Thompson — The Gothenburg Liquor^ System. 415 



trol at all. The step preliminary to granting samlags exclusive 

 control in the sale of ale and wine is therefore to dispose, in 

 some way, of the rights now held by the privileged merchants. 

 And rather than await the course of nature to do away with 

 these, a process which would still take from .three to seven 

 decades, the ISTorwegian people, through a special committee 

 appointed by parliament to consider plans for reforming the 

 liquor law, are now ready to advocate that these vested rights 

 be abrogated by means of expropriation. It is hoped that for 

 a reasonable sum the merchants will relinquish their rights. If 

 this is done and all rights are transferred to samlags then there 

 is every reason to believe that the sales of ale and wine will, like 

 the sales of brandy, be greatly diminished. To achieve this ex- 

 propriation is therefore the next and necessary step in the 

 further development of the temperance movement in ISTorway. 



There is therefore no criticism to offer against the Gothen- 

 burg system other than that it has now reached a point in its 

 history where operating according to its past principles alone it 

 is no longer adequate to foster to a higher degree the sobriety 

 of the Scandinavian people. The necessary change, however, 

 will not be a change in the fibre of the system. The new system 

 of absolute control of all intoxicants by samlags will simply be 

 the Gothenburg system completely realized. 



The realization of this absolute control by samlags must not, 

 however, mean that the samlags shall necessarily sell all sorts 

 of liquors. It would indeed be the height of inexpediency and 

 directly inconsistent with the aim of the system were it to pro- 

 pose a resumption of the brandy traffic in cities where that 

 traffic can be prohibited. Total prohibition must be recognized 

 as the goal of all ideal liquor legislation. The samlags should 

 sell only those beverages which the public opinion of the com- 

 munity may sanction, and which if not sold by samlags would 

 fall under the control of private greed for gain. Absolute con- 

 trol and the smallest possible sales, — such is the new Gothen- 

 burg system demanded by the present stage in the evolution of 

 the Scandinavian liquor problem. 



The purpose of the Gothenburg system is to do away (1) with 

 the evil influences of the individual greed for gain, (2) with the 

 reckless impoverishment of the poor through drinking on credit 



