Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-01-22

The detective police Of Ekaterinos
Law report that Grimes attributable t.
drunkenness have wholly ceased
Since the beginning Of mobilization
there has not been single case o.
murder, robbery, assault or hooligan
ism, although prior to that time there
were more than hundred every othel
month"
In Ekaterinodar, according to the
police, crime has decreased by nine.
ty per cent, hooliganism has disap'
peared, and the town in absolutely
quiet"
In Saratof ''the monthly average OF
crimes has fallen from one hundred
and thirty to sixty. The asylum fol
alcoholics is empty. The river steve
dores have put on new clothes and are
sending money home. Attempts al
suicide have ceased"
In Yaroslav "the registers Of the JUS
tices Of the peace show that between
the 31st Of July and the 2Sth Of Au-
gust there was brought before the
magistrates only one case. In the same
length of time before the suspension OF
the sale Of vodka the number Of cases
often exceeded two hundred"
A correspondent in Kostroma writes:
"The number of crimes and offenses in
this city in the fortnight prior to the
suspension Of the vodka traffic was
about three hundred. In the first half
Of August there were only eight"
Writing from Tambof, at much la
ter date October 2s), correspondent
Of the "Reitch" says: Three months
have passed since the sale Of vodka
ceased, and it is now possible to esti-
mate the extent Of the beneficent re-
suits that have followed prohibition.
The villages Of this province, accord
ing to the reports Of the peasants, have
become so changed as 70 be unrecog-
nizable. Fights, robberies and fires.
they say, have almost ceased. But,
without placing too much reliance
upon these statements, we may show
the results Of prohibition by objective
facts. According to the records Of the
procurator's office of the Tambof dis
trict, the average number Of criminal
cases in the month Of August for the
years 1s11-12-13 was SIS. In August
1914 (after the closing Of the vodka
shops), the number was only 324. This
is the lowest criminal rate on record.
Information collected and compiled
by the Fire Insurance board Of the
same district shows that the average
number Of accidental or incendiary
fires in August and September for the
five years Immediately preceding 1914
was $50. The number in the same
months Of this year was only $50.
which is also the lowest ever record
ed The chief of the fire insurance
board adds that this decrease in the
number Of fires represents saving of
100000 rubles in sixty days, or at the
rate Of 100000 rubles year. In the
Moshansk and Tambof districts, where
the number Of fires has always been
great, the results are still more sur
prising. During the months Of the au-
tumnal holidays last year the number
of fires in the peasant villages Of these
districts was 14S. In the same months
this year it fell to IS. The police Of
the bazaar precinct" in Tambof re-
nf
rests has fallen from 300 in previous
years to 70 in 1914. The police inspec-
tor Of another Tambof precinct says
that his station house contains so few
prisoners that he is thinking Of offer
ing it to the sanitary authorities for a
hospital. The president Of the Tambot
remstvo board, who has just returned
from an extensive trip through the
rural districts, says that, strange as it
may seem, the peasant villages in this
time Of war show unmistakable evil
dences of prosperity. The muzhiks are
better dressed, their taxes are paid
more promptly. and trade in the viii
lage fairs has become more active.
(Petrograd "Reitch," October 80, 1919.
Just when and how Nicholas II
came to take an interest in the tenn
perance question no one certainly
knows. The story current in Russia is
that on his way back from the Crimea
last year, the car insisted on visiting
personally. and without previous an
nouncement, a number Of peasant viii
lagos. The evidences that he saw there
Of poverty and decentralization due to
intemperance are said to have made "A
deep impression upon him, and to have
satisfied him that something must be
done to limit the vodka traffic. This
story is probably true; because in his
rescript to M. Bark, the incoming min
lister Of finance, in February last, the
czar referred to these visits, and said
they had convinced him that the sue
cess Of the vodka monopoly was based
on the ruin Of the spiritual and eco
nomic forces Of the people, He there =
fore directed the new finance minister
to restrict the operations of the mono
poly, and look for other sources of
revenue that should be based ION the
inexhaustible wealth of the contry and
the productive labor Of it's inhabi-
tants."
Since that time Nicholas ii seems to
have become an extreme prohibition
list. He now has no tolerance for intoX
icating liquor of any kind. and only a
few weeks ago he and the Grand Duke
Nicholas overruled the whole council
of ministers on the question whether
the transition from drunkenness to So
briefly should not be made gradual by
the substitution Of beer for vodka. The
council agreed to reduce the alcoholic
strength of the beer to three per cent