20th C. Prohibition in UK and Europe

The Latin countries, especially France, Spain and Portugal, present a problem to temperance societies because they consume and export large quantities of spirits and have constantly fought prohibition in other countries. They are partly responsible for the lessening of prohibition restrictions in Norway and Iceland.

ONE EUROPEAN NATION IS DRY

Only one nation of Europe, Finland, has a full prohibition law similar to that enacted In the United States. Six other nations have stringent regulations, four have local option and 11 have almost no restrictions, a survey of 22 European countries shows. The countries which have tried piohlbition are principally among the northern group and one reason advanced was that those countries had a higher level of drunkenness which provided a good field for temperance campaigns. The countries which have some form of stringent regulation of the sale of liquor are, in addition to Finland, Great Britain, Belgium, Sweden, Esthonia, and Italy. The six employ different means of regulating liquor consumption and any list of stringent methods must be arbitrary depending upon interpretation of the laws. 

Among the nations without or almost without regulations are France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Czecho-Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Holland, Greece and Switzerland. Those countries are either Latinic or Germanic, both races being chiefly wine and beer drinking peoples. Great quantities of wine and beer are consumed in those countries but temperance statisticians say their records tend towards sobriety. 

The Latin countries, especially France, Spain and Portugal, present a problem to temperance societies because they consume and export large quantities of spirits and have constantly fought prohibition in other countries. They are partly responsible for the lessening of prohibition restrictions in Norway and Iceland. Finland, on the Arctic sea, was the first country to adopt prohibition. The law was enacted 12 years before the United States went dry but was quashed as unfavorable to the European wine growers by the Grand Duke of Russia. In 1917 Finland, as an independent country, again passed a dry law which is still In effect. The enforcement has not been perfect and smuggling still exists. 

Belgium has prohibited drinking in public houses of any liquor more than 18 per cent alcohol since 1919. Belgians may purchase liquor in no less than two quart lots for home consumption. The measure applies to all bars, cafes, hotels, restaurants, stores, trains, boats and the streets. No bottle may be uncorked outside of the purchaser's home. There are severe penalties for violators, the law is carried out strictly and there are few violations, the most impartial observers agree. A certain latitude in interpretation of law makes it possible to sell liquor by the glass in private clubs and there are many of these clubs, although supporters of the law maintain that workmen drink less than before 1919 and crimes due to drunkenness have decreased one-third, police reported. 

Temperance leaders, however, are now working for total prohibition. Great Britain has reduced alcohol consumption by two methods; high government duties on the sale of spirits and beer and shortening of hours of sale In public houses. It is estimated that consumption has decreased one-half since 1913 in strong liquors, although beer consumption has been less reduced A royal commission has now been named to investigate the situation and report on whether there should be changes. 

The widely-known Bratt system is employed in Sweden, where only adults possessing Bratt cards to show they are temperate in habits may purchase liquor. Only home consumption is permitted. The government has had to contend with much smuggling but has abolished saloons and decreased the national drink bill. Norway had full prohibition on 1919 but repealed it in 1926 because of commercial pressure from wine-growing countries who retaliated by refusing to buy Norwegian products and also because of smuggling and difficulty of enforcement. 

The new law, permitting local option was said to be the most vigorous in Europe. It permitted only those cities where spirits were sold before the war to re-introduce liquor sale. Esthonia, on the Baltic Sea. first tried the Swedish card system but abandoned it in favor of strict local option which has proved satisfactory In the estimate of prohibitionists. Its neighbor, Latvia, lias only a few restrictive measures, including the closing of all bars from Saturday noon until Monday morning, materially decreasing alcoholic consumption. Denmark has restricted the consumption of liquors through high duties and local option, introduced in 1925. 

All Baltic Sea countries have an agreement to suppress smuggling. Iceland, an independent country under the King of Denmark, established full prohibition in 1915 but modified it later to permit sale of Spanish wines because Spain had threatened to restrict the sale of Iceland’s fish. The country still has full prohibition of sale of spirits. 

Russia has a state monopoly on production of vodka but no restrictions. The government permits local option, which has not been used to any great extent. Poland voted for local option in 1921 and the system has been fairly successful. The president of Czecho-Slovakia is a teetotaler but there are no restrictions on liquor in the country. Yugoslavia has no stringent liquor regulations and there has been little agitation for prohibition in Austria. 

Germany, Hungary or Holland, Italy’s only restriction is a fascist measure requiring early night closing of bars and cafes and limitation of the number of licensed houses. Spain and Portugal are wine-drinking countries where little headway has been made by prohibitionists and Greece is a temperate country with no restrictions on drink. 

France has no prohibition except on absinthe, which was prohibited in 1915 because it was blamed for a bad effect on health of drinkers. French police are required to arrest any drunken person but arrests have decreased by half since before the war. The consumption of hard liquor in France for 1929 surpassed all previous records. — By Stewart Brown, UPI Correspondent, 7th January, Paris, 1930

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