402 Wisconsin Academy of ScienceSj Arts, and Letters, 



newspapers. Speaking of the commotion in Risor, one of the 

 cities where samlags had operated for a long time, the well 

 known ^NTorwegian paper, ^Tadrelandsvennen," says : "The week 

 just passed has been an exciting one for Risor, a week of strife 

 and battles. Agitation for and against the brandy samlags has 

 been conducted with all possible vigor and vehemence; hardly 

 any grown, person has remained entirely unaffected by it." 

 And here is another ^vritten shortly before election time. It 

 is reported in the form of a telegram from the city of Tonsberg. 

 "The samlag agitation is growing more and miore intense as the 

 time for balloting approaches. The papers are full of condeon- 

 nations and exaltations of the present liquor system; fly-leaves 

 by the thousands are being scattered daily by both parties. 

 "Never has there been a political campaign that has brought so 

 much strife or so much excitement.'^ Other quotations might 

 be cited, but these will suffice to indicate the general heat of the 

 contest. 



Strange as it is the records of the ballots of 1895 show a ma- 

 jority not in favor of but against the samlags. There were 

 thirteen cities in which balloting took place, and of these there 

 were eleven in which the prohibition element won the day. As 

 the record of the votes is very important in showing the trend 

 of public opinion, I have procured tables from the Statistical 

 Central Bureau which show the exact condition. These tables 

 are made complete and absolutely correct. 



