The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-08-10
GETTING DRUNK In RUSSIA.
How They Deal With Intoxicated Persons
I'm q Despotic Country. 'Ai'

In q Dcspotic Country. - il'
A gentleman who has lived for sew
eral years in st. Petersburg, Russia,
gave to the st. Louis Globe-Democrat
the following in reference to the liquor
traffic in that country:
There is no attempt ut regulation,
except that the Government police,
poiizei, keep sharp eye on all the
vendors of vodh and other intoxicating
drinks. The dealer in Russian whisky
is protected by the law and is answera-
BILE to the law. He dare not make use
of his license to deal in vodki as blind
for robbery. Such things as you Ameri-
cans call dives are utterly unknown
there. No man can be tempted to
drunkenness and robbery while in q
drunken state without Furnishing the
dealer, which means the deprivation of
his license and period of incarceration
in Jail with hard labor, followed, in
extreme cases, with touch of the knout
on his bare skin. The terror of this
punishment makes each keeper of a
vodki shop really conservator of the
peace; for. as soon as the liquor dealer
sees that one of his customers is likely
to get violently drunk, he turns him
out on the street. And q man already
drunk can get no more vodki."
"But suppose the drunken man kicks
up row, what then?"
"He is taken in charge by the police
and down to the station-house. His
punishment then follows as o matter of
certainty. No matter whether he be
rich or poor, whether he belong to the
noble or the working class, he must
serve eight hours in the street-sweeping
gang. At o'clock in the morning
succeeding his orgie he has offered to
him lump of bread and glass of
whisky. He may or may not accept of
the proffered municipal hospitality,
but when Z o'clock strikes he has to go
out on the street gang, and with broom
and spade make the Nevskoi Pewspekt,
or any other street he may work on, as
clean as q new pin.
But do they make no difference be-
tween gentlemen and workmen?"
"None whatever; yet there is differ
ence generally. The gentlemen who
are found drunk on the streets at night
usually have black clothes. They are
marked on the back with great white
Greek cross, cross big enough to be
seen half a square away. The moulik,
or workmen class, who, at least in sum-
mer, are found with their dirty white
shirts covering their shoulders, are
marked with an neutrality-suspicious.
black cross. This is the only differ
ence, and if a gentleman be with white
or light-colored clothing on him, he
gets, also, the black GROSS. They are
all classed as drunkards, and treated
without reference to their rank"
"But you said these men have to do
eight hours work on the street. Do
you mean tnat they are kept eight hours
without any rest?"
mo; the street-sweeping gangs are
accompanied by wagons, which carry
the tools, something like your hoodlum
wagons, and they also carry provisions.
At II o'clock noon each gang is halted,
and from the wagon is offered to each
individual a second lump of bread, ac-
companied by Dantzig herring. This
luxurious fare can be eaten or left, just
as it suits the principal parties con-
cerned The moujiks all grasp at the
offered food; occasionally you will see
gentleman Indignantly spurn it. But
ell have TO go to work again as soon as
the gong sounds, and they must work
three hours longer At the end of the
eighth hour the wagon comes along and
gathers up the tools and material that
belong to the Government, and the or
der is given to the drunkards to scat
ter. They 60 off; they have been thor
oughly punished for the indiscretion OF
a night, and the streets of st. Peters
burg benefit 10y the indiscretion.