Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



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ALCOHOLISM IN FRANCE. 



Pi-ni.ir Health versus Budget Necessities. 



In the French reviews for April there are two 

 .irticles on the Alcohol Question in France; hut the 

 writers deal with it from very different j)oints of view. 

 Writing in la Revue of April 1, M. Victor Augagneur, 

 a former Minister, advocates strongly a limitation of 

 the houses where alcohol can be procured. 



INEXPEDIENCY OF DEAU.NG WITH THE EVIL. 



In the Chamber of Deputies on February 5th a vote 

 was taken on the law proposed by the Senate to 

 restrict the number of licensed premises. Out of 

 51)6 Deputie> onlv 156 voted in favour of any limita- 

 tion. Although beaten, and royally beaten, in a small 

 but good company, the writer persists in the belief 

 that one of the most efficacious means of combating 

 the drink evil is to limit or to reduce the number of 

 drinkshops. In the last fifty years the consumption 

 of alcohol in France, he says, has trebled itsell. 

 Opponents of restriction indignantly claim the rights 

 of commercial freedom. In principle, however, there 

 is no such thing as unrestricted freedom in commen c 

 Realising the weakness of this argument, opponents 

 then pretend that a reduction in the number of licensed 

 houses is ineflicacious as a preventive measure against 

 alcoholism. Such a law as that proposed would there- 

 fore be not only unjust, but useless. In the C'hamljer 

 this seems to have been the pretext behind which the 

 defenders of the drunkard sheltered themselves. Had 

 the vote been secret there would have been 400 instead 

 of 156 in fa\()ur of the law. A transcendent electoral 

 importance is attributed to the sellers of alcohol, and 

 therefore the feared loss of votes makes it inexpedient 

 to deal with the evil. 



THE EXAMPLE OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



The aim ol the Hill was rather to prevent alcoholism 

 in individuals not yet contaminated than to cure 

 present inveterate drinkers. The smallest reflection 

 should convince anyone that the drinking habit results 

 from repeated and insistent invitations from the 

 drinkshops to the passers-by, and that the temptation 

 when it is multiplied, as in a street in Rouen, which 

 counts seventy-five drinkshops out of 150 houses, 

 cannot be without its influence on the alcoholisation 

 of the people. The experience of Sweden and Norwa\ , 

 where legislation almost Draconian has iirought aboiit 

 a tremendous change during the last half-century, is 

 cited. Before legislation there was in Sweden one 

 licen.sc(l house to every hundred inhabitants ; to-day 

 it is one to every 5,000, and the sale of alcohol has been 

 reduced to one-eighth. In Norway, instead of there 

 being one licensed house to every 200 inhabitants, the 

 proportion is one to every 9,000, and the sale of alcohol 

 ha.s been reduced to one-lweltlh. In Finland a similar 

 change has been effected. Why, then, should not 

 something of the kind be done in France? 

 A State Monopoly Suggested. 

 M. II. R. Savary. who writes in the Revue de Paris. 

 does not deal with the sale of alcohol as an evil, but 

 considers the question hum the lUidget point of view. 



Though the Budget of 1912 is said to balance itself, 

 no one expects such a balance to be assured ui future 

 Budgets. Everyone, indeed, knows that nation;il 

 defence, social reforms, and the normal increase in the 

 cost of the public services will mean an enormous 

 increase of expenditure to be reckoned with. ]\Iany 

 people suggest that the State should turn its attentmn 

 to alcohol, which is at present insufficiently taxed. Let 

 the State not merely ta.\ it, but confiscate it, they say. 

 Why does the State hesitate to do so ? Because, replies 

 the writer, the results would not be those promised by 

 these enthusiasts. In Switzerland, the first country to 

 adopt monopolisation, the fiscal results have not been 

 such as was hoped. In Russia, where the monopol>- 

 was to save the rural population from alcoholism, the 

 remedy has only been partially successful. Here the 

 peasant does his drinking at home, and the amount 

 of alcohol per individual consumed increases steadily. 

 Financially, however, the scheme has been a "great 

 success for the revenue. In Sweden and Norway the 

 legislation was directed to the limitation of the con- 

 sumption of alcohol rather than to the raising of 

 revenue. 



The writer then considers the fiscal side of a 

 monopoly of manufacture and a monopoly of sale of 

 alcohol, and comes to the conclusion that under 

 existing conditions in France no such State monopoly 

 would Vicld the enormous sums bound to be required 

 to meet the new expenditure which in the near future 

 will be imposed on the State. 



A NEW TIME-TABLE FOR "THE RING." 

 In the Muucal Times lor April .Mr. IJertram Smith 

 suggests a new time-table for the performances of 

 •• The Ring." The plan of crowding the performances 

 into the evening hours, with only short pauses between 

 the acts, results in a long, congested evening, for there 

 are some four hours of solid music to be enjoxed or 

 endured. On the other hand, the plan of beginning in 

 the afternoon about four or five o'clock, and allowing 

 an interval of an hour, makes it impossible for many 

 busy people to attend. While " The Ring " dramas 

 are too long, the very suggestion of " cuts " finds the 

 Wagnerian public up in arms. Mr. Smith proposes 

 that " The Ring," instead of occupying four evenings, 

 should be spread over six, which will enable one to 

 hear the whole of it in perfect comfort. The four 

 dramas fall into an admirable division for the purpose. 

 On the first evening wc should have " Das Rheingold," 

 lasting two and a half hours ; on the second, the first 

 two ads of " Die Walkure," lasting (with an interval 

 of about twenty-five minutes) three hours ; on the 

 third, A(t III. of "Die Walkure" and Act I. of 

 " Siegfried," lastnig (with an interval of half an hour), 

 three hours ; on the fourth, .\cts II. and III. of " Sieg- 

 fried," lasting (with an interval of twenty-five minutes) 

 three hours ; on the fifth, the Prologue and .\i t 1. of 

 " Die Gotterdiimmerung," lasting two hours : and on 

 the sixth. Acts II. and HI. of " Die Gotterdiimmerung." 

 lusting (with an interval of twenty minutes) two and 

 three-quarter hours. 



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