RUSSIA AFTER VODKA LEFT 117 



nice if you did not taste them, " she added mischiev- 

 ously. 'I could drink anything and like it that 

 would bring to French women the happiness I saw 

 among the Russian women. 



' They seemed to have become young again. Per- 

 haps, ' Madame Kruppi said laughingly, "it was 

 because since there is no vodka, marriage is so much 

 cheaper. When vodka was furnished the guests it 

 cost from 60 to 100 francs; now the wedding feast may 

 cost but 30 francs. So now, the young couples can 

 marry. 



" And then family life has become beautiful, for the 

 Russian is not unkind to his wife and children when 

 he is without vodka. Since alcohol, the twin sister of 

 lust, has disappeared, the shackles have fallen from 

 many poor white slaves; and while war has in- 

 creased prostitution in all other ."countries, in Rus- 

 sia the evil has diminished nearly one half. Women 

 should remember that and enter the fight, for 

 with one blow they strike the two worst foes of 

 womanhood. 



"And then prohibition will give the vote to women," 

 Madame Kruppi added. "Already the Council of 

 the Empire has actually adopted a bill that would have 

 given women the right to vote in local option matters. 

 And to make prohibition secure, the vote will surely 

 come to woman. 



' The people are saving money. They are turning 

 the empty vodka shops into savings banks. They 

 are spending money, too, for new clothes for them- 

 selves and new gowns for the women. Yes, and they 



