47 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



By a statute passed in 1887 the manufacture of alcoholic 

 liquors was made a state monopoly; The net proceeds of the 

 business as thus conducted are considerable, but the entire net 

 receipts are distributed among the several Cantons in proportion 

 to their population. Smuggling and other evasions of the law 

 under the new system are acknowledged to be extensive and irre- 

 pressible, so that the measure in question is yet generally re- 

 garded in the light of an experiment. 



As this subject is one of special interest in other countries, it 

 is thought expedient in this connection to submit a presentation 

 and review of it as recently made by Prof. John Martin Vincent, 

 Professor of History in Johns Hopkins University, and published 

 in a book entitled State and Federal Government in Switzer- 

 land, 1894 : 



" The right to manufacture the higher grades of distilled spirits 

 belongs exclusively to the Federal Government of Switzerland. 

 This is effected by contract either with home or foreign distillers, 

 but at least one fourth of the quantity required must be manu- 

 factured by domestic companies to whom the Government makes 

 allotments from time to time. In order to encourage agriculture, 

 the distillation of certain native fruits and roots is exempted from 

 the monopoly and made free to any one. The Government is also 

 the distributer of liquors in quantities not less than one hundred 

 and fifty litres (a litre == 1*05 quart), and fixes the prices. Spirits 

 used for technical and household purposes must be sold at cost of 

 manufacture, and before delivery must be reduced by the addition 

 of wood spirits or other mixtures which render them unfit for 

 drinking. The peddling of liquor from house to house is entirely 

 forbidden except for the kind last mentioned. Retail dealers re- 

 quire a license from the cantonal authorities, and pay a gradu- 

 ated tax according to the amount of their sales. The traffic in 

 quantities above forty litres is considered wholesale and under no 

 restriction. The administration of the liquor business is there- 

 fore entirely in the hands of the Federal authorities until the 

 spirits reach the retail dealers ; there the Cantons step in to regu- 

 late the number and the character of the dramshops, to make the 

 necessary sumptuary and police laws, and exact such license fees 

 as may seem best. The net profits of the government manage- 

 ment are collected by the Federal authorities, but divided entirely 

 among the Cantons in proportion to population. The Cantons on 

 their part are obliged to expend at least ten per cent of this 

 dividend in suppressing the evils of intemperance, and to report 

 annually to the Federal Government. Distilleries, in order to 

 continue operations, must be large enough to supply one hundred 

 and fifty hectolitres (a hectolitre = 26.4 gallons) a year. The 

 monopoly is protected from competition by foreign countries by 



