CURRENT LITERATURE,
THE RUSSIAN VODKA MONOPOLY.
The Russian Vodka Monopoly. By Arthur Sherwell. (P. S. ring and Son. 4d.)—Mr. Arthur Sherwell's pamphlet, which is in part a reprint of articles contributed by him to the Contemporary Review, gives a very clear and detailed descrip- tion of the nature and working of the Government vodka monopoly in Russia and the reasons for its creation. The principle of State monopoly, says Mr. Sherwell, is practi- cally as old as the history of drink itself in Russia, but it was Tho Field of Honour. By U. Fielding Mel. Londeal Coastal@ aed Co. ed, net.]
first established in its present form by the late Count Witte in 1894, when Minister of Finance. "That M. Witte," Mr. Sherwell goes on, "in deciding to re-establish a State monopoly hoped, or intended, to abolish spirit drinking in Russia has never been suggested. . . . What he plainly aimed at was to regulate the sale of vodka and to prevent abuses," for he bad realized the menace to economic and industrial progress which the widespread abuse of Spirits, fostered as it was by the existing system of private licensing, represented. We give verbatim Mr. Sherwell's description of the character and scope of the monopoly :—
"Considerable misapprehension appears to exist in this country as to the scope and character of the Russian vodka monopoly. It is important, therefore, to state that the monopoly is not concerned with the manufacture (i.e., distilling) of spirits, although the distilling industry is controlled by rigid excise laws, but is solely concerned with the rectification and sale of vodka. Distilling in Russia has continued in private hands, subject to certain restrictions as to output. The State (through the Ministry of Finance) purchases from the distilling companies the raw spirit that is required in each province, and it is then rectified and purified under State supervision, partly in State rectifying establishments, and partly by private rectifiers at a fixed charge. Elaborate precautions are taken to secure strict purification. Each monopoly district has a chemical laboratory in which the purity of the spirit delivered is tested, and there are in addition two central laboratories (one at Petrograd and one at Moscow) to supervise and control the work of the provincial laboratories. Whatever defects in other directions the monopoly system may have possessed it is undeniable that it effected an enormous improvement in the quality and purity of the vodka sold to the peasants. The number of places of sale, which were severely simple and uninviting establishments, is, or rather was, fixed by the Minister of Finance, and the sites of the Shops were chosen by the Department of Indirect Taxes in consultation with the Governor of the province. The salesmen were carefully chosen and had no financial interest in their sales. Vodka was sold in sealed bottles, at prices which were uniform throughout the country, for 'off' consumption .only. The bottles were in five different sizes, ranging from one-fourth of a vedro (about two-thirds of a gallon) to 1-200th of a vedro (about one-ninth of a pint), the last-mentioned size being the one principally sold. The quality, contents, and price of the vodka (as well as the price of the empty bottle, which was returnable at the option of the purchaser) was in each case plainly labelled. Each shop was divided into two parts by a grating in which was a window through which the money and liquor wore passed. The public part of the store contained no furniture, the rules requiring the customer to leave the premises immediately he had received his sealed bottle of vodka. It was forbidden to open the bottle on the premises. While, however, the Russian Govern- ment possessed what was virtually a complete monopoly over the supply of vodka (but not other spirits, such as cognac, whisky, etc.) for consumption within the monopoly areas, it had not a monopoly of its sale and retail distribution. Apart from certain outlying districts of the Empire, in which the monopoly had not Bo far been introduced, the State spirit shops represented only a proportion of the shops in which vodka and other spirits were sold in the monopoly areas, while there were, in addition, quite outside the State monopoly, a largo number of beer and wine shops."
Further, Mr. Sherwell gives an account of the Temperance " Guardianships " and other schemes established by the Govern- ment of Russia to work side by side with the monopoly for the discouragement of the immoderate consumption of spirits. As to the effect of the monopoly, Mr. Sherwell claims that it has, on the whole, been beneficial. That it has not been as much so as advocates of Prohibition would perhaps have liked he attributes, not to any fault in the principle, but to over-centralization in administration and to its bureaucratic character. "One thing," he adds, "is undeniable. The State
monopoly, with all its faults and defects, had this considerable merit, that it removed the vodka trade in Russia from the
control of private interests, and, by eliminating the element of personal profit, cleared the path for drastic changes." In a postscript Mr. Sherwell deals with the effect of the Tsar's recent famous Edict, That Edict, he tells us, was enthusiasti- cally welcomed and acclaimed by the vast body of Russian opinion. He sets out faithfully all the difficulties which have arisen in the working of Prohibition, but though these are many he is able to add :— "Meantime, despite the difficulties and evasions to which we have referred, it seems to be unquestionable that one broad effect of the prohibition of vodka has been to stimulate thrift. The growth in the savings of the Russian people is prodigious, and the remarkable improvement in the industrial worth and taxable capacity of the people as a whole has greatly simplified the task of the Minister of Finance. . . . Equally incontestable, also, is the effect upon the efficiency of the people. A well-informed private estimate furnished to the present writer places the imprev i ement in the efficiency ag the ncluetrial workers at from 12 to 19 per cent. Among the agricultural workers, who represent .by far the greater proportion of the working classes in Russia, it is certainly much higher, as experience has shown that it is the agricultural districts that benefit most directly from prohibition."
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