The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-26
THE CANTEEN SYSTEM.
What the Canteen is and How it is
 Conducted

| What the Canteen is and How it is Conducted
 As this subject is one which is likely | to be kept for some time before the
 public eye, an explanatio of the can
 teen system is often confounded with the
 post exchange, whereas it is only part
 of it. The exchange is a cooperative store and club combined, run by and
 for the soldiers. There is a shop in | which the men can buy clothing,
 pocket knives, various articles of food
 etc., as in a general store In small | village. There is a reading room in | which they can have access to news | papers and magazines. There may be a billiard room and provision for other games and amusements. Apart | from all these, and not permitted to
 mix with them in any way, is the can teen or beer room. No distilled liquors are sold there; the soldier Is not per-
 mitted to play game or read the | newspapers there; he may not carry a bottle of beer away with him, but is required to drink whatever he wish eS on the spot. He is not even allow ed. to take a sandwich from the shop in which such things are sold and eat it in the room where he drinks his
 beer. The entire exchange is under the
 general supervision of an exchange of
 ficer, who usually engages a sergeant
 or other on-commissioned officer to
 take charge of it in person. This per-
 sonal manager is held responsible for
 the preservation of good order there.
 If he finds that a soldier Is inclined to
 drink too much beer it is his duty to
 refuse to let him have any more, and
 if the man protests too violently the ser
 geant can turn him out or order him to
 his barracks.
 The purchases and other business de-
 tails connected with the conduct of the
 exchange are under control of an ex- change council consisting of the post
 commander, the exchange officer and
 one other. They meet from time to
 time and discuss ways and means. The
 capital on which the exchange is run comes out of funds accumulated from
 the surplus rations of each company.
 The rations are issued by the com missary officer of the post, not to the individual soldiers, but to the compa-
 liC5. ilC dllpNcliIS ID Ntly llDtl eil. III the matter of flour, for instance it is always designed to furnish a ration about one-third greater than the amount which it is estimated the men will want. The company commander consults with the baker and the cook, and from the ration issue keeps each supplied with such material as is need ed A considerable surplus of provi- sons remains from each issue, and this is either turned back to the commissary in exchange for cash, or sold to the eX- change or to some outside purchaser. The money thus obtained goes into what is known as a company fund. and the fund of each company Is assessed, ac- cording to the strength of that company, to supply the capital for founding or en- larging the exchange. From time to time, as the profits of the exchange ac- cumulate, a dividend is declared, each receiving d proportional share on the same basis that it is assessed when more cash is needed. No indivd- ual soldier has any claim upon such dividend. The company is the unit, and whatever money it receives goes back into it's fund and is finally spent either in providing delica cies for it's mess table or in some special jollificatiOn.
 For the protection of the enlisted men against frauds in the handling of their | funds, there is council of non- -comms l stoned officers who inspect and report | upon the affairs of the ex change. Besides this there is a re- luirement in the exchange regulations that every sale, from a suit of under ,lthing down to a sandwich shall be re- corded, and all the records of each day | exposed in a public place for twenty our hours there eafter so that every man who has made a purchase can see for himself that the money he paid in is ac- counted for, and that the price he was ,harged was not in excess of what others Ire paying at the exchange or higher han the cost of the same goods in 3tores outside of the post On this last point it should be said that one of the objects of the exchange is to supply the oldiers with such goods as they desire 1t prices below the retail market, so as o keep them, as far as possible, from ,oing outside. of the post and running he risk of falling into bad company which always hangs about the edges of
 military reservation. It was for the purpose of holding the soldiers trade in his way that the canteen system was tarted ten years ago as an experiment, nd was made compulsory in 1895; the lea being that what induced soldiers nost frequently to leave the post was
 desire for drink, and that when they vent to the stores outside they were in uced to spend their money in all sorts foolish ways because it was to the 1terest of the private store keeper to ell all that he could.-Lincoln in Bos- i 0n Transcript. i