The degradation of the peasantry of Russia is not simply material. It
is also moral. In the language of a recent traveller, "they are the
drunkenest people in Europe." The principal intoxicant is a sort of
whisky called "vodka." With drunkenness exist also dirtiness,
idleness, dishonesty, and untruthfulness. And as yet little has been
done to ameliorate this degradation. Ignorance prevails everywhere.
Even of the young people of the peasant class more than eighty per
cent. can neither read nor write. There is no middle class. The gulf
between the upper class and the lower is so wide as to be absolutely
impassable. And for the most part the upper class is quite content to
have this state of affairs continue.