The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1923-06-29
tie is to be in the following towns

Sales have SO far been opened: In
July, 1922, in Reykjavik; in the other
places about the first of October, 1922.
In the named selling places only bot
ties of wine can be obtained. No one
is allowed to buy more than 10 litres of
wine per month, in American measure
two gallons and a half. The buyers are
registered, but as any one can buy and
as we'll for others as for himself, this re-
straint is only an illusion.
The sale of wine by the bottle is thus
set up in probably as many places as
will prove to pay for the trouble. But
besides this the governmental document
of July Is last year provides for sale of
wines in other places for consump-
ton on the premises kind of bar sys-
TEN, although the regulation is that
such sale shall only he in connection
with the sale of food, that is to say, in
restaurants. There is no stipulation of
the quantity which may be sold in such
places, only that nothing shall be sold
to those who are intoxicated While ii
seems to be the understanding that the
places where Spanish wine is sold by the
bottle, must be at least in the above
seven towns, the town board in some
places and the legal voters in others can
decide whether bars are to be put up or
not it is worth to note that the capital
Reyk javik, has been furnished with such
bar, by license of the state govern.
mcnt, so that wine is also sold there
for consumption on the premises in one
of the hotels. This has been done de-
spite protest from the town council OF
Reykjavik.
When some persons have pointed out
that rather much has been done to open
up the wine business, the answer is:
Spain requires so much 1t has to be
donel
During the six months from July to
December, 1922, when wine selling was
conducted all the time in one of the
towns, Reykiavik, and for about three
months in the other six, about $4,000
large bottles of wine were sold, the chief
of the wine business told me. He also
told me that the calculation is that at
least 100000 large bottles of wine will
be sold during 1923, or one bottle per
capita. Financially, the new business is
expected to give the state the following
revenue:
Custom import tax 49,. Kr. 100000
Net profit ......,... 100000
Total Kroner ........... 100000
This is no little amount for Iceland,
and no doubt there can grow out of it
temptation for the government to get
such revenue for number of years.
Spanish Wines Increase Drunkenness
Only few months have passed since
the wine selling begun. Before that
there was, of course, some illegal selling,
although not so much as some would
state.
The general opinion among the tenn
perance people is, that the sale of Span
sh wine has tended to make it far more
difficult to enforce prohibition, since it
has become more difficult to discern
whether drunkenness is caused by So
called legal or illegal drinks.
From the chief of police in Reykjavik
secured the following figures on
drunkenness offenses in the capital:
1921, whole year ................ l03
1929, whole year ............... 244
1923, JAN, Feb, March, April. -. 1875
1t is worth noticing that during 1929,
when the Spanish wine selling is start
ed, the number of drunkenness offenses
is more than doubled from what it was
in 1921, and that for one third of the
year 1923 the number is 1876. If the
same proportion continues during all
1923, the figure will exceed 400.
What Can Iceland Do in Order to Re-
establish Her Prohibition7
First a few words about the outlook
for new fish markets: As already is
stated, Mr.. p A. Olafsson of Reykjavik
has heen on his mission for more than
half year. Although he has not when