132 THE ALCOHOL PROBLEM 
nine-tenths of the total spirits consumed are sold in 
this way, and only a tenth is drunk in restaurants and 
public houses. The spirits were sold in unlimited 
quantity to anyone who wanted to buy, to the hopeless 
drunkard, to the wife-beater, and to the young, gullible 
peasant lad on his occasional visit to town.* In 1913 
Dr. Ivan Bratt succeeded in forming a company, 
which he named the * Stockholm System,’ for the sale 
of spirits in Stockholm under strict regulations. Only 
specified customers were supplied, who gave definite 
particulars about their name, age, occupation, and 
so on, and if enquiry from proper authorities showed 
that they were suitable persons, they were given a 
‘““ mot-book,” for the registration of purchases, which 
entitled them to purchase a definite amount of spirits. 
The maximum allowed is 4 litres of spirits a month 
{the equivalent of about five bottles of whisky), but only 
a third of the mot-book holders have a right to this 
maximum. Wines can only be purchased by showing 
the mot-book, but beer is not controlled, except in so 
far that by law, no beer can now be sold in Sweden 
containing more than 3'2 per cent. of alcohol (by 
weight). 
Restrictions do not appear to apply to the on-sales 
of spirits at restaurants and public houses, but if a man 
obtained the reputation for excessive drinking, pre- 
sumably his mot-book would be withdrawn or appro- 
priately amended. The system has been extended to 
the whole of Sweden, and over a million mot-books 
have been issued. Since the introduction of the 
system the sale of spirits has rapidly dwindled, being 
43 million litres in 1913, 316 million litres in 1921, 
* The Times, May 29, 1923.