The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-10-08

in the original commission were
summoned to give evidence before
| it. All the information in posses
sion of the administration was at
! the service of the experts. The dis
cusslcns were occasionally inter-
rupted by the reading of kilograms
from distant Zemstvos, urging the
commission to adopt the most strin-
gent measures against the brandy
shops. Peasants, who arrived with
petitions from local assemblies,
were heard in person before the
committee in support of their
prayers.
The recommendations of this
commission of experts may thus be
summarized: l. Liberty to the
communes to close all places for the
sale of drink within the communal
| limits. g. Permission to be given
to the eommunes to establish COM
munal monopolies OF. the sale of
drink. 3. No public houses to be
established above % per cent. in ex-
Ecess of one per thousand of the
population, and that only with the
consent of the Zemstvo. 4. Tea and
food to be consumed at all places
where drink is consumed on
the premises. = 3. Licenses to be
| granted by contract, and the price
In excess of the minimum fixed by
law to be divided according to the
wants of the agricultural popula-
tons. 6. Rigorous supervision Of
| the public houses 'tby the local
authorities K *l* What will be
the fate ofthese recommendations
do not know. They represent not
the decisions of an authoritative
body, but the recommendations of
an imperial commission. 1t may be
that these experts, in their anxiety
to realize an ideal Of Mr., Gladstone
that of iegislating so as to make
it easy to do right and difficult to do
wrong-may have aimed too high,
seeking rather what ought to be
than what is possible to accomplish.
But these views are notable as
those of honest. experienced Rus
slams on one OF the greatest ques-
tions of the day. Perhaps it is even
the greatest. So it certainly APP
pears ID many in my country. The
emancipation Of the peasant from
drunkenness, they say, is as great
work as his emancipation from serf-
DOM If this seems fanatical to
any in England, people should re-
member that the Russians never do
things by halves, and that even En-
glishmen, as far apart as Mr.. Cob
den and Prof. Huxley, agree that,
in the words Of the former, the tenn
persnce cause lies at the foundation
Of all social and political reform.
Prof. Huxley, indeed, has declared,
Talk of political questions? There
lies beneath all these questions the
great question whether that profit
gate misery which dogs the foot
steps of modern civilization shall be
allowed to exist. l believe this is
the great political question of the
| futurep There are many who ques-
ton the possibility of dealing so
summary with a source of so much
revenue. But the Russian national
party replies, with Mr.. Gladstone.
that fiscal grounds must necessa-
rily be secondary. The question
ought to be decided entirely on So
cial and moral grounds
"We have our total prohibition
lists as we'll as you. The experts,
however, concluded that if the feel
ing in favor of local prohibition is
strong, it will be enough to allow it
to be legally enforced. If the local
| feeling is adverse to complete pro-
hibition, decree of the central
| government would only be evaded
and fall into contempt. >
There is another direction in which
the temperance movemnnt is work
ing, and that is by appealing to the
people to abstain from drink.
The orthodox church
has energetically co-operated with
the national government in the
work of moral reformation. The
| Holy Synod has issued striking little
tracts and hand-bills explaining the
evils Of intemperance, illustrating
them by anatomical plates, and it is
interesting to see the crowds gather
round these placards in the streets,
reading the synodical appeal and
discussing the illustrations. A still
more promising effort is being made
by the clergy. In each parish
it is proposed to fOrm-in
some parishes it is already in
full working-a kind of Parish
Improvement Society, under the
presidency of the priests, for the
moral, intellectual and social ameli-
Grafton of the condition of the
people. at wilma, where one of
these protective societies, as they
are called, is in full working order,
the members of the society under
take the surveillance OF public
houses. They compel them to close
at 8 o'clock every night. They
make periodical visits co all the
drinking places, and if they find
any one intoxicated they immedi-
ately take him home. On the first
occasion the drunkard is admon-
ished before his family; in the sec
ond he is publicly rebuked, and
in the third he is compelled to pay
a slight fine. These societies also
take great interest in getting the
children to school and in organ
izing charitable relief. Particulars
of the constitution and object, and
mode of working of the society at
| Wilma have been sent TO every
DariSh nrieSt in Russia. in the hope