Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-06-22
PROHIBITION IN
RUSSIAN EMPIRE
TRULY PROHIBITS
Drunken Man on Streets Now
a Curiosity Peasants In
crease Self respect and
Savings,
tassociated Press Correspondence

tOxicants since Emperor Nicholas put
his signature to the ukase forbiddins
the traffic at the very outset Of the
war, has fallen from nearly a billion
rubles $500, 900, 000) yearly to APP
proximately four per cent of that sum-
This four per cent largely consists of
the sale of liquors for medicinal pur-
poses, although in ii is included also
a limited traffic in wines for which
there Is restricted permission in
certain parts of the empire.
Vodka formerly the most easily OBJ
tainable commodity in Russia, has be-
come as rare. as whisky in the most
strictly prohibition community in the
United States Wines are still to
be had, surreptitiously for the most
part, but also in some cases and un-
der prescribed conditions, with the
knowledge of the authorities, but at
prices which limit their sale TO peo-
pie of wealth or woeful extravaganza.
1t is possible, in Petrograd and Mos
cow for instance, where the ban, even
on wines, is strict, to purchase wines
in certain hotels, but they may be
served only in private dining rooms,
and the privileges enjoyed by these
institutions are frequently interrupted
by the police for some infraction of
the restrictive rules.
Topcrs Not in Evidence
one Of the most noticeable results
Of the almost complete suppression of
vodka naturally is the disappearance
from the streets and other public
places of intoxicated persons. They
have become so rare as to be more OF
less q novelty. People observe such
in spirit of curious surprise, doubt
less the impulse among the majority
being the wonder how he managed it.
This state of affairs offers remark
able contrast to the antebellum con-
dition when drunkenness among the
lower classes of society presented
most serious problem. II is we'll
established fact that each one of the
sixty odd holidays, irrespective of sun
days, when business houses and facto-
ries close their doors, used to mean
q gripping of business activity on the
following day and often for two sue
ceedng days because Of the sprees
which attended the holiday celebra-
tons. 1t Is said that the saving to
the workingmen in this respect alone
runs into prodigious figures. In one
factory in the lula government, EN-
ploying 1000 men, there Were 600
lost working DAYS ia tArt months
during 1914. For sthe same months
in 1915 these were reduced to 49,
The earning capacity of the peo-
pie appears to have outstripped the
advance in the cost of living, with
he result that savings deposits have /
up to an almost unbelieve- /
lble extent, the peasant Is living bet !
.er than he ever did before and he (
5 acquiring a self-respect which he
lever possessed in the old days of /
iodka domination. /
What Temperance Does.
Among the benefits observed by an
investigator, A. ]. Fare
10Y, who recently travelled through ?
number of the central governments,
IRE q noteworthy falling off in the
md more hopeful spirit among the
,eople. a decrease in arrears of tax
IS: fields better TILED and growing
lemand for agricultural machinery
. decrease in alcoholics in the charity
and other institutions; and
decrease in crimes and in the num-
Ter of beggars. According to this in
a, nf
ng that he has suffered an injury
" the abolition of vodka, Is crate
I'll for having had a temptation re-
moved which he knew he himself was
,owerless to resist. The emperor is
cverently referred to as Nicholas
he Temperate" A peasant is quot
d as saying; eve have now one
ommon enemy-the Germans; for
lerly every man was his own enemy"
. director of a glass factory in Mos
ow said that fifty years more or
would have lost to the
russian people all capacity for re-
stance and the nation would have
allen an easy prey to Germany.
A typical example of the reeonstrue-
on in progress is to be found among
ne Ostyaks, a large population in
astern Siberia in the governments of
omsk and Tobolsk, whose chief in
ustry is trapping and fishing. For
lerly they fell easy prey to traders
no piled them with vodka and drove
harp bargains for their products.
Iany branches of this people were
becoming extinct from ex-
esslve use of alcohol. Today they
re said to be completely revolution.
ed Instead of easy victims, they are
ecoming clever bargainers them
lives who know how to get fun value
II their furs and fish.
EMISSIONS Are Few.
That drunkenness still exists and
at many substitutes for vodka are
nployed. cannot be denied. BY COM
trison, however, the evasions of the
decree are negligible. CO.
gnes, cosmetics and even varnishes
e submitted to processes whereby
e alcohol In their composition is
tracted for consumption; but the
tent of this practice is barely com .
rable with the ''blind pig and drug
ore abuses practised in Americas
ohgbition communities Illicit
aufacturers are constantly bounded
the police so that the practice has 1
led to assume proportions.
The vacuum left in the lives or for
n vodka consumers is gradually be-
Z filled through the establishment
towns and rural districts of ma
dny doms' peoples houses) where
'reoptican and moving picture pro- B
Ictions are becoming popular forms q
amusement. Lecturers are also be- s
= sent out by associations which are 8