The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-03-20
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
HOW RUSSIA HAS GONE Day.

"How Russia Has Gone Dry,v is the
title of leading article in the Janu-
airy Review of Reviews. The writer
| says that those who know Russia
will find it hard to imagine her with
| out vodka. Alcoholism held more than
half the population of the empire in
it's grip. In Russian life drunken
ness was not merely an incident, not
even merely a great evil. 1t was Of
the very essence of that life, bulking
large in almost every phase of it."
All this is ended, Swept away as
IL by the hand Of a magician" The
order Let there be no vodka" went
out from the Russian Government, and
vodka disappeared.
One hundred and seventy million
people who consumed more spirituous
liquor proportionately than any other
nation suddenly stopped drinking and
became total abstainers. The drink
shops throughout the vast empire were
closed, all distilleries shut down.
Nowhere else in the world could such
result have been attained; nowhere
else could the liquor traffic have been
stopped so effectively and in so brief
time. Twenty-four hours after the
order went forth from the Government
not drop of strong drink was to be
had in all the length and breadth of
the Cars domain
1t seems like a miracle to us in
America, who know how little prohibit
| ton prohibits, but the explanation is
quite simple. The Russian Govern
| ment has monopoly of the drink
traffic. 1t not only owned the retail
vodka shops, but was largely engaged
| in the production of vodka The
private distilleries were wholly de-
pendent on the Government for their
market. They had no other customer.
Thus, when the Car determined to
keep his subjects sober, they had no
choice but to obey"
The Government evidently intended
to keep the drink shops closed only
temporarily, to facilitate the mobiliz-
ing OF the troops, but once the people
realized the benefits of prohibition
they rose as one man, demanding the
continuance of prohibition Peasants,
| who had been hard drinkers, were
among those who greeted the new
movement with enthusiasm, the press
upheld the people, and the Govern
ment was forced to capitulate.
The result has been a revolutionized
Russia. Crime had diminished forty
per cent, wife-beating has ceased al
most entirely. Children ask their
mothers, ''Will papa always be so?"
The change is the subject of CONVEX
sation, even more than the war. A
writer is a Petrograd paper gives his
personal testimony in one case:
| II know one peasant, for instance,
who always went about drunk. He
used to take the last sack of flour to
the liquor shop, and the eggs as soon
as the hens laid them. 1t is pleasure
to see this fellow now putting up
new gate to his yard, and sitting in
front of his house in the evening,
quietly conversing with his wife about
the household and the world that must
be done to the farm. In all the years
/ can remember, never saw the wife's
face as it is now, without any blue
j marks. l could mention numerous
other cases in which like change
has been effected. They all go sober
ly about their work, praying and hop
ing the sale of vodka and wine will
never again be permitted, and the
happy life begun for the people will
never again be sullied by the curse Of
drink
| Another correspondent writes:
Every citizen has become his own
guardian Of the peace. If the drink
shops will remain closed permanent
ly, the prisons will be empty, the in
sane asylums will be without inmates,
the police will have nothing to do,
and the physicians will have no one
to cure"