Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-06-23
IS MONTHS OF
PROHIBITION
AIDS RUSSIA
Material Welfare of People
Has Improved; Decrease
in Crime, Pauperism.

NPoO,oOO,oOu) yearly TO approximate
ly four per cent of that sum. This
four 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 empire.
! Vodka, formerly the most easily OBJ
tainable commodity in Russia, has be-
come as rare as whiskey 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 under pre-
scribed conditions, with the knowledge
of the authorities, but at prices which
limit their sale to people of wealth
or woeful extravaganza. 1t is posi-
BILE, in Petrograd and Moscow, for in
| stance, where the bar, even on wines,
is strict, to purchase wines in certain
hotels, but they may be served only
in private dining rooms, and the priv
ileges enjoyed by these institutions
are frequently interrupted by the po-
strictive rules.
'Drunks" Disappear.
7 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 a novelty. People observe such
in spirit of curious surprise, doubt
less the impulse among the majority
being to wonder how he managed it.
This state Of affairs offers a remark
ok ,%ro c+ -, %bo ho1
ton when drunkenness among the
most serious problem. 1t is we'll
60-odd holidays, irrespective of Sun
tories close their doors, used to mean
the following day and often for two
which attended the holiday celebra-
tions. 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 in three months during
1914. For the same months in 1916
these were reduced to 40.
appears to have outstripped the adj
vance in the cost of living, with the
result that savings deposits have
mounted up to an almost Unbelievable
extent, the peasant is living better
than he ever did before and he is ac-
curing a self-respect which he never
possessed in the old days of vodka
domination.
Social Conditions Improve.
Among the benefits observed by an
independent Investigator, A. l. Fare
SOW, who recently Travelled through a
number of the central governments,
are: a noteworthy falling off in the
number of domestic rows; lighter
and more hopeful spirit among the
people; a decrease in arrears of taxes;
fields better titled and a growing de-
mand for agricultural machinery; a
decrease in alcoholics in the charity
hospitals and other institutions; and
a decrease in crimes and in the num-
Der of beggars. According to this in
vestigation 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 power
less to resist. The emperor is rever-
emily referred to as nicholas the
A peasant is quoted as
saying: eve have now one common
Germans; formerly every |
man was his own enemy" A director !
of glass factory in Moscow said that |
so years more of drunkenness would |
have lost to the Russian people all
for resistance and the nation |
would have fallen an easy prey to |!
Germany.
A typical example of the reconstruc-
ton in progress is to be found among
the Ostyaks, large population in
eastern Siberia in the governments of
Tomsk and Tobolsk, whose chief in
dustry is trapping and fishing. Form |
erly they fell easy prey to traders |
who filled them with vodka and drove |
sharp bargains for their products. |
Many branches of this people were
becoming extinct from ex-
cessive use of alcohol. Today they are
said to be completely revolutionized.
Instead of easy victims, they are be-
coming clever bargainers themselves,
who know how to get full value for |
their furs and fish.
That drunkenness still exists and
that many substitutes for vodka are
cannot be denied. By COM
parison, however, the evasions of the
prohibition decree are negligible. |
Colognes, cosmetics and even varnishes
are submitted to processes whereby
the alcohol in their composition is
extracted for consumption; but the
extent Of this practice is barely COM
parable with the "blind pig" and drug
store abuses practiced in American
prohibition communities. Illicit manu-
facturers are constantly bounded by
the police so that the practice has
failed to assume proportions.
Movie Shows to Fill Vacuum.
The vacuum left in the lives of
former vodka consumers is gradually |
being filled through the establish |
ment in towns and rural districts of |
"narodnN y donis"> peoples houses)
where steropticon and moving picture
productions are becoming popular |
forms of amusement. Lecturers are
also being sent out by associations
which are working for the betterment |
o. the people. TIE Dr:ss:$ has voted
! ,O00, 900 rub!es ($500 ,000) to promote |
work nv citv councils the '