The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-09-01
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
TWO YEARS WITHOUT VODKA.

A RUSSIA WITHOUT YUMA was OncO
considered impossible. Then came
the drastic order of July 20, 1914, and
vodka disappeared as if by magic
There were entire drunken villages,
drunken cities, a drunken army, a
drunken Russia writes a Petrograd
correspondent, whose comments are
quoted in the Literary Digest. What
would have happened if vodka had
not been prohibited? A representa-
tive of the Duma declared that the
very thought of the Hateful conse-
quences on the battlefields and in the
country itself of continuation of the
inveterate alcohol regime makes
every patriot shudder."
And now after a test of two years
| figures are given to show that since
| his vodka was shut away from him,
the workingman's producing capacity
has increased fifteen per cent. Mon
| day, the day when millions of farm
ers were found in the cutters, has be-
come a normal working day. City life
| too has been transformed. Schools,
savings banks, cooperative societies,
are sought by the masses. The very
appearance of the people on the
streets has changed. The Petrograd
correspondent states:
How quickly the population grasp
ed the prospective benefits of the
great reform is best shown by the
fact that when it became known that
the Imperial ukase, in order to become
legally valid, will need the express
consent of the majority of the farm
ers, only an exceedingly low percent
age refused the Endorsement.
January last (1916) the Zemstvo
| County Assembly, of Moscow circu-
larized the peasants in order to ascer-
tain in the most direct possible way
the impression of the population. A
few of the replies made by the vii
lage elders, most of them as illiterate
as their charges, have great eco.
nomic and psychological value.
The men feel stronger. Their
treatment of their women folk and at
titude toward their neighbors is not
the same as before
1.-THE children are now nicely
dressed and have even shoes on their
feet. One hears no more quarreling
in the izbas i(farmhouses).
"I was amazed to find among our
farmers some who subscribe to news
papers,
The people have become more
honest
There are, however, some who do
not give up all hope to see again the
vodka bottle in it's ancient glory.
The war will end with our victory;
our heroes will return, and then, of
course, moderately, one will have to
drink again.
There are some malcontents of
course-idle farm-hands and city loaf
ers chiefy-but their protests are of
no account, and their efforts are di-
rected towards procuring substitutes
other than those offered by the Gov
eminent, which include tea-houses,
clubs, theatres, moving pictures, ETC.
The Russian women rejoice in the
revolution in home conditions that the
absence of vodka has brought about.
Nobody has so quickly and COM
pletely grasped the import of the So
cial revolution as woman. the great
est sufferer from the old alcohol
CURSE says the writer. 1--WE are,
therefore, not astonished to learn that
as soon as the saloons were definitely
closed the peasant women marched
to the churches in Indian file to burn
a candle each, thanking the Lord for
the great delivery.
when, last spring, the question of
re-permitting the sale of beer and red
wine came up in the Duma, Tarasov,
a farmer-deputy exclaimed: If the
women would hear you, they would
pull you down from this platform q"
Here is one good result, at least,
from the evils of war. May every
nation engaged in the conflict emerge
from it with some such distinct bene-
fit as accrued to Russia.