Evening star., 1924-08-22
3Y SEYMOUR B. CONCER.

I restaurant just across the stree,
| from the Savoy. where a. every one
| In MOSCOW knows, Illicit vodka in to
| De had for the asking. The waite,
| brings the customer not small
| liquor glass, a. in the old days bu,
| q teacup half full. which he must
| nnish at a Gulp. to prevent any in
| criminatins evidence being found
should a policeman enter.
BootleEgeF. In Public Esteem.
| The G. p. u. alias Cheka or secre,
police. and the militia, alias rerula,
police force (the word police beine
anathema under the bolahevist reign
OF 1reedom) make efforts to suppress
the Illicit (and non.revenue produc.
| ing) drink business, but direct their
| activities rather against tho produc-
| ness. Thousands Of stills are report ed
seized every month, but two new
ones spring up for every one sur.
pressed, according to the statements
of the police themselves
Jail sentences do not deter The
| bootleggers and moonshinera who
| are regarded in the villages, 1t Is
complained, as sort OF onicial Serv-
ants Of the people. II one goes to
jail, 1t Is the understood thing tina,
the community looks after his family
duty. No village wedding is com.
plete without 4 'vedro" (pailful) or
two of vodka being set up by each
family. Christenings and funerals
! follow the same rule. The Easter
| community souses this year were
never surpassed under the Txars.
The chief ny in the vintner and
government ointment is the bad state
| of the Russian vineyards, and, SO far
as the government is concerned, the
| vast amount of grain which goes
| into vodka instead Of being sold for
real money in the foreign markets.
Russian vineyards RavaxeA.
The phyloxera is ravaging the Rus
| sian vineyards as it did q year aRo
| those in France and Germany. More
than so per cent Of the vineyards in
Kahetia have been destroyed and
other regions In the Caucasian and
Crimean wine areas are suffering al
most as much. A congress OF winners
recently held, asserted the wine busi-
| account of the phyloxera, high taxes
and falsifcation Of wines. It de-
, manded q reduction Of the excise tax
| which is now 8 rubles on q vedro
of wine costing rubles, to q grad
| uated impost Of from 81 copecks to
2A rubles a vedro, depending on quality.
The association also demanded an
| ediot against 'fortifying" or strength
ening wines by the addition OF
straight alcohol. I saw no explana-
| ton Of their objections to this pro-
cedure, which is followed by all the
| producers. private and Official, of the
so-cAlled "ports," ''madeiras," 'mala-
gas" etc; but perhaps they believe
in a broader market. for weaker
| drinks.
As to the amount Of grain which
goes into the making of the moon
shine vodka, the statements in the
bolshevist papers are almost incredi-
bly, large, were it not for the indica-
tions Of mass consumption and for
| the official statistics on the number
Of stills seized, running into thou
sands monthly for individual prov
| incee.
Reports from some provinces give
the value Of grain now turned into
mash and distilled illicitly ~ large.
or greater, than the total receipts of
| the vodka monopoly in the same
| provinces before the war. which, of
course, then included the co& OF
manufacture and thA high revenue
derived by the government from the
salA.
:. Acssyrisat 1874. by Pshaie Iedser cs.)