TEMPERANCE ITEMS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4779, 21 July 1894, Page 3

TEMPERANCE ITEMS.

The Gothenburg System

In an article entitled "The Liquor Traffic Without Private Profits," in the irena, John Koren gives a succinct summary of the advantages to be gained by the adoption of a modified Norwegian principle applied to America. He enumerates them as follows

1. It is a" measuro of reform and . not of destruction." Experience has shown that the saloons cannot be 1 permanently legislated out of existence, but wo know that they can be reformed and substitutes offered to meet the social cravings of the : many, 2. The element of private profit 1 making would be divorced from tho 1 sale of intoxicants, When the terrible temptation to make money out 1 of other peoples vices is removed, competition must cease, and every restrictive provision of the law can . easily carried out, 3. Tho ■ whole liquor question : would bo taken out of politics, and one of the greatest obstacles tomunicipal and social reform generally would be-surmounted, 4. The number of licensed places would ho reduced to tho lowest limit consistent with keeping tho control of the traffic in the hands of the 1 -- - a. company without placing a premium on illicit sales. 5. Tho consumption of liquor could be checked not only by limiting the quantity to bo sold to the individual consumer, but by shorter hours of sale andenhancing the cost of liquor. Order and decency will becomo tho first consideration, the sale of liquor the last. 6. Absolute purity of the liquor sold could be guaranteed. Tho evil effects of over-indulgenco are often, ' perhaps, as much duo to quality as to quantity, 7. Better policing of the places where drink is sold will follow, and those charged with the enforcement of the law will not be tempted by bribes. Allthe immoral accessories which intensify the harm done by the common saloon would bo dis- ' sociated from tho traffic, and the - ~ ■ 'pauper, loafer, and criminal driven from their haunts. 8. By placing the responsibility for the manner in which the liquor traffic is conducted npon the shoulders of many (members of a company), and not upon private individuals or certain office-holders, honest and intelligent management could easily bo obtained, and the efficient co-operation of the comjuuhity relied upon. " 9. The system does not interfere with local option, hut is a step toward making a no-license rale an actuality rather than a name. 10. It teaches temperance by holding up drunkenness as a vico, nnd hence, 1L Does not " make drinking re'lijlrtftble "; 011 tho contrary, it . demonstrates forcibly that as a matter of self-protection only, society cannot tolerate immoderate indulgence, 12. The profits arising from the trade, instead of going to tho enrichment of a fow, could be devoted to the alleviation of the ills inflicted npon society by the drink evil itself, and to tho establishment of counter- : acting agencies,