The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-05-18
How TO Regulate
The Liquor Traffic.
Am Instructive Glance at the Operations of
The Celebrated Gothenburg System.

o'clock p. m, and are not re-opened
until o'clock the next morning. Often
these hours are decreased; and on Sun
days only three shops are open-from
l to o'clock, p. M. and from $50 to 8
o'clock p. m. Five club rooms, under
the care of women managers, and we'll
supplied with books, papers, games,
etc, are open to workingmen, apart
from the bar; and intoxicants are not
permitted to be sold or drank In these
rooms. In the year 1889, the town Of
Gothenburg derived, in revenue, from
this system, after the deduction Of eX
penses and per cent. for the share
holders, 54,305-a sum which would
be large enough to pay more than half
the running expenses of the entire city
of Scranton, without skimping legiti-
mate public needs.
We must mention just few other
results, the first being the diminished
per capita consumption of liquor under
this system. In 1875 the consumption
of spirits per head in Gothenburg was
81 litres; in 1893 it had fallen to 13
litres. Mr. Goadby puts this reduction
in another, and an even more striking
way:
Had the consumption of spirits kept to
the 1875 level it ought, in 1893, to have been
In round numbers, 100000 litres. The
people had thus saved the cost of some
100000 litres In that one year in drink
| alone, or in the course of the eighteen
years, allowing for the two higher years
of consumption, 1867. an amount Of
money which may be put at $64OOOO.
Pauperism has also been reduced.
There is room in the workhouse for ]. 200
persons; its average inmates number
300. The poor law relief of Gothenburg
costs annually $126,2S5, while the in
come from the company amounts to
S15O0OO. In other words, the drink
traffic pays more than the expenses Of
the poor law relief.
The author adds:
In 1865, the company's initial year, every
| seventeenth person had depost-book in
| the savings bank of the town; in 1892
every fourth person had one. In 1885 every
depositor had l47 crowns, If the total de-
posts were divided by persons; in 1892
| the sum was 272 crowns There are three
| savings banks in the town, two so-called
| and the Folk or Peoples bank. In 1866
| the number of depositors books In the two
savings banks yielded 2GO,2l5 and 403, ,6i3
crowns respectively, and in 1876 the Folk
bank 1921 crowns. In 1892 the first bank
had 9,3O9334 crowns, the second 1888, $685.
and the third 553,24 crowns. The amount
| standing to the credit of burial clubs
sick, provident and local agencies In 1892
was 50.71S,196 crowns. Building societies
| were increasing. In 1876 there were seven
in the town; today there are forty-two.
The Ono Great Defect.
The one defect in the Gothenburg
system Is the fact that it does not ap-
ply to beer, and the consumption Of
beer, therefore, Is rapidly on the in
crease. In Gothenburg there are ninety
four old beer licenses, forty one-year IL
censes, and fifty-nine beer with food
licenses. These licenses are under police
control, and after warning the license
may be withdrawn. But there is
another terrible addition to be made.
Any tradesman with an open shop,
holding an ordinary trading license,
can sell beer in bottle, though a royal
ordinance of June, 1893, restricted the
quantity to ten litres. There appear to
be $50 such shops in Gothenburg. Mr..
Willerding is responsible for the state
ment that the lower class of grocers
| and inferior shopkeepers evade the law
| by having a corkscrew conveniently
and obligingly hanging just outside
their door. Anyone buying a small
bottle of beer over the counter within
Is welcome to use the corkscrew out
side" Further there is no limit of
hours to these open shops; they close
when they like.
Because of this abuse Of the beer
traffic, the statistics relating to convic-
tions are not as favorable as they
might be. Convictions were / in per-
sons in 1885, l in 90 in 1865, l in 30 in 1875.
and in AZ in 1885. But decided rise
began in 1889, when they were in 80.
In 1890 they were in 25, in 1891 in 26,
in 1892 in 26, and in 1893 / in 26. That
Is, the convictions jumped up from 1922
In 1888 to 3,2S2, 4,O1O. 4,624, 1853, and
4,O66 in the five sequential years. But
1t is Mr.. Goadby's opinion that when
the same care is taken to regulate the
beer trade that has been taken to regu-
late the brandy trade, Gothenburg will
become, with reference to the adjust
ment of its drink traffic, almost a
model city.
We acknowledge our Indebtedness
for many of the foregoing facts to
Hon. T. p. O'Connor's instructive pa
per, the London Weekly Sun.