Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-21
Sales of Intoxicants Since En-
peror Signed Ukase Drops to
Negligible Quantity.
BENEFITS ARE OUTLINED
AFTER INVESTIGATION
Peasants Said to Have Expressed
Gratitude for the Removal
of Temptation.

Correspondence of the Associated Press.
PETROGRAD, June 6.-After a year
and a half of prohibition, Russia may
be said TO have successfully abolished
the liquor traffic. The sale of intoxi-
cants since Emperor Nicholas put his
signature to the ukase forbidding the
tarffic at the very outset OF the war,
has fallen from nearly billion rubles
(S500, 900 .000) yearly to approximately
per cent of that sum. This per cent
largely consists of the sale of liquors
for medicinal purposes, although in it
is included also limited traffic in
wines, for which there is a restricted
permission in certain parts of the en-
pire.
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 he had,
surreptitiously for the most part, but
also in some cases and under prescribed
conditions. with the knowledge of the
authorities, but at prices which limit
their sale to people of wealth or woefui
extravaganza. 1t is possible, in Petro-
grad and Moscow, 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 en-
joyed by these institutions are fire.
quently interrupted by the police for
some infraction of the restrictive rules.
Suppression of Vodka.
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 or
less a novelty. People observe such in
spirit of curious surprise. doubtless
the impulse among the majority being
to wonder how he managed it. This
state of affairs offers a remarkable
contrast to the ante-bellum condition,
when drunkenness among the lower
classes of society presented most
serious problem 1t is well estab-
lished fact that each one of the sixty
odd holidays, irrespective of Sundays,
when business houses and factories
close their doors, used to mean Grip
plinc of business activity on the follow
ing day, and often for two succeeding
days because of the sprees which at
tended the holiday celebrations. 1t is
said that the saving to the workingmen
in this respect alone runs into pro-
digious figures. In one factory In the
Tula government, employing 1000 men.
three months during 1914. For the
same months in 1916 these were re-
duced to forty-nine.
The earning capacity Of the people
appears to have outstripped the ad-
vance in the cost of living, with the re-
suit that savings deposits have mount
ed up to an almost unbelievable extent,
the peasant is living better than he
ever did before and he is acquiring a
self-respect which he never possessed
in the old days of vodka domination.
Benefits Noted by Investigator.
Among the benefits observed by an
Independent investigator. A. ]. Faresov,
who recently travelled through a num-
Der of the central governments. are:
noteworthy falling of in. the number
of domestic rows: a lighter and more
hopeful spirit among the people; de-
crease in arrears of taxes: fields better
titled and growing demand for agri-
cultural machinery: a decrease in al
coholics in the charity hospitals and
other institutions. and decrease in
crimes and in the number of beggars.
peasant, instead of feeling that he has
suffered an injury by the abolition of
vodka. is grateful for having had a
temptation removed which he knew he
was powerless to resist. The emperor
is reverently referred to as Nicholas
the Temperate" A peasant is quoted
as saying: We have now one comm on
enemy-the Germans: formerly every
man was his own enemy" director OF
a glass factory in Moscow said that
fifty years more of drunkenness would
have lost to the Russian people all
capacity for resistance, and the nation
would have fallen an easy prey 10
Germany.
A typical example of the reconstruc-
ton in progress is to be found anon &
the ostyaks. a large population in
eastern Siberia in the governments OF
Tomsk and Tobolsk. whose chief indus
try is trapping and fishing. Formerly
they fell easy prey to traders who piled
them with vodka and drove sharp bar
gains for their products. Many
branches of this people were gradually
becoming extinct from excessive use OF
alcohol Today they are said to be com
pletely revolutioniZed- Instead of easy
victims they are becoming clever bar
gamers themselves who know how to
get fun value fo- their furs and fish.
That drum ker,5ess still exists and
that many suh<itutes for vodka are
employed canrAx5 be denied. BY COM
prohibition decree are negligible. Co
lognes. cosmetics and even varnishes
are submitted to processes whereby the
alcohol in their composition is extract
ed for consumption. But the extent of
this practice is barely compare BILE with
the blind pig" and drug store abuses
practiced in American prohibition com
n'unities. Illicit manufacturers are con-
the practice has failed TO assume pro-
portionS
"Ns.odny Doms" Established.
The vacuum left IN the lives of for
mer vodka consumers is gradually be-
Ing filled through the establishment in
towns and rural districts of 'narodny
dorrs" peoples houses). where the
stereopticon and moving picture pro-
cuetions are becoming popular forms
OF Amusement Lecturers are also bein &
sent out by associations which are
working for the betterment of the
people The duma has voted 900, 900
rubles t$5Oo.O00) to promote temper
ance work by city councils. the church
and other organizations. Card playing
is reported TO be on the increase
There has been much speculation as
to whether the prohibition now In ef-
feet will be continued after the war.
p. l. Bark. minister OF finance whose
department of the government was
most seriously affected by the stoppage
of revenue formerly derived from the
sale OF vodka. has definitely expressed
himself in the affirmative. In derla-
ration in behalf OF the government
which he made recently 10 critics of
B the governments policies he said: 81
md IL important to announce categori-
cally that all suspicious that the gov