14 THE GOTHENBURG SYSTEM OF LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 



formidable ally or antagonist. Recent movements 

 towards female suffrage have been largely prompted by 

 the hope that this would create a body of voters over 

 whom the saloon could have little influence. On the 

 other hand the temperance party, too, is usually a factor 

 to be considered in any political situation. Prohibition 

 was once adopted by one of the two great political 

 parties in New Hampshire, with no special interest in it 

 and no real intention of enforcing it, simply to secure 

 the vote of prohibitionists for other party measurres. 

 And in numerous instances promising temperance 

 measures have been rejected by persons really in favor 

 of them, because they were mixed up with purely 

 political matters to which these persons were opposed. 

 The greatest obstacle by far is the greed of gain. The 

 liquor traffic is enormously profitable both to the manu- 

 facturer and to the retailer, A vast amount of capital is 

 invested in it. Any blow against it strikes the pocket- 

 book, and the pocketbook is the most acutely sensitive 

 organ in the human system. The manufacturer, his 

 workmen, his agents and distributors, the property 

 owner who doubles and quadruples his rents by leasing 

 his premises for liquor selling, the proprietor of the 

 saloon, his bartenders, waiters and hangers-on form an 

 army of persons who make a living or a fortune from 

 liquor, and they are alert and active to prevent any 

 interference with their pecuniary interests. If there 

 were no money in whiskey making and whiskey selling, 

 undoubtedly every saloon would put up its shutters and 

 almost every still put out its fires within a week. And 

 if the profits were only on a par with those of more 

 reputable occupations, the business would speedily 

 dwindle to a quarter of its present proportions. Other 

 things being equal most men would prefer keeping a 

 corner grocery than a common grogshop, or making rye 

 into flour rather than into whiskey, or renting their 



