Iditarod pioneer., 1915-05-08
ABOLITION OF VODK EVIL
 IN THE RUSSIANEMPIRE

lated 10 an Associated fTeSS CeSpOndent at Petrograd by Michael Demetyich Tchel- ischeff, the man directly responle for put ting an end to Russia's vicahe vodka habit
 It should be said in the banning that the word prohibition" in Rua must be taken literally, Its use does t imply a partially successful attempt tourtail the consumption of liquor resulting drinking in secret places, abuse of meal licenses and general subterfuge. It nns that vast population which consum $l,000,- 100000 worth of vodka year, hose ordi- nary condition has been descrlR by Rus sians themselves as ranging fr\ a slight degree of stimulation upwardhas been lifted almost in one day from drunken inertness to sobriety. The natic has been compelled, virtually over night, abandon its enormous daily consumptioDf vodka, a liquor that is almost pure ahol, and become abstemious to the extenpf letting no liquor pass its lips.
 On that day when the mobilIz3n of the Russian army began special polimen vis ited every public place where hka was sold, locked up the supply of theIuor and placed on the shop the imperial al. Since the manufacture and sale of vka is a government monopoly in Russia, was not a difficult thing. From the dayhis step was Gaken drunkenness vanished Russia. The results are seen at once lnle peas antry. Already they are beginnito look like a different race. The marksf suffer ing, the pincheH looks of illnessnd i'm proper nourishment have gone fin their faces There has been also a rtarka able change in the appearance of theirlothing. Their clothes are cleaner and bothen and women appear more neatly al better dressed. The destitute characte of the homes of the poor has been replied with something like order and thrift. Petro- grad and Moscow the effect of csc i'm proved conditions is fairly starth.
 On holidays in these two citi inebri- ates always filled the police stans, and often they lay about on the side4ks and even in the streets. Things are sdifferent today that unattended women ny now pass at night through portions of cities where 1t was formerly dangerousven for men. Minor crimes and misdemears have almost vanished
 This near miracle has been accomplished virtually by one man, Michael [ Tcheli- scheff peasant by birth, originalla house painter by profession, then mayo of the city of Samara, and now milliuire
 Speaking of what he had accomplished for the cause of sobriety in Rma, Mir Tschelischeff said:
 q was reared in a small Russialvi!lage There were no schools or hospitalor any of the improvements we are accusmed to in civilized communities l picke up an education from old newspapers al stray books. One day I chanced upon aook in the hands of moujik which treate on the harmfulness of alcohol I vas so ipressed with this, knowing that everybod drank vodka. that 1 asked the first phycian 1 met if the statements were true. Ie said yes. Men drink it, he explained, ,ecause momentarily it gave them a sension of pleasant dizziness. From that tim I de cided to take every opportunity to scover more about the use of vodka.
 At the end of the sos there car fam inc in Russia, followed by agrarian bubles l saw a crowd of peasants demand rom a local landlord all the grain and folstuffs in his granary. This puzzled me; could not understand how honest men vre in- dulglng in what seemed 10 be highwy rob- bery. But I noted at the time tha every man who was taking part in this icdent was a drinking man, while their fellow villagers who were abstemious hac suffi cient provisions in their own homes Thus 1t was that l observed the industnl ef fleets of vodka drinking.
 "At Samara l decided to more tha pas sively dlsapprove of vodka. At thi timt l was an alderman, and many of th ten ants living in my houses were workipmen One night drunken father in one my houses killed his wife This incidentmadt such terrible impression on me thatI de cided to fight vodka with all my strngth
 "On the supposition that the govermen was selling vodka for the revenue I alcu lated the revenue received from its con sumption in Samara. l then introdred { bill in the city council providing tht the city give this sum of money to the inoeria treasury, requesting at the same tim, tha the sale of vodka be prohibited. Ths bil passed and the money was appropriated It was offered to the government, but tn, government promptly refused it.
 Tt then dawned upon me that R,ssiar bureaucracy did not want the people be come sober for the reason that it was asie to rule automatically a drunken mob thal a sober people
 This was seven years ago. Later wa elected mayor of Samara, capital ot tn Volga district, a district with more than quarter of q million inhabitants. Slbse qUently to holding this office I was ehctet to the duma on my anti-vodka platform. Il the drma I proposed bill permitting tn inhabitants of any town to close the loca vodka shops and providing also that ever, bottle of vodka should bear label win tn word poison At my request the wrdin of this label, in which the evils of rodk were set forth, was done by the late Coun Leo Tolstoy. This bill passed the dunn and went to the imperial council, where was amended and finally tabled
 q then begged an audience of Empero Nicholas. He received me with great kind ness in his castle in the Crimea, not ia from the scene of the recent bombardment He listened to me patiently. He was i'm pressed with my recital that most of tn revolutionary and socialist excesses wer committed by drunkardy ard that the Sve borg, Kronstadt and Sebastopol navy revolt and the Petrograd and other mutinous mill