Note 11 — Chapter XLII · THE MIDDLE AMUR.
Reading edition
“Alcohol” is spirit obtained from corn and potatoes, and has 95 degrees of strength; “vodka” is the same spirit weakened by water to 40 degrees, and filtered. A bottle of alcohol costs at Vladivostock 2s. 6d.; a bottle of vodka 1s. 3d. The Baron was an Esthonian by birth, and he pointed out the remarkable fact that, whilst Esthonia relatively produced more brandy than did other Russian provinces, yet it had the smallest number of shops for its sale. Whether any moral could be drawn from this tale I know not; but I subsequently find on the same opening of my journal two noteworthy entries respecting the Amur. One is that the excise taxes for the Sea-coast province amounted in 1878 to rather more than 20 times the amount realized by all the remaining taxes put together; and the other is the official return to the Emperor, that “the chief causes of crime in the province are gambling and drunkenness.” Comment is needless, and I do not here stay to make any, except to observe how humiliating it is that any country which calls itself Christian, be it Russia or England, should derive its largest revenue from that which most demoralizes its subjects.