| Show FIGHTING THE COMMON FOE the re of switzerland bich is comparatively little liitle in area population tio ana weal wealth la Is great in respect to popular liberty liberal institutions institution education 4 and ud men of profound minds in common with other advanced commonwealths mon it la engaging in ina a struggle with the rum evil and also as elsewhere finds it uphill work not richly rewarded in the matter of success and not at all in other respects the particular system of dealing with the evil in that country to is uis 1 cussed by mr W milliet of berne iu in a late publication of the american academy of political and social science in which among other tia lugs it is shown that there exists no appreciable current of opinion among the swiss in favor of total abstinence considered either as a voluntary act or as the outcome of prohibitory legislation it is true that by an amendment of the federal constitution passed in 1885 the cantonal legislatures acquired the power of restricting the number of places for the sale of liquor within their respective jurisdictions ane power has been exercised in fourteen cantons but even it in these theme taken as a whole the number of taverns has somewhat increased no substantial result there fore has followed the concession ot of restrictive power such to la not the case with the alcohol monopoly intro deuced in ID 1887 this has accomplished two things it has greatly improved the quality of the distilled liquors oon con in ID switzerland and has caused a marked reduction in the use of them the primary aim of the monopoly was to bring about the substitution offer jentei for distilled liquors and short its aa la is the period during which the experiment peri ment has lasted the results are said to he encouraging we are informed that before the creation of the monopoly spoken of switzerland buffered muff ered considerably from the practice of liquor peddling among the people and from the exist ence of n a emberd of small stills in remote neighborhoods too toe product being as a rule because of its necessarily im perfect perte ct crude and condition not allowed to enter enier the m markets a drawback which was doubly a drawback to the producers iu in that their wares were forced back upon themselves fur for consumption and that kind of thing was never permitted to go to waste as that word is ordinarily the natural effect was waa that the use of this raw aud and we may say vile stuff became all but universal among the farming class and its de pm pj dennies den cies and something of a heroic nature had to be done by the republic hence leacea a change in the liao federal constitution by the terms of which limited interference with the liquor traffic was granted to both the national and local authorities statistics show that since the adoption of the alcohol monopoly fourteen hundred large and small distilleries have been suppressed by expropriation from the remaining sixty or seventy distilleries the monopoly administration is the only purchaser the product does not go directly from distiller di to consumer the adain admin takes it under fixed conditions and brings it back to the trade only after it has been duly rectified of the profits of the monopoly one tenth now amoni ting to about a year must be applied to the struggle with alcoholism that is to say to the maintenance of the poor and the insane whose misfortunes may be traced to that malady the effect of the monopoly on the consumption of spirits is thus set get out in 1885 the consumption of distilled liquors per capita was 1026 litres laitres in 1891 it was waa only A part of this decrease is due to the cessation of smuggling of distilled liquors from switzerland into the adjacent countries but after reasonable deductions on that score have been made it is estimated that the shrinkage shrinka shrin kM in the use of ardent spirits by the swiss themselves is in not less than 26 25 per cent the decreased consumption oon sump is obviously due not only to the extinction of private stills but bat to the fact that a higher highee price must be paid for the product of distilleries the joint effect of diminished consumption and of the greatly improved quality of the liquors sold is expected soon to show itself in the statistics of alcoholism all of which is commendable and gratifying it shows that government control has something of a restraining effect while medical appliances the force of good teaching and example and the abolishment of social and sensuous attractiveness in places where liquor is in sold bold will do the rest reat or come as near to it as an can be done by the agency of man alone |
