XI 



The Abolition of VodKa 



AT the time of my visit nothing was said about 

 the peasants' addiction to strong drink and the 

 resulting drunkenness and desperation. 



Vodka had not apparently been given its proper 

 place in their tale of woe. Its recent abolition 

 by Czar Nicholas, universally approved by all 

 his official representatives and Russia's best 

 people, has proven that vodka should then have 

 been cursed as one of the real underlying causes 

 of destitution when a year of drouth was followed 

 by crop failure. 



No greater blessing has ever been conferred upon 

 Russia than that heavenward march of the Czar 

 abolishing vodka from his realm. 



Its prohibition, adopted as a war measure, is 

 likely to continue after the war, according to 

 reports from Petrograd. Before the war, vodka 

 was almost universally used by the Russian masses. 



Many women, and even children of tender years, 



no 



