New-York tribune., 1901-05-21


Gothenburg; and the local press is we'll supplied
with treatises and essays on the subject. These
would be more convincing If the results OF the
Gothenburg system were less mixed than prac-
tical investigators have invariably found them.
The Swedish temperance reforners were fight
ing a battle again II intemperance and pauper-
ism when the country was flooded with cheap
brandy and when farmers found II more profit
able to convert their rye. corn and potatoes into
spirits than to take them into market They
secured the enactment Of measures against the
manufacture and sale OF spirits. but did not
impose any restrictions upon the sale of wine
or beer. The farm distilleries of spirits
reeking with fusel oil were suppressed: taxation
upon distilling increased. and the business
restricted to large towns; a local option law for
the regulation OF public houses was passed and
finally town and provincial councils were en-
pow cred to hand over to respectable licensing
companies the exclusive privilege Of selling
spirits Half century of temperance work is
crudely condensed in the last sentence Neither
beer nor wine was subject either to local option
or to the operation Of the Gothenburg licensing
SYSTEM but the regulation Of the spirits traffic
was systematized and reformed. The old-time
publican has disappeared from Gothenburg. the
number of public houses has been greatly
duced. and the quantity OF spirits consumed
has been materially diminished. The licensing
company serves meals at eighteen public houses,
maintains four cheap restaurants and five read
ing rooms and has converted the spirits traffic
into a considerable source OF revenue to the
state and to the town. Intemperance. however,
has not been stamped out. is clearly shown
by the police returns for arrests for drunken
ness. While there not more than forty
drinking places in the city where spirits can be
purchased there nearly nine hundred gar
dens and shops where beer and wine can be had
Gothenburg. instead Of being deluged with
cheap fusel oil brandy, as it fifty years ago.
is now flooded with cheap beer and wine.
which the licensing system exercises no re-
strictions.
THE PRESENT SALOON MONOPOLY
The Scotch temperance problem is essentially
different from the one which the Swedish
formers undertook to solve thirty or even fifty
years ago. Scotch whiskey cannot be compared
with the old-time Swedish branvin. with it's A
per cent of alcohol; and while IT is the chief in
toxicatng drink. wine. beer and ale sold in
the public houses large scale. The failure
of restricted licensing a temperance policy
in Glasgow is as conspicuous as the inefficency
Of the Gothenburg system a expedent for
lessening the evils OF intemperance in the
Swedish port, where OF sailors have
privileges shore after long voyages. What
rational Scotch reformers clearly perceive is the
necessity for dislodging the public house trade,
thoroughly organized than ii fifty years
ago; and they are seeking to meet It on it's
ground to disnfect the drinking places by prac-
tical reforms and to divert from publicans to
public uses considerable portion of the profits
OF liquor selling. Restricted licensing has
created and enriched monopoly. which instead
Of being controlled by the state is almost
preme in its control over the municipality. The
reformers who have taken shares in the Public
House Trust convinced that they must break
up this monopoly and reduce its profits in the
liquor trade before they hope to accom-
plish any substantial temperance work They
aim at fighting the monopoly by reducing the
inflated valuations of licenses and by diverting
the profits of liquor selling to public objects.
They lack courage and almost too sensitive
TO the charge Of converting intemperance into
a source of public revenue. When Sir John
Gorst, in introducing the new Education bill, adj
mits that the London County Council has
whskey income of 81 900 600 available for public
purposes and that over 81 900 is supplied to
the County Councils from the source,
municipal reformers in Glasgow ought not to
have any qualms using the profits of liquor
selling for promoting the welfare of the local
community in accordance with the Gothenburg
system. l. n. F.