Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-12-09
DRY RUSSIA
PROSPERS AS
never BEFORE
Michael D. TcheIisheff, Million
aire Peasant, Describes His
Fiuht to Prohibit Vodka
IBy Latest Manl

I PETROGRAD, Nov. lH.-The man
! who made Russia dry" who removed
the vodka curse" from a country OF
0,0OO, 900 population. at a cost to the
government Of that country OF $500
O00,0 annually in revenue. told to-
day, in a modest way, how he had
accomplished his vast undertaking
how, through his efforts, nation too
much addicted to drink. had become
| sober, industrious. kindly. thrifty,
prosperous; and all within a period of
two months.
The man is Michael Demitrovitch
Tchelisheff, a peasant by birth, a
! house painter by trade, then Mayor of
! Samara, member Of the Duma and
now millionaire humanitarian.
I How Russia Went N"Dry"
Speaking Of what he had accom-
plished for the cause of sObriety in
Russia, Mr.. Tchelisheff said:
, Il was reared in a small Russian
village. There were no schools or
hospitals or any of the improvements
we are accustomed to in civilized
communities. picked up an educa-
ton from old newspapers and stray
books One day CHANGED upon a
book in the hands Of moujik. which
treated of the harmfulness of alcohol
1t stated among other things that
vodka was poison.
AT Samara decided to do more
than passively disapprove Of vo,lka.
At this time | was an Alderman, and
many of the tenants living In my
houses we're workingmen. One night
a drunken father In one of my houses
killed his wife. This incident, made
such terrible impression on me that
/ decided to fight vodka with all my
strength. Wi: 81
ION the supposition that the Gov
eminent was selling vodka, on which
ii had a monopoly, for the revenue, I
calculated the revenue received from
it's consumption in Samara | then
introduced bill 70 the city council
providing that the city give this sum
Of money to the imperial treasury, re-
questIng at the same time that the
sale of vodka be prohibited This bill
passed and the money was appropri--
ated. It was offered to the govern
ment, but the government promptly
refused it. "zzH* Hf"E' =" ..'-f @'.
/. sit then dawIed upon me that RUS.
sion bureaucracy did not want the
people to become sober, for the rea-
sen that it was easier to rule auto
craticaliy a. drunken mob than a sober
people. - 's.~f1 4 ef%s-- 4
This was seven years ago. Later /
was elected mayor of Samara. capital
OF the Xolga district, a district with
over quarter, of ri million inhabi-
tants. Subsequent to holding this Of
fee Twas elected totfhe sDuma on an
anti-vodka platform. YIn the Duma. l
proposed bill permitting the inhab-
ttants of any town to close the local
vodka shops, and providing also that
every bottle of vodka should bear 4
label with the word poison. At my
request the wording Of this label, in
which the evils of vodka were set.
forth, was done by the late Count Leo
This bill passed the Duma
and went to the imperial council,
where it was amended. and finally Ia
bled. , IL
Showed Evils to Gar,
Il then begged an audience of Elm
perora Nicholas. He.reeeiyed me with
great kindness in, his castle i'm the
Crimea, not far from the scene of the
recent Turkish bombardment. lie
listened to me patiently. He. was i'm
pressed with my recital that most of |
the revolutionary and Socialist ex-
cesses were committed by drunkards,
and that the Sveaborg, Kronstadt and |
5ebastopol navy revolts and the Pc
.rograd and other mutincus military |
movements were an caused by inebrt-
ates. Having heard me out, his males
" promised at once to speak to his /
of finance concerning the |
OF vodka. >'...
Disappointed at not having been
lble to get through a government bill |
regulating this evil,*I had abandoned I
ny seat in the Duma 1t was evident |
hat the bureaucracy had been able to I
,bstruct the measure. Minister OF