Its use does not imply a partially successful
attempt to curtail the consumption of liquor resulting in drinking in
secret places, the abuse of medical licenses and general evasion and
subterfuge. It does mean that a vast population who consumed
$1,000,000,000 worth of vodka a year; whose ordinary condition has been
described by Russians themselves as ranging from a slight degree of
stimulation upward, has been lifted almost in one day from a drunken
inertia to sobriety.
On that day when the mobilization of the Russian Army began, special
policemen visited every public place where vodka is sold, locked up the
supply of the liquor, and placed on the shop the imperial seal. Since
the manufacture and sale of vodka is a Government monopoly in Russia, it
is not a difficult thing to enforce prohibition.
From the day this step was taken drunkenness vanished in Russia. The
results are seen at once in the peasantry; already they are beginning to
look like a different race. The marks of suffering, the pinched looks of
illness and improper nourishment have gone from their faces. There has
been also a remarkable change in the appearance of their clothes. Their
clothes are cleaner, and both the men and women appear more neatly and
better dressed. The destitute character of the homes of the poor has
been replaced with something like order and thrift.
In Petrograd and Moscow the effect of these improved conditions is
fairly startling.
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