The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-29
TEETOTAL WARRIORS.
SAILORS AND SOLDIERS MUST co
WITHOUT GROG.

hence in the Military Service.
headed Fellows.
Ex-Attache, in St Louis Globe-Democrat
1t seems that for some time, by orders
Of Field Marshal Lord Wolseley, the Brit
ish commander-in-chief, careful and ex-
haustive experiments have been in prog
ress with a view to ascertaining the re!a-
tive effects of alcohol and of total absti-
nence upon the physical endurance and
staying qualities of the troops. Advantage
has been taken both of the annual ma
neuvers, as well as of these petty wars of
which England has a few on hand in one
part or another of the world almost all the
time, to examine carefully the question.
One regiment would be deprived of every
drop of stimulant. while another belonging
to the same brigade would be allowed to
purchase as usual its malt liquors at the
canteen, and a third, probably a Highland
corps, would receive a sailors ration of
grog in the form of whisky In each in
stance the experiment went to show that,
whereas at first the corps which had re-
ceived an allowance of grog surpassed the
others in dash and in impetuosity of at
tack, yet that after the third of fourth
day its members began to show notable
signs Of lassitude and a lack of spirit and
endurance The same manifestations
thouhg in a minor and slower degree, were
apparent in the regiments restricted to
malt liquors, whereas the men who had
been kept from every kind of stimulant in
creased in staying power, alertness and
vigor every day.
The result of these experiments led the
British war department to decide, not on
the ground of principle, but solely for the
sake of maintaining the powers of endur-
ance Of the troops now engaged in the Sou
dan campaign, not to permit a single drop
OF stimulant in camp save for hospital use.
Spirits, wine and malt liquors have been
barred from the officers mess table. as
well as from the regimental cauteen, and
from generals in command down to the
drummer boys and the camp followers
liquid refreshments have been restricted
to tea and oatmeal water.
When one remembers how devoted the
Englishman is to his beer and the Scotch
man 10 his mountain dew" modern his
tory ahounding in the upsets of cabinets
ill-advised enough to attempt an increa e
of the tax on these stimuIants which are
regarded not as Injuries, bur as actual
necessaries of life, the boldness and like
| be appreciated.
But the scheme has fulfilled all expecta-
/ tons. Thanks to total abstinence. the
men have been able to make forced
marches of the most extraordinary char,
| acter across the burning desert and under
/ a blazing sun, the heat of whose rays can
/ only be appreciated by those. who nave lived
| under the equator. The SOudan is famed
| for its deadly climate. which either kills
or prematurely ages the majority of white
! folks who penetrate beyond its frontiers
/ Indeed il has often been nicknamed and
! with good cause, too, the Man Hating
! Soudan,' by reason of the number of white
| lives that 1t has consumed. Yet in spite
! of this, there has never been a campaign
| Wnere there has been so little sickness
! where SO few men have been compelled
! to fall out, even in the longest marches
| and where the troops have been got into
! such magnificent physical and moral
! training that they would actually cover
| thirty miles of sand with empty water boz
| ties, without shaking their thirst once
from the beginning 10 the end of the
| march, al he close of which they would
still find themselves sufficiently fresh and
vigorous to win a hard-fought victory,
such as that of Atbara.
OF course, all kinds of devices and tricks
| were resOrted to IN the earlier stages of
the present campaign to defeat this inno-
| walton of the war department. and one
willy Greek liquor dealer even managed
no one knows exactly how to get several
wagon loads of spirits up beyond Wadi
! Haifa for the purpose of retailing them
! to the officers and men of the expedition
| But, fortunately, Sir Horatio Kitchener
obtained an inkling of the affair. caDtur-
! ed the convoy, and caused every bottle
and barrel to be mercilessly destroyed
the liquor merely serving TO poison the
sand and Stake the thirst of the ever
parched desert.
Although the British admiralty has not
! yet followed the example of the United
States, which has long since abandoned
the daily ration of grog to the men of it's
| navy, and which prohibits the use of slim
ulants on board when at sea yet orders
have recently been issued 10 the comman-
ders of all British men-of-war in commits
| sion that in lieu of the double rations of
grog formerly served out to the crews
when going into action, not a drop of al
! cohOllc liquor, no matter whether spirit
| wine or malt Is to be allowed when there
| is any fighting to be done. In order to
satisfy the thirst engendered by the heat
| eXerton and smoke inseparable from a
naval combat. supplies of oatmeal and
| water for drinking are arranged all over
the ship.
This, of course, is a very radical de-
| parture from the practice which has ex-
listed until quite recently, and which still
| prevails in the navies and armies of every
continental power of the old world But
il is a step which is rendered imperative
! by the extreme importance of sighting
with the utmost degree of exaetitude the
! guns and rifles upon the precision of
which the success of every action, no mat
ter whether at sea or on land, nowadays
| depends.
1t is no longer fierceness, fury and reck-
less dash that are required of the men, but
| calmness and collectiveness. In naval en-
gagements there is little boarding to be
| done in these times of iron-clad warfare.
| Vessels are no longer armed with tier upon
tier of small guns, some of the men-of-war
| of the early Victorian era having over 100
of them. Modern battleships and cruisers
! are equipped with gigantic pieces, rela-
| lively few in number. but carrying pro
jectiles of colossal weight over a range Of
! several miles. 1t is no longer necessary to
pepper the hull of a man-of-war fun of
small cannon ball holes in order to sink
| her. This can be achieved by one single
| well-directed shot, from any of the great
guns with which the warship of the pres
! ent day is armed. Everything depends,
therefore, upon the precision of the gum
merry, and the beilgerent whose every
! shot carries home IS practically certain IN