Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Social Movements - 3. Temperance Question. By Einar J:son Thulin
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74 (i
v. social movements.
bar-license might be granted for a shorter time, e. g., in camps, or wherever
else bodies of soldiers were quartered for several days, at health resorts or
watering places, on passenger steamers, etc. — In order to increase the cost of
spirits and thus diminish their use, a certain duty was fixed for every "kanna"
sold. The smallest number for which this duty was reckoned, was 800 "kannor"
in a town and 400 in the country for each year of sale. Resources thus
accruing from the sale were originally so divided, that towns retained direct
shares of the receipts, while country communes received, in proportion to their
population, shares of profits made in rural districts. Provincial agricultural
societies, and after 1862 county councils as well, finally received one-tenth
each of the receipts within the län.
Time after time the statute of 1855 dealing with sales, has been subjected
to revision, and last in 1905, but the fundamental regulations remain unaltered.
Since October 1 1914, wholesale dealing — by which was formerly understood
trade in quantities of at least 250 liters — has been forbidden to all except
such as propose to re-sell their purchases. At the same time the minimum for
retail trade has been reduced to 0’3 of a liter, if the seller has adopted the
individual control system (see below). Licenses depending on town
monopolies have lately all been redeemed — the total sum paid for redemption
in Stockholm alone amounts to over 2"i million kronor. A number of
innkeepers’ licenses have also expired or been redeemed, so that the total of
them in 1912 was reduced to 13. "Off" licenses at bars have ceased. The sale
of spirits in towns must now be in the hands of "system companies", and the
only license put up to auction in the country is the bar license for spirits. When
the retail trade is introduced in the country, a company has to take over the
sale. The introduction of the spirit trade in a country district has since 1877
been enxirely subject to the decision of . the Communal Meeting, and in the
towns since 1895, to that of the Town Councils. Occasional licenses are no
longer allowed in camps or in places where bodies of soldiers are quartered for
several days. The payment for every license taken over (spirit license duty) is
now fixed at 225 kronor at least, a sum which corresponds to 15 ore for the
minimum unit of 1 500 liters. The receipts accruing from licenses, and the
profits made by the business of companies must be divided between towns,
county councils, agricultural societies, and all the communes in the kingdom,
besides which one per cent of this revenue must be set aside to promote
temperance and to combat the results of drunkenness. Retailing of spirits is only
allowed on weekdays from 9 a. m., and closes on Saturdays and the eves of
public holidays at 5 p. m.; on other days at 7 p. m., at latest. The earliest
time for the bar-trade in spirits is 9 a. m., and in cities and market towns
usually ceases at 10 p. m., and in the country at 8 p. m. On Sundays and
public holidays bars must always be closed during church-time; and spirits are
generally only allowed to be served at other times to customers at meals. When
special circumstances require a reduction or extension in the time of serving
liquor, the governor of the län issues instructions on the representation of the
authorities in the commune.
A peculiarity of the Swedish spirit trade is the monopoly entrusted to
companies. As far as is known, the company-system was first introduced at Falun
in 1850, but it has got its name of the "Gothenburg system" from the town
where it was really developed in the seventies. The ruling principle is that the
spirit trade shall be exclusively practised in the interests of morality, and shall
not provide the shareholders of a company with profits exceeding 5 % on the
capital subscribed. The whole of the profits beyond that shall be devoted to
public uses, and divided in the manner described above. From the restrictions
imposed by the Gothenburg system, a diminution in the consumption of spirits
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