Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-01
CRITIC ATTACKS
GOTHENBURG IDEA
WILEY J. PHILLIPS OPPOSES
NEW PLAN
Speaker Believes Greatest Danger
Lies in Serving Liquor Without
Meals in Restaurants
and Cafes

81 am opposed to the Gothenburg
system of dealing with the liduor prob
lem, because the experiences in the
countries where it rs used have shown
the people that It has not reduced
the amount of drunkenness and that It
has established the liquor business so
that 1t cannot be destroyed for all time
TO come" said Wiley J. Phillips at his
home on Fedora street Sunday.
Mr.. Phillips spoke at the Methodist
church, Union avenue and Eighteenth
street last night using as his topic.
"The Value of the Boy as Compared
with the Value of the Dollar" Mr..
Phillips gave statistics, cleaned
through his personal observation, of
the young men and women who we're
served with liquor in one of the restaur-
ants without lunch during one evening.
The speaker told his listeners that
they send the boys and girls out
into the world without the discipline
of obedience to their parents and that
this makes 1t hard for the young peo-
pie to withstand temptation.
Drinks Without Meals
our young men and women are not
In the church, continued Mr. Phil
lips. Where do we have to look for
them If we wish to find them? Not
In the saloons, but III the restaurants
cafes lTdl are Selling liquor.
Il went to a cafe one night for the
purpose of observation and within an
hours time / counted 357 women and
girls drinking and none of them had
been served with meal as is required
by the license. There were 625 men
and boys drinking in the place and
very few of them We're served meal.
"One Sunday right | visited four
restaurants and in passing through
on ntoe4
ninety-four in another, lis in the third
and 126 in the last. All of these women
had been served with liquor of some
kind and very few of them were eat
ing meal.
There are only ) per cent of the
men who go to church and not Il
much larger per cent of the women.
Something is wrong either in the sys-
TEN of conducting the churches or in
the application of the principles
have held that the system Is almost
perfect and consequently the applica-
tion must he imperfect. I hold the
parents to blame, because they do not
train their children as they should.
Defects in Proposed System
THE Gothenburg system does not
propose to close any of the saloons
now in business but proposes To give
licenses TO sixty restaurants and sew
enty pious saloons in addition. They
also propose to allow more than fifty
wholesale liquor houses to do business
and l cannot see that this number
is required to supply the retail places.
This system has proved failure
in Sweden and Denmark and in the
city of Christiania alone over 10000
persons were arrested for drunken-
ness in five years. The people are
anxious TO become free but cannot be-
cause corporations control the poll
tics and also are deriving a large
profit from the sale of liquor. For this
reason they insist upon adhering to
the system.
why should the citizens of Los An
geles burden themselves further with
the larger sale of liquor which would
inevitably follow. when statistics today
show that where 81 is spent for edll-
cational purposes. $50 are spent for
drink in the saloons"