New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1914-11-11

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PRESS URGES ITS REPEAL
Law Prohibiting Manufacture and Safe
Of Alcoholic Beverages in Norwa,
Said to BE Proving Unsatisfactory
Tobacco Monopoly Created in swe
den by Recent Act of Riksdag-De
mark Maintains Neutrality Only by
Utmost Care and Constant Watch
ing on the Part Of Her Diplomats.
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=, NORWAY. !
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A dispatch from Christiana says:
The Norwegian press is making an al
most unanimous appeal to the gov
eminent to rescind the prohibition or
dinance which was passed in the first
excitement of the war to stop the sale
of alcoholic beverages. Nominally SO
per cent Of the Norwegian people is
represented in the membership of
/ 'teetotall societies. and next to Fin,
land Norway ordinarily has the small
est per capita consumption of alco-
hol in the world. It is the working
classes who are most largely repre-
sented in the s'teetotal' membership.
The appeal for resembling the prohi-
bition act is based primarily on asser-
tons that after. more than two months
of prohibition the plan gas not work
ed. Persons who could afford it have
INDUCED extensively in the importa-
ton of strong liquors from Denmark
and Scotland. individuals have com
bined to form private stock compa-
MES" and have brought in thousands
Of gallons every week, each person
taking a key or two for private use.
Among the poorer classes complaint is
made that the prohibition law has Gre
ated worse conditions, prompting the
concoction of such wierd drinks as
"self-murder the name given to de-
natura]ized alcohol favored with oil of
peppermint "a and the cheapest kinds
OF so-called sweet wines, made from
chemical products, which never saw
grapes. The government. has already
rescinded the special law fOrbidding
=listillation of alcohol from potatoes.
This is ordinarily an extensive indus
try in Norway, but at the outbreak of
the European war it was, thought nee
essary to stop it in order to conserve
the food supply. AS matter of fact,
it was found that the potatoes used
for this distilling process could not be
kept long, there not being enough
frost-proof cellars for their storage
The heweries, which also had been
forbidden to malt their barley, have
recommended operations
That Norway, as we'll as other small
nations, was approached by England
before the outbreak. Of the war with
a view to having her maintain her
neutrality against German pressure, is
brought out in the Gray Book re-.
Gently published by the Belgian gov
eminent. According to this book the
Belgian minister in London telegraph
British minister Of foreign affairs, Sir
Edward Grey, has informed the Eng
fish ministers in Norway, Holland and
Belgium that if those three Kingdoms
will resist the pressure from Germany
and guard their neutrality they will
be supported in their resistance by
England which in that case is ready
to cooperate with France and Russia
if such is the desire of these three
Kingdoms, while Offering an alliance
to the aforesaid governments in or
der to repel the use of force against
them by Germany, and in a guarantee
for future maintenance of the indie
pendence and integrity of the three
kingdoms. I made the remark that
Belgium is neutral in perpetuity. The
minister Of foreign affairs replied:
This is in the case of your neutrality
being violated No mention of this
! Effer by Sir Edward Grey to the Bel
gian, Dutch and Norwegian govern.
ments appeared in the British Blue
Book Later, message on the same
day from the Belgian minister in Lon.
don to his government states that this
British proposition is annulled for the
moment Il"
\ X X
Some Of the great construction com
panies in Norway financed with Eng.
lish capital have had to stop work. as
payments from England have been cut
off. Several of these companies have
been Harvesting Norwegian water falls
for electric power. The Nitrogen
Products and Carbide company, lin