Washington sentinel., 1900-12-15
The w. c.
ProDlDltlonlslS T. u. held
po,,,onAo> it's annual
NV "" con ven ton

c o n ven uOi
in this city last week, and to com
memorate the occurrence and tC
reward the Union tor it's consider
alton in retaining from following
the lead OF the Ne7V Tofce and il!
owners in attacking Mr.. Mckinley
for his failure to abolish the army
canteen, the House added the fol.
lowing section to the Army bill
and under the party lash which nc
Republican save Mr.. Pearce, oi
Missouri, Mr.. Boutell, OF Chicago.
and Mr.. Parker, oil New Jersey,
had the courage to resist, forced
its adoption:
The sale of or dealing in beer, wine,
or any intoxic ating liquors by any per-
son in any post, exchange or canteen or
army tranEport or upon any premises
used for military purposes by the United
States is hereby prohibited. The Sec
retarY OF War is hereby directed to
carry the provisions OF this section into
full force and effect
In the discussion preceding the
passage Of the canteen law in a
previous session Of Congress we
endeavored to look at this ques-
ton from the view OF the moral
and physical we'll. being OF the SOL
dier, and took occasion, in oppos-
ing the passage OF the measure, to
go back over a period Of many
years in our search for testimony
Of its efficiency in reducing intem-
perance in the soldiers homes
where it had been introduced and
had been in successful operation
for some years. Everywhere the
opinion was the same-as an eff
cient temperance agent, a Protec.
tion to health, promoter ofsound
morals, and check on wasteiul
expenditure, help to discipline
an agent for good in all that per-
tanned to the mental and moral and
physical and material welfare Of
those living under its operation
it was all that could be desired.
No more convincing evidence OF
this could be found than in a
pamphlet giving the views oil Gen.
Fitzpatrick, OF the Dayton Soldiers
Home, which came into our pos
session through Senator Hawley,
Of Connecticut
The bill at that time met with
strong opposition from many
sources, among its strongest oppo.
nents being the Anheuser Busch
Brewing Co. OF St. Louis, Pabst
and Schlitz OF Milwaukee, Born
OF Columbus, Ohio, and Moerlein
of Cincinnati. All was unavail-
ing, and 1t was finally passed, Its
provisions were nulliied, however,
after all other means Of defeating
1t had failed, by suggestion from
the Editor Of the SENTINEL that the
law as passed forbade the employ
ment OF soldiers in the canteen but
not OF civilians, which view was
upheld by the Attorney General |
when the question was sent to him
for a decision, This notification
has earned for the SENTINEL the
heartiest abuse OF the Prohibition
lists, tempered but little by the ap
probation Of those who prohted |
by our efforts.
From that day to this Prohibi-
tionists have bent every energy for
the re enactment OF the law. From |
Washington to Manila the search
has been pursued and ba ck again
to Congress. Not an iota of evil
dence has been secured bY them |
that has not been outweighed ten
fold in its favor. Nevertheless, |
last week, as we have said, success
finally crowned their efforts in the
section added to the Army bill, |
upon the motion OF Mr.. Little6eld, /
OF Maine.
We would have wished that this
matter could have been considered |
apart from poll les, as then we feel
sure different result would have
been reached, but the proceedings |
in the House, where the discussion
was confined with few exceptions
to Democrats in opposition to its
passage, forbid it. There was no
good reason why this measure
should have been tackled on to the
Army bill other than a desire to
reward the w. c. T. u. and its
friends for their torbearance as
stated above. Had consideration
for the soldiers welfare been the
issue certainly more than a bare
hall hour would have been given
TO it, and some better reason for
shutting off debate than that
offered by Mr.. Hull "I want to |
have a vote on the bill tonight,
and must get it, or it goes over in
definitely" Political obligations