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CHAPTER
VI
TEMPERANCE V. TEETOTALISM
BETWEEN the temperance party in Scandinavia and the teetotal
party in the United Kingdom and the United States there
are differences that go to the very base of the temperance
movement as a whole, and are likely to have an important
bearing on the future of the liquor question in North-West
Europe.
As already stated in Chapter I., the first temperance society
in Norway, established in 1836, was one against brandy-drinking
only, beer being regarded as a temperance drink. The movement
succeeded so well that by the end of 1844 no fewer than
118 societies, with 14,000 members, had been established
on the lines stated, these societies being then formed into
a ' Norwegian Union against Brtendevin-Drinking.' In 1859
a new movement, for the formation of societies whose members
would be pledged to ' total abstinence from the use of alcoholic
drinks of all kinds,' was started at Stavanger by a certain
Quaker, Asbjorn Kloster, who was inspired thereto by English
example. The State readily supported the former movement,
and voted substantial sums to it from time to time for the
purpose of propaganda against the widespread brandy-drinking,
then regarded as a national evil; but when, in 1875, State
aid was asked for on behalf of the ' total abstinence' societies,
the Storthing at first refused, on the ground that it was
the abuse, and not the use, of alcoholic drinks that was
to be opposed. Later on, however, a compromise was effected,
under which the teetotal as well as the other societies
received Government support in their ' work for sobriety.'
The idea of ' total abstinence from all alcoholic beverages,'
thus originally introduced from England, underwent further
development later on as various English societies established
national branches in Scandinavia ; but although a vigorous
attempt was made to enforce the general observance of the
principle in question, it became more and more evident as
time went on that, alike in Norway and Sweden, the majority
of people joining the temperance movement were disposed
to follow the example of the Norwegian Storthing in making
a distinction between the 'use' and the ' abuse' of alcoholic
beverages. In other words, while they were prepared to abstain
from spirituous liquors which might readily produce intoxication,
they saw no reason why they should abstain, also, from malt
liquors which were of so light a character that they could
not hurt anyone. They refrained from regarding alcohol as
a sort of bogey ; they said, rather: ' We must have beverages
of some sort other than water, lemonade, or coffee; and
if we can depend on getting wholesome malt liquors, containing
only such proportion of alcohol as will not be likely to
produce inebriety or be otherwise harmful, we
are quite prepared to take them and consider ourselves practical
supporters of "temperance" all the same.'
It is on these lines that the temperance movement in Scandinavia
has made its chief advance of late years. Opinion is certainly
not unanimous on the subject, and there are still many individual
members who adhere rigidly to' total abstinence '; but the
tendency is more and more for light malt liquors to be regarded
as permissible temperance drinks, however pronounced the
continued hostility to spirits and wines in any shape or
form. The subject has been repeatedly discussed by the societies,
and, although the local representatives of English teetotalism
have struggled to maintain their prejudices intact, the
Scandinavian idea has generally carried the day. Some of
the societies still require that the formal consent of their
Executive shall be obtained before the members of any particular
branch are allowed to turn from absolute teetotalism to
a temperate consumption of light beers ; but the principle
is now so widely recognised that, as a rule, no difficulty
in obtaining official approval is likely to be experienced.
The one point upon which difference of opinion may and does
arise in Norway is the precise amount of alcohol which beers
regarded as suitable for consumption by ' temperance' people
may properly contain. So far as I could gather from my inquiries
in Christiania, the Norwegian temperance societies are divided
mainly into two parties on this question : one group allow
their members to drink beer which does not contain more
than 2 per cent, of alcohol, while a smaller group will
not go beyond certain beers which contain only six-tenths
of 1 per cent, of alcohol.
But the six-tenths party, it seems, has not arbitrarily
fixed upon that limit for all time. It is prepared to go
further, under certain conditions. I had the opportunity
of meeting a prominent member of this party, and he put
the matter to me very clearly—from his point of view.
He said, in effect:
' So long as there is a spirituous liquor like brsendevin
readily obtainable, we must be on our guard against allowing
people to acquire any such taste for alcoholic beverages
as might lead them on to the consumption of spirits. But
if we should succeed, by means of local option, in driving
braendevin and other such spirituous liquors off the field,
we should at once look with a more favourable eye on light
malt beverages, because the danger in question would then
be non-existent. There would no longer be the same necessity
to keep to the six-tenths limit.'
Another ardent advocate of sobriety said to me in Christiania:
' When I am on the public platform I certainly proclaim
the doctrine of abstinence, but it is perfectly well understood
that I do not include therein the light beers of the country,
which are practically not regarded as intoxicating drinks
at all. If I attend a temperance social function I call
for those beers quite openly, and everyone regards it as
a matter of course that I should drink them.'
Considering that the 'temperance cause' in Norway, mainly
based on the principles here described, claims to have about
180,000 adherents (exclusive of children), or 12 per cent,
of the entire population over fifteen years of age
(though not all actually members of temperance societies),
there is here a substantial body of public opinion in a
comparatively small country. To meet the views thus entertained
in regard to the consumption of light beers, the brewery
firms in Norway have specially applied themselves to the
production of beers possessing a low alcoholic strength,
and suitable for consumption by temperance people, under
the limits stated. On inquiry among the leading brewers
in Christiania, I found they were making quite a number
of palatable beers, having a low percentage of alcohol,
and I was also shown some that was 'alcohol free'; but this
represented a somewhat ' dead' drink, not likely to prove
so acceptable as the others. The output of these temperance
beers is steadily growing, and one of the absurdities of
the situation is that, when the figures relating to them
are added to the national statistics, the Samlag party should
profess alarm at the ' increased consumption of beer,' should
attribute thereto any increase in drunkenness, and should,
as dealers in braendevin, seek, in the interests of sobriety,
to be allowed to take charge also of the sale of beer !
As regards beers which are beyond the ' temperance ' limit,
I could obtain no confirmation of a statement I had read,
that beers were being brewed in Norway of extra strength
to suit the taste of people who were discarding brasndevin
in favour of such liquors. On the contrary, I found an almost
general tendency towards the brewing of lighter beers than
before. One firm, for instance, showred me a beer which,
a few years ago, they produced with from 8 to 10 per cent,
of alcohol, whereas it now contained only 4 per cent.
In Sweden, Peter Wieselgren, Dean of Gotheriburg, and original
founder of the Gothen-burg System, started his propaganda
in his younger days by establishing a ' total abstinence'
society, and even when his ' system' began to assume shape
and form he continued to preach total abstinence from both
beer and spirits, although it was only the latter that the
system undertook to control. As in Norway, the Swedish temperance
reformers who were inspired by English ideas conducted their
campaign against both types of beverages ; but, again as
in Norway, cold-water principles were found to be altogether
impracticable in regard to the great body of the working
classes, and the formal recognition of light beers as temperance
drinks gained wide acceptance among the Swedish temperance
societies, the ideas of the teetotal extremists falling
more and more into the background.
The practical wisdom of the policy thus adopted is undeniable.
Swedish workers regard svagdricka (sold to them by women
who have special stalls for the purpose in the factories)
as really indispensable in their daily toil, and not only
have the temperance societies formally sanctioned the drinking
thereof by their members, but they have recently combined
to secure from the Swedish Parliament greater facilities
for the sale of this ' temperance,' though still alcoholic,
drink.
Svagdricka, however, is only one of a number of malt liquors
which are recognised as suitable for consumption by abstainers
from spirits, and there are now about ten varieties of such
malt beverages on the Swedish liquor market. In Gothenburg
alone the temperance societies, operating on this basis,
have a membership of between 11,000 and 12,000; but one
may be absolutely certain that no such numbers would have
been secured if the societies had sought to enforce a pledge
of total abstinence from all alcoholic beverages, however
small and harmless the amount of alcohol they contained.
It may be a ' half-measure,' from the point of view of the
English and American societies, but it has recognised the
actualities of the situation, it has avoided the difficulties
(especially great in Scandinavia) of enforcing extreme ideas,
and it has, undoubtedly, tended to promote such sobriety
as may still be found among the Swedish working classes.
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