El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-06-21
RUSSIANS MAKE
VODKA SCARCE
Fiery Liquor of the SlaVs
Now as Rare as Whls-
ky in Arizona.

year and half OF prohibition Russia
may be said to have successfullv aboi-
ished the liquor traffic. The sale Of
intoxicants since emperor Nicholas put
3 his signature 70 the ukase forbiddins
( the traffic at the very outset Of the
war. has fallen from nearly billion
rubles (5O0.0OO.O0 yearly to approx
imateIy four percent Of that sum- This
! four percent largely consists OF the
/ sale OF liquors for medicinal purposes
/ although in il is included also a nm
! tied traffic in wines FOR Wnlcn tnet
is a restricted permission in certain
Z parts Of the empire
/ Vodka, formerly the most easily Cd
I tainable commodity in Russia, has pc
{ come as rare as whisky in the most
{ strictly prohibition community IN tne
I United States. Wines are stiu 10 De
/ hae. surreptitiously for the most part
but also in some cases and under pre-
! scribed conditions, with the kno"4sdee
! of the authorities, but at prices wnlcn
( limit their sale TO people OF wealth or
/ extravaganza.
No Intoxicated Persons on Streets
: One Of the most noticeable results Of
the almost complete suppression OF
vodka naturally is the disappearance
Z from the streets and other puonc
Z places of intoxicated persons 1hey
! have become so rare as 10 De more or
less a novelty. This state OF AFFAIRS
I offers q remarkable contrast to the
antebellUm condition when drunken
ness among the lower classes OF SO
Z ciety presented a most serious problem
/ Il is said that the saving to the Work-
ingmen in this respect alone runs into
prodigious figures In one factory u
the Tula government employing lUvV
men. there were 500 lost working
days in three months during 1914 ror
the same months in 1916 these were re-
duced TO 49.
Peasant Saves; Lives Better.
The earning capacity Of the people
appears to have outsrriDped the ad-
vance in the cost Of living, with the
result that savings deposits nave
psounted un 10 an almost unbeheVaole
exteGt. the peasant is living better
than ~ ever did before and he is &C
curing a III respect which he never
possessed in the old days Of vodka
domination
Among the benefits observed by an
independent. Investigator, A I. FaresoV'
who recently travelled through a num-
Der Of the central governments. are;
a noteworthy falling off in the num-
her of domestic rows: a lighter and
more hopeful spirit among the people;
a decrease in arrears OF taxes. fields
better titled and a growing demand
for agricultural machinery; a decrease
in alcoholics in the charity hospitals
and other Institutions; and a decrease
in crimes and in the number OF beg
CARS According TO this fnVestigat ton
the peasant instead Of feeling that he
has suffered an injury by the abolition
Of vodka. is grateful for having had
temptation removed which he knew
he himself was pOWerless to resist The
emperor is reverently referred TO as
Nicholas the Temperate A peasant
is quoted as saying We have now
one common enemy the Germans for
merly every man was his own enemy.
a director OF glass factory in Moscow
said that 90 years more OF drunkenness
would have lost TO the Russian people
all capacity for resistance anG the ma
tiOn would have fallen an easy prey 70
Germany
SIberians. Sober. RevOIutiOnized-
A typical example OF the reconstruc-
ton in progress is TO be found among
the Ostyaka, a large population in east
ern Siberia in the government OF
Tomsk and Tobolsk. whose chief in
dustry is trapping and fishing For
merly they fell easy prey to traders
who piled them with vodka and drove
sharp bargains for their products
Many branches Of this people were
gradually becoming extinct from eX-
cessive use Of alcohol. Today they are
said to be completely revolutionized-
Instead Of easy victims. they arc be
coming clever bargainers themselves
who know how 20 get fun value for
their furs and fish
That drunkenness still exists and
that many substitutes for vodka are
employed. cannot be denied BY com
parison. however. the evasions OF the
prohibition decree are negligible Co
lognes. cosmetics and even varnishes
are submitted to processes whereby
the alcohol in their composition is ex-
tracted for consumption; but the ex-
tent OF this practice is barely COM
parable with the blind pig and drug
store abuses practced in American
prohibition communities Illicit man
ufacturers are constantly bounded by
the police so that the practice has
failed to assume proportions
s.Narodny DOmsv SuDplant saloons.
The vacuum left in the lives OF for
mer vodka consumers Is gradually pc
ing filled through the establishment IN
towns and rural districts Of "narOdny
doms~ peoples houses. where stere-
optican and moving picture produc-
lions are becoming popular forms OF
amusement Lecturers are also being
sent out by associations which are
working for the betterment OF the
people. The duma has voted l.uOo,uVu
rubles (S500,0 O0) to promote temper
ance work by city councils, the church
ing is reported TO be on the increase
Not to Renew Vodka Sale.
There has been much speculation as
TO whether the prohibition now IN ef-
feet viii be continued after the war
P. l. Bark. minister OF finance, whose
department of the government was
most seriously affected by The stop
page OF revenue formerly derived 1Tcfn
the sale Of vodka, has definitely eX-
pressed himself in the affirmative In
q declaration in behalf Of the govern
ment which he made recently to critics
Of the governments policies, he said I
Il find il important TO categorically
announce that all suspicious that the
government intends 10 renew the sale
Of vodka are unfounded I categori-
ically announce that the government
will support prohibition and that there
viii be no return 10 the former state
of affairs I can state with authority
that the sale OF vodka Will be pro-
hibited forever"
A measure is at present under con-