REV. WM. BANCEOFT HILL. 27 



nearly 250,000 inhabitants; and five other cities range 

 from 20,000 to 100,000 each. I give these figures that 

 we may not confuse either country with such a State as 

 Maine, which has a population of less than 700,000, and 

 whose two largest cities, Portland and Bangor, have but 

 37,000 and 20,000 respectiv^ely. The larger the State and 

 the cities in it, the more difficult the problem of reducing 

 intemperance. The large cities of Norway and Sweden, 

 moreover, are seaports ; and the presence of seamen, 

 especially the crews of coal and grain steamers (notor- 

 iously the most drunken of their kind), adds peculiar 

 obstacles. Summer tourists, too, are said to be a diffi- 

 cult class to bring under temperance restraints. 



The first evident result of the new system is a marked 

 reduction of places where liquor is sold. In Norway in 

 the country districts only 25 licensed places remain, and 

 half of these are in the northern fishery districts ; in the 

 towns the number has been reduced from one for every 

 691 inhabitants to one for every 1,413, — a reduction of 

 more than one-half, — almost of two-thirds. In the city 

 of Bergen the reduction is from one for every 1,498 to one 

 for every 5,137. In Sweden where (as I said) the sys- 

 tem has not had so free a chance to work, the reduction 

 is less, but still is decidedly large. As for Gothenburg 

 itself it has only one place where liquor is sold by the 

 glass for each 2,668 inhabitants ; part of these places are 

 restaurants, hotels and clubs ; of saloons proper, Gothen- 

 burg has only one for every 11,000 inhabitants. 



2. In all saloons, as we have noticed, early closing 

 throughout the week and absolute closing on Sundays 

 and holidays are enforced ; the sale of liquor to minors 

 and other incompetent persons is forbidden ; the price 

 of a dram has been raised (for example, in Gothenburg 

 from H fo 2J cents) ; and the amount of alcohol in the 

 beverage has been somewhat reduced. Drinking in 

 public places,— especially in Norway,— has become dis- 



