Finland's Prohibition Experiment

Abstract

result from the prevailing unrestricted use of intoxicants. Already this early phase of the Finnish temperance movement was, interestingly enough, markedly influenced by the contemporary temperance work in other lands. The United States, for example, furnished a notable impetus to the movement. The first Finnish temperance tracts, which began to appear as early as 1843, were translations of American originals. From that day on, American experience was drawn upon to give inspiration as well as guidance in the propaganda for temperance and ultimately for prohibition. Down to the eighteen-eighties, the spokesmen of the temperance ideal were pretty consistent in their advocacy of moderation in the use of the cup that cheers. They were successful in placing on the statute books the Liquor Law of 1865, which prohibited all home manufacture and established a licensing system. They also became responsible for the introduction of the Gothenburg system, which, by limiting the profit incentive and by making the public the beneficiary of the economic returns of the trade, served to remove at least some of the worst features of the traffic in strong drink. Considerable emphasis was placed on the effort to turn the Nation from spirits to malt beverages; the argument was frequently heard that beer was the best ally of the temperance enthusiasts, and that the liquor problem would be solved in degree as the consumer was persuaded to become a devotee of beer. This contention seemed logical, but statistics soon began to disclose a situation that perplexed and alarmed the enemies of John Barleycorn. By the seventies the consumption of beer had increased to a point that threatened to undo the results obtained through the Liquor Law of 1865 and other restrictive legislation. Unwilling to surrender to the new enemy, the protagonists of temperance began to perfect their program and organization. Out of this situation arose, in the space of a few years, a more militant movement dedicated to the advocacy of complete abstinence.