Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-10-03
THE LIQUOR PROBLEM.
The Norwegian or Company Sys-
tenn of Control,
This Method as Described and Dis
cussed by Rev. J. H. Reid Of Bel
lows Falls in His Church Last SUM-
day Niuht.


lows Falls in His Church Last SUM-
day Night.
He who runs may read from our last
election that prohibition in Vermont
Is doomed No one is more sorry Tor
this changed public sentiment than L.
for | believed in the law, but II Is al
ways best to face the facts. 90 not
believe chat under local option we shah
raise up as large a crop OF goou men
which has been the glory of our state
stul Vermont will be grand state to I'VE
in. Now usually the party defeated
feels no responsibility for the KIND OF
laws passed by the majority put thls
is wrong. We are citizens OF the STATE
still and IT is our duty as much as ever
TO work for the highest good. 1t VIII
he downright traitorism if we prohibi-
tionists say IF the people will, have sa-
looms let them have any kind OF license
law. | wash my hands of the whole matter.
I have no duty or interest in the aHalr'
NV brother if there is any ADVANTAGE
in one system of license over another
,,ou are a criminal if you do not work
for II We are citizens before we are
prohibtionsts uo
Now the two leading forms of license
in this country are low license ana
.n,,eh license New York has the
former and Massachusetts the latter.
her license law after that of Massachu-
setts But while high license is better
than low license. is ii the best form Oh
license? We all feel that there are
great evils connected with high license
as well as low license. temperance
license men are ready to ADMIT inns Let
me in a word name them.
First high license creates a monopoly
en- the business by limiting the num-
her of saloons 1t is right to limit
them. but is it just to grant a license
to A rather than to B because A has a
stronger political pull?
Secondly high license leads TO the auul-
teration of liquors. If a saloon is taxed
$1,000 or $3.50 the drinker will have to
nav that tax by drinking cheap liquors
Thirdly, high license creates kitchen
barrooms If Bellows Fails can nave
only six saloons and there are niteeh
men who want to live by the 1quor
traffic we can be sure that there Will be
nine men selling secretly.
Fourthly under high license, as well
as low license the business is thrown
into the hands of INSCRIPTIONS men, VINO
under the stimulation of greed VIII Vio-
late the laws in regard to Sunday clos
ing and selling to minors and drunkards.
Fifhlv the enforcement of high
license law is as difficult as prohibition.
1t is all nonsense talking about the saloon
keeper being a watch dog to ferret out
illegal sellers and bring them to justice
In the first place high license so restricts
the number of licenses that there is a
bonanza in the business Secondly, the
patrons of kitchen barrooms are the I'M
desirable drinkers, the noisy, fighting
kind. and. thirdly, every saloon Keeper
being a violater of the law himself does
not care to stir up the wrath of the
secret seller.
The sixth evil of the license saloon
is that under license you have saloon
as a gigantic factor in politics and 1t Is
always allied with what is dirty and
vicious in politics.
Now the question arises, are we shut
up to high license? Is there not
form of license that largely does away
with these evils? I think there is, and
it has this in its favor. 1t is not merely
dream but has been successfully tried
refer to the Norwegian or company
system which has been the law in Scan
system is this: The municipal council Of
Gothenburg Sweden, in 1864 appointed
a committee to examine into the cause
of the terrible pauperism of that city
The committee in their report attributed
the city's pauperism to the drinking
habits of the people and urged the council
to hand over to a company of twenty
highly respected men the licenses of thu
bar sale of brandy the company agreeing
to engage in the business not for thu
sake of the profits but solely for TN
good of the working classes the share
holders refusing to derive the slightes
profit from the business beyond the or
binary rates of interest on the capita
invested. The suggestion of the com
mittee was acted upon and such goo'
results followed that it was taken III
by other towns until today it is in gen
eral use through Norway and Sweden
Here are the results: The consumption
of spirits has fallen from 6S quarts pc
inhabitant to 3.3 quarts per inhabitant
which Is 81 quarts less than the con
sumption in the United States. Let M
state some of the merits the company
system over high license.
First it takes the control of the liquo
traffic out of the hands of an unscrupu
lous class of men and puts it into tn
hands of law abiding and respectful
citizens who, running the business no
for private profit, seek to eliminate a
many of the evils of the traffic as pos
sible.
Secondly, It would eliminate the elemen
of greed in the business. There ar
two sources of intemperance: appetite Il
front of the bar. and greed behind TIL
bar seeking in every way to increase tn
business by throwing out every tempta
ton to attract men. AS drinkers an
drunkards are continually dying off, tn
life of the business depends upon drink
ers and drunkards being continually
made, and thus it is the part of tn
licensed saloon not only to satisfy
demand but create a demand. To d
this the Saloon becomes a social centre
encourages the treating custom, an