E. R. L. Gould. This ar ticle is very ably reviewed in the Review of Reviews, a portion of which we quote:
 Notwithstanding the variety of Amer ican experiments in controlling the ii- quor traffic, results in a general way, Dr Gould declares, show that practical ly nothing has been accomplished. Summing up he says: "Prohibition, To- cal option, State monopoly, high license, and low license, have been tried most of them during long periods and in various sections of the country, with the result that: l. The consumption of liquor has increased, and that the prison population Is advancing. ?. The ratio of licenses to inhabitants, in large cities, often now attains disgraceful proportions. 3. The alliance between liquor and politics is being drawn closer and closer.''
 yrhora av;st throo loo l;,n olto,,ot;-no in future action, says Dr Gould. First, hopelessly to give up the struggle for the present at least, and allow the evil to become uncomfortable, trusting for a great wave of moral enthusiasm to sweep it entirely away. Second, con- tinue in operation the present methods. The third alternative, and this Dr Gould believes is the only admissible one, is to study impartially the liquor problem from all points of view and adopt those methods which have been proven most efficient in practice as measures of pro- gressive, if not ideal, reform.
 The national Committee of Fifty, re- gently formed for the study of the liquor problem, will, he thinks, point the way to solution of the perplexing problem. But we need not wait for it's possible suggestion. AS practical means of solving the liquor question, Dr Gould suggests an adoption of the Norwegian system of public control, modified slightly to meet American conditions. So long as licensing has to be practiced, and Dr Gould thinks that it would be pretty sanguine person who would not admit that that will-be for good while yet, he suggests as the best plan to adopt the Norwegian system of public control, modified slightly to meet American con- ditlons. It represents, he declares, the only means of minimizing the evils of the traffic in large cities, and 1t includes admirable provisions for encouraging mo- license in the country districts and small towns.
 "Testimonles of efficiency are numer- ous and overwhelmingly conclusive: l. No single community in Scandinavia has ever tried the plan and afterward aband- oned 1t. 2.Liquor-selling has been abolish ed, except in the case of a comparatively small number of privileged licenses which are held for life and cannot be ex- propriated, throughout the country dis tricts and smaller communities of Nor way and Sweden. 3. Membership in total-abstinence societies has risen from meagre coterie to over 100000 in the two countries. 4. Even the radical tenn perance party has not sought to abolish the regime, and it's leader, in writing to me not long ago, officially expressed his earnest preference to this over all other systems where the sale of liquor was permitted at all. The real effort of the party Is being directed toward securing law which shall make 1t unlawful to sell any beverage whose alcoholic con- tent is more than 25 per cent. 5. Chiefs of police have been led to see that the difference between conditions under the old and new order of things Is as the difference between night and day.' Provincial governors, foreign ministers and consuls have likewise expressed their appreciation with but one dissen- ting voice. 6. The testimony of undeni- able fact which Is more eloquent and conclusive than the best-founded opinion shows that the consumption of spirits in Sweden has been reduced from 14.2 to 6.s quarts per inhabitant from the time the frst company received It's com plete monopoly of retail and bar sale of spirits, and in Norway from e.S to s.3 quarts. The reformaGory influences of the regime have brought Sweden down from the second to the seventh, and Norway to the lowest place, n regards pr capita consumption of spirits among the ls most civilized countries of the worId. while we in the United States still occupy the rank Of tenth. E"