TEETOTAL RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 143, 11 November 1914, Page 8

TEETOTAL RUSSIA.

PROHIBITION AND TUB WAR. | "No war, no plague of humanitycholera, tuberculosis or famine—lias made so many victims, has caused so ; much poverty, suffering, and death as the use of alcohol." I translate these words of Charles. Darwin from the Russian, for f find ; them in one of the innumerable articles i in Russian newspapers which deal with the extraordinary change which has come over this country as a result of the ' prohibition of vodka until peace is sign- \ ed, wrote Francis McCullagh from Petro- I grad. That prohibition was originally i intended to cover only the mobilisation ' period, when noisy demonstrations were : likely to take place, and when soldiers parting from their families ivere likely to indulge to excess in the national beverage. Hut the good effects were so great that the whole nation petitioned ! for a prolongation of the period; and, i though such a prolongation was against . the interests of the Government—which gets one hundred million pounds out of vodka yearly—those petitions were at lai.t granted, and the sale of vodka, i prohibited until the termination of the war. The temperance reformers in this eountry are delighted, and they maintain that the Government will lose nothing by its self-sacrifice. If it allowed the sale of spirits it might gain millions of pounds—and lose the war. By prohibiting that sale, it shortit.s the war, and therefore (so the teetotalers'argue) ' saves as much money on military opera-1 tions as it loses on "the sale of drink. VODKA AND ITS EVILS. I Undoubtedly drunkenness had reached : a frightful pitch in Russia during recent years. Outside most of the vodka '> shops in the poorer quarters of all Rus- ' sian towns one might see long lines of men and women waiting till the doors were opened. As consumption was not allowed "on the premises" buyers bought as much of this powerful spirit as thev could, and drank it neat iii tin- street outside. The Government was in the ugly position of publican: it pushed-the sale of its vodka as much as possible. Jn many villages the people did not want a vodka shop, but the Government said, "If you don't have a Ooverirueut iiminr shop, you are sure to, manufacture illicit ' spirits," and forthwith opened its public- j houses in these villages. ' times of excitement {lie dram- ; shops are frequented ill every countrv, i but in Russia evorbody gets' drunk on those occasions. Such was Lhe ease during the Rosso-lapanese war. The! euntri-.-it m the present occasion is «trih ' ing. Xono of the resei-Wsisi or of the. ■' civilians were Intoxicated. The soldiers, ' the Cossacks, the sailors, and even the ' hooligans wire all as sober an jud>.".-.. ' To sell a single drop of spirits entailed I a fine of .eiiflll | Strictly speaking', the. sale of vodka is ' prohibited' til! October Ist, but it is '■ certain that this temporary order will be rem wed. Russia is governed, indeed, by such 'temporary" orders. Taken by themselves, the laws of Russia are good, benevolent, and patrhm-hah but on examination thev wiil he found to be overlaid by a whole layer 0 f temr.ofarv laws, renewed automatically voir after year. All the grievances of" tie- ' Jews, for rvample, spring from "tern- ; porary" laws, and the Duma is chroni- ; eally indignant because, after if passes a law, that law is suspended or sneer- - seded or nullified bv a permanent •■('em- ' porary" law made tiy the ■HnUcr oi the Interior,

A SORER WAT!. In the present instance, however the temporary dosing of the Covi-rruiont public-houses Ifl- Mr P. L. Bark, the -Minister of Finance, nuiv be one of the best things that has been done for Russia since the emancipation of the serfs. A good deal of credit is due, however, to the teetotal party, and particularly to Mr M. D. Chelyshe'v, a member of the Duma, and tin; Sir Wilfrid Lawsou of Russia. Mr OhelvshcK is now gratifi.-l beyond measure, and he declares that not a single public-house will be opened tili the end of the war. -The people," he says, "do not want the vodka stores to be opened," and this statement is certainly borne out bv the number of petitions for the permanent elosiir- of tli« public-houses which hr.ve pomvp -to the Ministry of Finance over <;=,.„ "j'j,,, Wir began. These petrous .roiiemllv eonie iroiu £!■<■ Zeaistvo:.. hot ' ; ,n s,,,vt"; and conditions of men are writhe- to the papers {o toll how mac!) owr.-'part ot tlie country has chan-"-..! ii,.■{',., better since the war began.' "The old women iu the . i]j, [; ,,. Si >i writes a country vicar in the ."Novoe Vreniya, "can hardly helieve their ..yes and ears, so changed are the ; r nvn-sV.I' . Xot a hard word, not a row-, but ev'er--where peace, kindness, and imh-strv YVar is said to hell, but this is like " a foretaste of heaven." _ So tremendous is the improvement 'indeed, that,, at the end of (he wtir there will doubtless bo an agitation for the abolition of the liquor traffic altogether, and the conversion of Russia into what Americans Mould call a 'dry" empire. 'Mr Ohe.lyshev is now agitating for the total "prevention of the sale of liquor in the high-class restaurants and hotels, as we'll a-, in the villages. If !ho succeeds in- the a-«li-tation Tic will deserve a statue fromTa grateful fatherland. I

KG PASSING PAD. i Tlie Tsar has expressed a wish that the cause of temperance may be advanced amongst his people and the M)u----n-icr of Finance has declared that, if | lab-fa mai.o.s the great sacrifice' of [ doing without the liquor money ajtoIgether. "the people will be healthier I and the Stale will be stronger." 1 In Port Arthur and .Mukden Jund I driil!:>ntr yv,« the nile. and it did :i,;,r e ' to defeat. Sfuei'dl ,'iud Kiiropaikin (hen J 'all the cannon and riiies of fh.. .l : >.;>anese. (hi the nveseut oiviisimi i no (.-pints of s,. v k'rd will he --o'd or I *o lb.-- army the! whole course of the y.v.r.Hn snrs ihe ' of Klname. and he add- ti, : .t ! even when the Iw.sian troops oceupv lore.gn town-, rn a'niv order viil at mice prevent the sale or coiismaiVaon ot .'oi'-ts and ('!:,. s'.-e!im.- of ov..><y

Nobody erqircls the snlwrina; of this- i Mil to eome at once, .liven the enthusi- ! Mdie Air ('h- ! ■>!,,-,■ ,„,' v ~,iv i, „,|,.s ~.- | first t;ie .■i< ;: -ii. !V , )f ... anv wim ; M . nl ;y; • csr-ciallv 0f,,,..!, Jlr.t-K," -itiuiff..] „„ ! lii-.'iiv !, ■..-,,•,.;;,] .,_ where m , u , v V ,. IU . MU : c-nl.Partly pass. "V.-nwhih,'there villi ' he irrad'ially opened for tin- mi!is,-;:i,pf J I'lHl ,)f !)■„. ~,»;,..;,;,;. H 1;,,;,-. | les. iTdili..;: roo»'-.. mill r»:>.v~l m Uit. ' rooms, selhmr ie.i or tfor,n,!;'t!or. of the- pomihir iv-oris, tlie ) iiii|j the iiiiri!i;.'v::!,.i,i will !-. -h!d to j Tliill llle ll'l-silli teeddal nmYomnli H 110 passie.n- f;„l ],,,); ~ |..,,j ml| ,] ,],,. lii:in,l wns shown by a "iaiiiitie demon, stration in St. J', tcrsbur'r: on Anjnut "B Tiip ronjjrcjratioiis of all tlie. cimrenoK j in tlie capital joined in that .imposing procession. If this war makes Russia I sober it will ijiave, on tlie whole, done ! I Rood, no matter what it costs in moncv sfncl live* ; "