Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-15

A Big Water Wagon
Another roseate view of Russia extois -
the verge of ecstasy the Improvement thare
since the imperial decree putting sudden
and absolute end to all liquor drinking in the
Empire The prestige and reputation Of the
Review of Reviews, which prints the article
editorially C5), give It entire authenticity
To those who knew Rusaia as sbe Was he.
fore the war II is difficult to conceive OF her
without vodka. Twenty four hours after fhe
order went forth from the Government not
the length and breadth Of the Cars domain.
l7OOOOOOO people, who consumed more spir-
ituous liquor proportionately than any other
nation suddenly stopped drinking
The explanation is quite simple. The Rus
sian Government has a monopoly of the en-
tire drink traffic, not only the retail vodka
shops, but its production.
Crime has been diminished 40 per cent or
even more. Wife beating has ceased almost
entirely. Quoting from the Petrograd Riech,
the article continues: "a priest In the Cow
ernment Of Simbirsk writes in answer to q
series of questions by the Bureau of Statis-
tics; 1t Is difficult to express in words the
transformation that has taken place in our
villages. All our peasants have begun to
dress decently; they have become industri-
ous as II were, more rational and sensible.
i Know one peasant, for instance, who always
went about drunk He used to take the last
sack of flour he had to the liquor shop and
the eggs as soon as the hens laid them. 1t IL
a. new gate to his yard and sitting in front OF
his house in the evening quietly conversing
with his wife. In all the years can remem-
ber never saw his wie's face as 1t is now,
without any blue marks"
This optimistic view is not shared by H. N.
Braisford, an English contributor to the
New Republic writing from London on "Ths
Slavic Hope" (6). He says:
The Czar has won golden opinions in soue
not very critical quarters by announcing that
he intends to continue the prohibition of the
sale OF alcohol permanently after the wan
prohibition may be a salutary reform in the
Russian village, but anything that is gained
in sobriety has been lost in liberty by this
return to the habit of autocratic legislation.
We are back In the days when Peter the
Great prohibited the wearing of boards, and
the Duma is not so much houted as for
gotten.
Mr., Brailsford is similarly pessimistic about
the entire situation. He adds There is, In
short, no reason to hope that a Russian VIC
tory will bring an increase OF influence to
Russian liberalism. 1t WILL on the contrary,
strengthen the central authority and empha-
size the peculiarly national note of the re-
action"
The lure of the sea calling irreslstibly upon
Russia through all the centuries is the theme
of Edwin d. Schoonmaker's article (7), and
he sums II up in the classic words of Peter
the Great who when a lad, responded to the
call by shipping as cabin boy:
In a worSmans blouse. in the shipyards of
foreign lands, he wrote back words which
have ever since been the cry of his country,
at is not land want, but water" Why did
Peter dream of the open sea For the same
reason that from the dawn of time human
ity has dreamed of the sea- Land is exist
ence, but water is life. The open sea is the
open mind The oceans are civilization.