Government Liquor Monopoly to Raise Funds: Inefficient Control By R. A. Burr, Chita, May 1.
If Pussyfoot Johnson ever reads this he will pack his bag and catch the first steamer for the Far East. From Japan or China he will push ox. without delay for Harbin; and, if he is able to resist the not unreasonable temptation to reform that city, he will hasten hot-footed to Chita.
For the land that is now the Far Eastern Republic, a theoretical Sahara since the outbreak of thie European War, has cast off the fetters of temperance and gone web again with the sanction of officialdom and the approval of <n overwhelming majority of the people. No longer does the thirsty diner wink at the waiter and whisper furtively: "A little Russian soda!" or "A bottle of French lemonade, please!" No longer does one's consumption of vodka during "the past week appear on the hotel bill as "pineapple" or "tinned salmon." The days when the well-to-do could have their liqueur, at a price, which the poor had either to do. without or make home brew from shocking raw spirits, ara over. Since April 12 the purchase of spirits of wine, 98 per cent. pure, has been free to anyone willing to stand in line for a few hours before the government monopoly bureau and get it.
Previous to April 12 strong waters were, as already indicated, obtainable in Chita and other par-s of the Far Eastern Republic. Hotels, restaurants and cafes sold atrocious vodka, worse than atrocious wines and liqueurs and even a little whiskey—made in Japan or uria—at bonanza prices. Alcoholic drinks ' were served at many, although not all, official functions. And every Russian who could afford it, as well as many Russian who couldn't, was a home-brewer of vodka or the liquor of his fancy. The American saying that every drink is a~ jolt was nowhere more applicable than in the Far Eastern Republic in its dey days, As a matter of fact kick" was the best way of_defining the contents of a glass of Siberian liquor.
Absence oF D/RUNKENNESS.
There was, nevertheless, a distinct effort on the part of both government and local authorities to suppress the a sale of liquor, and traffic it, alcoholic stimulants was subject te severe financial and other penal "ties. I saw a whole case full of vodka confiscated and the proprie-for arrested at a Chita cafe; and the arrival of the police, or "mili-tio,' as they are called here, always created bustle in the: cellars and anxiety among the waiters of the hotel in which I have been staying. Dealers in booze took their chances, just as they are taking them in America; but the chances they took were less, while their rewards were certainly no less:
Most significant of the dry era was the almost total absence of {drunkenness among the lower classes of the population. I wes ix Chita for nearly three weeks before the lid on alcohol was lifted, and I don't remember having seen one drunken man on the streets during this time. If the Russian moujik was getting any liquor he was drinking it at home, in strong contrast to the peasants in the zone of the Chinese Eastern Railway, where liquor is plentiful and cheap, and where I saw more drunkenness in five days than can be observed in China in six months. Chita's, sobriety was impressive 10 one who knew Siberia before the revolution; and this sobriety cannot be attributed entirely to the poverty -of its inhabitants, Tue OrriciaL ExPLANaTION.
"Why is the Far Eastern Republic going wet again?" is the question that I asked the long-suffering Foreign Office official who, among his many other duties, is assigned to the task of supplying information to foreigners in search of light. He replied that the government had been considering this step for a long time and would have taken it considerably earlier had it not had scruples regarding the establishment of an alcohol monopoly.
"Liquor is being sold freely in this country," he said, ''and the government knows it. We have tried hard to stop it, but our frontiers are so long that we can't possibly exercise an effective control over smugglers. Manchurian alcohol of a very inferior quality is the contraband that is handled the most. It is brought in by Chinese and low class Russians and sold all over our country at exorbitant prices, to the detriment of the physical and financial welfare of our people. Thus it finally seemed best to the government to control the liquor trade and render the traffic in low grade contraband spirits unprofitable by establishing a government monopoly where pure spirits can be purchased at reasonable prices. We hated to do this, realizing, as we did, that it would be regarded as a step backwards. But we saw no other way out of the difficulty. And, furthermore, it is better for the government to have the revenue from the monopoly than for the trader to grow rich from his sales of contraband."'
When I suggested that the Siberian moujik would be better of without the blessings of alcohol at reasonable prices, I was informed that those moujiks, and others, who wanted liquor would undoubtedly get it anyway. It was better, then, for them to get good liquor and to let the government make
my inquiry as to why the govern-something on the transac: To ment had not increased the penal-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.