Licensing and temperance in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark / by Edwin A. Pratt.

  • Pratt, Edwin A., 1854-1922.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Licensing and temperance in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark / by Edwin A. Pratt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the Gothenburg System, or a modification thereof, within the range of practical politics in the United Kingdom; and it is, therefore, a matter of much importance that the position should be well understood by that great body of British public opinion — represented, on the one hand, by moderate drinkers, and, on the other, by people who are not Municipal-Socialists—by which the deciding vote on the questions at issue will have to be given. So much was written concerning the Gothen- burg System some ten or fifteen years ago that it might seem almost necessary to apologize for offering still another book on the subject. But, apart from the considerations just presented, and apart from the fact that various new develop- ments have been brought about, I may say that, although I had prepared for a tour of inquiry in Scandinavia by a diligent study of Gothenburg System literature, this previous reading in no way prepared me for what I found, on making my own inquiries, to be the real facts of the case. It is only natural that those who are officially con- cerned in the system in the countries where it has been adopted should seek to present matters in the most favourable light; but there has been too much tendency on the part of inquirers from England or America—and especially on the part of compilers of books on the subject who have