Abuse of Vodka.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 97, 17 April 1914, Page 5

Abuse of Vodka.

A RUSSIAN SOCIAL EVIL.

DRUNKENNESS AMONG CHILDREN.

f>Y Electric Telegraph—Copyright] (UMTKD PrESB ABOOOIATJON,"} (Received 9.0 a.m.) St. Petersburg, • April 16. The newspaper Novoe Vremya states that ninety-six per cent, of boys and five per cent, of girls at schools in the province of Voronjsky drink intoxicants, and children of tender years are found drunk. Measures are being taken to stamp out alcoholism amongst the children.-

The best minds in Russia stand aghast <\t the ravages wrought in Russian society by the abuse of vodka, the national spirituous drink of the lower orders (says the New York "Literary Digest"). The Government at St. Petersburg has maintained a monopoly in the manufacture 'and sale of this commodity, and has promoted with great energy its production and use. The Army and Navy that fought with Japan were supported by the revenue that came from this monopoly, and Russia, we are told, has replenished the privy pur of its sovereign from the sale of a drink that is actually tending to the demoralisation of the common, people. As far as we can learn from the opinion of the Russian Press, ever since the Russian Government declared vodka a State monopoly, and assumed the role of the saloon-keeper, tho liquor business there has been making rapid progress, and hag become one of the main sources of income of that country. In the year 1912 the Government of the Tsar realised from the sale of liquor 412,000,000 dollars, and for the first six months of last year (1913) the proceeds exceeded those for the corresponding period of last year by nearly 23,500,000 dollars, perhaps, tend to show that the Russian bureaucracy has been successful in one branch ( of endeavor, at any rate. It may be recalled Ijere that Mr Maklakov, the Minister of the Interior, said in an interview with a French journalist some time ago that the "severe climate Russia makes alcohol a vital necessity to the masses." But some Russians do not agree with that statesman's view, and have very different ideas about the results of the Government's activity in that direction. "Public drunkenness has been growing to extraordinary proportions," says the ''Rvetch" (St.- Petersburg), and the increase, in drinking "has assumed a really threatening character." The Radical Press, and even some Conservative orgar.s, have been conducting a vigorous campaign against tho liquor monopoly.