STATE CONTROL OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

White Ribbon, Volume 19, Issue 221, 18 November 1913, Page 10

STATE CONTROL OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

(A paper read l>\ Miss Evans at \u< kland Convention.) The seriousness of the drink problem and what appears to be the "low rate of progress towards the elimina tion of the great national evils caused through alcohol, have led many earnest men and women to think favourably of the idea of State control as a means of getting rid of the worst evils of the Liquor Traffic. The covetousness of the publican is held by some to account for mm h of the excessive drinking of to-day, and it i> hoped th.it by putting behind the bar a civil servant, in receipt of a fixed salary, mste.u.l of a licensed publican, whose prehts depend ujwm the amount of drink he sells, that the quantity of drink sold would be reduced, because the Stale drink-seller would not push intoxicants upon his c ustomers. In our own country, where there is a strong \o-License sentiment abroad, and where -mb a strong protest against the continuance of the Liquor Traffic has been made s<> repeatedly at the ballot box. the drink sellers have been made to think seriously of ways and means of prolonging the life of their trade, and the suggestion has come from that quarter, that to bring about the re •foi m \\ hit It public sent intent i - d* ■landing, the \o-Licensc proposal shall be taken off out Statute Books and ballot papers, and that State Control 'hall be substituted. In *ther words, that the (iovernment the people shall buy out the puhli < an, loe k, sti>( k, and barrel, shall compensate him for the loss of his license, and shall undertake to control the sale ot mtoxu atnig dunk. This pro|N>sal would not only rob the tern peranee reformers of ilt« ir right to wipe out a traffii that has been such a menace to society, but it would make every No-License voter in the Domin ion a partner in the drink business.

and in event of a nationalisation we should have out State schools teaching the boys and girls that alcohol was hurtful to the system, and our

State hotels teaching our young men and young women that it was alright, bee ause the State provided it. State Control, Municipal Control, or Trust Management of Liquoi Shops has never yet succeeded in doing away

with the worst evils of the Liquor Traffic. In (iothenberg they have Trust management, a system of State < ontrol, or disinterested management. By its wonderful construction the Traffic was to be effectively controlled and it' evil mtlueme checked. By doing awa\ with the element of personal profit; by having the hotels conduct ed by salaried manager*; by refusing to give credit; by selling pure liquors; by keeping food for 'ale* at the establishment; by encouraging the sale of wines and beer instead of spirits, it was hoped to lessen the evils of drink. One of the advertised objects in favour of the system was to wrestle with the problem of pauperism. But what are the results? Why, \ou will never get a lining manager to mention pauperism to-day, for (iothen berg is spending nearly as mu< h in supporting her paupers as she is in supporting her public s< hooL. l*au perism has increased 50 per cent. Latest figure's to hand show that there an’ i-'.sm pauper' in that city. Muring one year (iothenberg had i<m*o more arrests for drunkenness than the- most drunken American c it > of similar population. Mr Joseph Malui', wli» has repeatedly made ill vc tigutinii into this Tiust system, s.i\ s that (iotln-nberg has produced more convictions tm drunkenness in one year than the whole ot the him dreels of drink shops m English towns of equal population. Judging by the • iiimbei of convictions it has produced it is more than ti\e times as drunken a' Aberdeen in Scotland, Cardiff in Wales, 01 Liverpool 111 Lngland. In one >eai 145 b persons got drunk at the- Company ' hotels. iSjX :>ersons were found drunk with a bottle in then pockets, iq;N others were drunk through drinking beer only, and 1(161 c iti/eiis wc ic so drunk the y could not tell while- they had got the drink; and besides all thi', there were <4>.i Sunday chunks. (iothenhetg is the most drunken < it\ m the- Scandinavian peninsula. What has been done 111 the wax of regulating this Traffic? It cannot be regulated, but give it a c bailee' and it will regulate the- State-. Ask a liolog manager how many hotels there are in (iothenberg, and he* will say IS, and ><m will afterwards discover that besides thc'sc* there arc--17 or iX club licenses and m-vcii shops where it is sold by the bottle for consumption off the- premise*, and 43 licenses let out to publicans; and be-

sides this, 75 privileged licenses untlc-i an old law, and three or four other privileged licenses, f>s beer licenses, .’5 ordinary beer licenses. I here arcother beer shops that sell beer by the bottle- for consumption at home, and beer is sold at practically every grocery, fruit, provision, and candy store-, and every shopkeeper <an 'C-ll beer for consumption off tin- premises. It 1 s sold from the brewers’ carts ,»s they go about. 'The r.dlways belong to the- (iovernment. and practically every railway station n .1 beer saloon. T igurc-s go to show that there are about 1000 liquor shops and X 43 beer shops m (iothenberg. the Company’s shops alone sell 3 5-q gallons of sprit' per head of the population. In reply to an enquiry made by the British Consul, the- manageress in one case said, “We >i*ll ijcm* gallons ot brandy to working men and women on Saturdays, and the- daily income is /55- A Swedish statesman. Hen Oskar Eklund, M 11,l 1 , tor Stockholm, s.iys that the- (iothenberg system has never become in practice what it is in principle. The disinterested men who founded the- Company's hotels soon taught themselves the* art of securing then own financial interests. Soon it was arranged that from the large- funds placed in tin business a high interest was drawn, and high salaries paid to the dim ten s. When attempts have been made in some of our towns to get Sunday closing introduced the- managers have opposed the measure. When any proposal to restrict the sale- of liquoi has been tor mutated in Parliament the subject matter h.i' generally been sent to the Provincial authorities, and they have remitted it to the managers of the saloons, and s«> making it almost mi|M*ssible to get reform. 1 his evidence goes to prove that (iothenberg is not controlling her Lie pi or Traffic, but that the Liquor Traffic is controlling her. We have another ex ample of disinterested management of the Drink I r.iftn in the Public House Trust \ss<m iation at Northumberland, which includes some halt dozen hotels. Karl (»rey, in a letter to the- “Times/' lays down the essential conditions of success as follows: 1. The Trust houses were to be manage d so that only the- best drink would be- sold. j. It will not be to the interest of tin- manage rto push th sale of intoxicants, for he will rcc c'ivr no com mission on the* sale of intoxicants, but

will »*e paid .1 fixed sfclary, »if) com mission on the lale- of» food and’** non intoxicants, 01 .1 bonus tor good man.inniitiit. j. The public-houses will* hr re ireshnu-ift houses, ami not merely dunking bars. Food and non intoxi. Cants will be supplied readily a> intoxicants, and (luring thr name hour**. 4. I lie Mjr|tiu> piofits latte! allowing a softie lent >uin lei reserve and interest, not exceeding 5 pet cent, on invented capital) will be administered by c arefully >elec tc*d trustees foi the benefit of the* community. Such were the ideals, and Karl Kiev originated the 1 l ru-t at Broomhill, a mining village* on his own estate. Motels m the surrounding district' had been content with a mx days’ license, but the “(irey Arms” had a seve n dai s’ license to allow tor selling on Sundays. In five years the hnu-e has had seven managers. One of it> latest fa lay preae her) did a roaring trade on Sundays. Two constables stated in Court tti.it on a Sunday afternoon U> 01 70 e ustoiners Ifft that hotel, and about 50 were un dcr the* influence- c,t drink, and con 'tituted a drunken procession to the village, while- two fell on their backs in the road. A police sergeant testi tied that he had been stationed in thickly populated colliery districts fm 17 years, but that he had never known a worse conducted house than the (irey Arms. I he- Kev. K. K. Thomas, M.A., one of the shareholders, declared that front a moral point of view the- house was a dismal failure*. Kev. Canon 11. J. Bulkcley, M.A., another shareholder, said: ‘‘ I here is more drunkenness than in any ordinary public house.” Six othc-r hotels we reopened by the- same Trust, and a sad story could be- written about each of them, for what started as philanthropic institutions, to work in the- interests of humanity and morality, has become merely a liiianc ial s< hc-me. For over 50 years then* has been State Control of the- l.icpior I rattic in India, and no one* can 'pc-ak c-t it as a success. It has developed thedrink habit enormously ;-mong>t a naturally temperate people*. One tact stands out, that during the last 25 years, under State- Control, the sale of drink h.i' inc rea'C-d 300 per ca nt., and th«* (iovernment of India is to-day fencing liquor shops upon an unwilling people. Kussja is a glaring example- of what State- Control really is,

The Kussian (iovernment determined to take- over the Liquor Traffic, and to reform the- drink shops, and to de-vote a percentage- of the- profits to counterattractions. it did thi*. with the patronage- ot noble- ladies, and the l)lc-ssings of the prie-sts, and the money c ame- into their treasury, and very soon the ine-ts were instructed not to teach l emperane t*. 'lhou sands ot school masters became* Statepublicans. Women were added to the- attractions of the- liquor shops, ancient local option powers we re suppressed, and petitions lor Sunday limitations were disregarded. The Russian prc-s> became muzzled, and it is difficult to know the full extent ot demoralisation wrought, but the Lon don “Daily Chronicle-” 'tatc-s ,hat drunkenness has been constantly on the- inc lease, and that all attempts to >ave the- people from drunkenness, and thereby raise them both morally and economically, have failed. There is an alarming me tease in the- profits stated to be- over 50 millions, from the Traffic' The M oscow Town Council has recently made- an enquiry into the- subject, and of the- adults that an* addicted to drink. It has been proved that <>o per cent, learnt the habit while- still at school. Out of iX, 134 school boys m the Moscow province-, fre m the- ages of ,S to ij years, 1.2,152, or 'lO per rent., have taken to drink, and out ot 10,404 girls of the same ages, 4733, or 45 per cent., also drink. At the Ku ssian anti Alcoholic Congress, at St. I’c-tc-r-------burg, striking illustrations were Riven of the corrupting power of StateControl, and the- Prefect of Koine ten bade the- Congress to discuss the (iovernment liquoi monopoly . I he Russian Medical Congress at St. Petersburg has by unanimous resolution denounced the monopoly as having become disastrous. The increased Liquor revenue has helped to fill the- war chest by a process which has deteriorated the Czar's subjects, and made- them less able to withstand tne sobc-r Japanese-. In the- fust year after the- monopoly was established, the consumption of ordinary spirits me leased in the- province- of St. Petersburg 13 per cent. Surely we have abundant evidence here to prove that no State can control her drink tiattic. It is beyond control. It can never be Christianised, and we dare not throw over it the white mantle of benevolence, for to accept charity for our public institutions at such a cost

is criminal the price* of such awful degradation, misery, and death which must ever follow in the trail of the Liquor Traffic. It cannot under any pretence justify its existence, and theonly way to deal with it is to vote- it out.