The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-05-09
THE GoTHENBURG SYSTEM

called Gothenhurg system of dealing with the liquor traffic what he means by that term. If he says that he means system of controlling the liquor traffic as it is successfully practiced in Gothenburg, Sweden, answer first that there is no such system, and then sug- gest careful study of the system in use at Gothenburg to determine how successsul it IS there or whether it af- lords an example which communities like our own, for instance, would do to follow.
 In Sweden the nationtl drink has been "branvin", strong liquor which contains forty or fifty per cent of alco' hoI, distilled from potatoes or grain. For years distilling was virtually free and the physical condition of the peo- pie became so alarming that in 1852 an act was passed which abolished private ,listilleries, and substituted distilleries specially supervised, and contained To- cal option provisions amounting to a local veto. By means of this voting veto the country districts rid them selves of the spirit distilleries and spirit traffic.
 But local option did not operate in the towns where the trade was most leeply intrenched, and where it con centrated as the country adopted pro- hibition. In the towns the dealers who would guarantee the most revenue se- cured the licenses. In 1865, ten years after the local option act, change in the licensing system at Gothenburg took place. Instead of selling spirit license 1t auction, the licenscs were transferred to company of citizens called a "bo. lag", organized to conduct the business under strict regulations, to reduce the number of spirit houses in the retail and oar trade, to pay the stockholders only legal interest on their money invested, the largest share of the net profits to go to the community for means of bene- fitting the working classes. The law today requires private companies to pay seven-tenths of the profits to the com munity, and twotenths to the state. One-tenth goes to the agricultural so- ciety of the province.
 The bolag proceeded on the assump- tion that the spirit traffic was unavoid- able in town of 50,000 like Gothen. burg. The system was class measure pure and simple. WeIlto- do people were considered able to take care of themselves, and restaurants for them have never been controlled by the sys- tenn. The rate-payers(people who have voting power in town affairs according to their income) saw in this system re- lief from the financial burden of caring for the drink paupers and insane, since the profits of the drink would be de- voted to the care of its victims. The bolag system was established solely for the benefit of the working classes in the sense, also, of reducing the temptations and attractions for them to drink spirits by furnishing clean places, providing good food at the eating houses, raising the price of branvin, and selling only for cash It Was no step towards pro. hibition for towns, such as local option had procured for the country. but, ac cording to the claims of its promoters, an attempt to regulate necessary evil among the lower classes only in towns. The system never pretended to control anything but the retail and bar traffic in spirits containing above twenty-five per cent in alcohol. The company spirit houses may and do sell wines and beer, too but beer can be sold by any body without a license. and is sold at over 750 places in Gothenburg, over which the bolag has no control what ever. Indeed beer has been popularly called temperance drink in Sweden.
 Here is the state of things in Goth enburg today, after nearly thirty years of the Gothenburg system: sixty-nine houses more or less under control of the bolag, against six independent spirit houses, the cask trade, and over 700 places where beer is sold, for popu- lation of about l06,000 men, women and children.
 How can the effect of the bolag be tracedl Has it decreased drunkennessl The unimpeachable table of police ar rests for drunkenness in Gothenburg shows that in l866--the bolag's first | ,a,r tbara ,uara 1od ,rra.t. ......-