The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-01

Sence without leave have increased over 80
per cent. and those for drunkenness nearly
30 per cent. II never frequent the canteen
myself" he added. but l cannot fail 10 see
the effects on the men since IL has been
abolished. 1t is terrible. Not only drunk
enness, but actual disease is on the in
crease"
Capt. F. T. Evans, of the Eighteenth In
fantrN, said of the figures submitted by
Dreitz: Here is a case where statistics lie.
Very little of the discipline of a company
is administered by the summary court.
Commanders turn over 10 the courts only
the hard old offenders. whom they have
tailed 10 bring into line. a good officer at
tends TO the discipline of his own company,
as far as possible. himself. The repri-
mandS for hard drinking and for unsoldier-
ly conduct have increased away beyond the
court convictions. In my own company
they have gone up a good zoo per cent
Except for a few hastily estaDnShed
volunteer canteens, the administration was
conscientious and drunkenness was aoso-
lutely tabooed. Some one stated BEFORE the
congressional investigators that there was
not a canteen in the army where whisky
could not be obtained. That is not true;
| never saw one where it could be obtained
except by the officers. who often bought
their supplies of bottled liquor through the
post canteen."
Major Woods, Of the commissary depart
ment. asked as to the prevailing opinion
among officers. said: I'm conversation l
never knew but one officer but said that
the %canteen was a good thing. That was %
young fellow at AlcatraZ, who begged OH
from running the canteen because OF con-
scientious scruples.
HITS WHERE IT HURTS.
Lieut.. r. P. Bower. of the artillery corps.
has been in charge of the post exchange
for the past year, and has distributed the
profits to the messes of the various COM
panies. He says:
'.At the last monthly distribution of prof
its TO the mcsses of the various companies
We gave each about $50. That, among a full
company of one hundred men, meant about
80 cents apiece. Formerly we gave each
company at least $50, and sometimes as
much as $500. The average monthly proht
since Jan. /, 1895. was about ST. Since
the beer privilege went it has averaged $40
a month, Not only that, we have been
that we furnished at less than the outside
retail price.
with these profits the men used to be
provided with all sorts of delicacies that
they could not have in the regular army
ration. 1t gave them big Christmas,
Thanksgiving and Sunday dinners, pie, but
ter. fruit, all sorts of things that relieved
the monotonY of army diet. The officers are
for the restoration of the canteen because
it was the best thing in the world for gen
eral morals and discipline; the men largely
because the new rule hits them where 1t
hurts-in the stomach.
LAS for the moral side, / will say that all
sorts of trouble that we never had here be-
fore broke out from the very week when
they shut down the beer privilege. My
quarters are at the outside corner OF the
parade ground, where people pass from
town. and l am kept awake on the night of
every Saturday and pay day by the racket
of drunken and disorderly men whom the
patrol cannot check 1t was a bad piece of
business"
Private Samuel ]. Sutherland. a private
in the Twenty-second Infantry and presi-
dent of the post Young Mems Christian
Association, is as decided as Chaplain Mil
Ter in his views on the canteen. He says:
AT all hours of the night you can look
across the walks and see dozens of men
staggering home. blind drunk. where you
never saw one in a hundred nights before.
Men who have taken a drink once in a
while. but who were, on the whole, re-
spectacle and decent. are going to the bad
wholesale. We have fifty active members
OF the post association. Every one OF them
believe In the c%anteen. They tell me every
day of wholesale debauches and of dis
graceful scenes made in the quarters by
men who have come home disgustingly
drunk from the liquor of the groggeries
outside. | have heard no good word for
the abolition of the canteen from the rank
and file.
there was a falling off in our work, which
used TO go beautifully before. [ will not
say that the closing of the canteen caused
ii, but / can see no other reason. So far as
the Army Young Mems Christian Associa-
ton is concerned, we think that the Wom-
ans Christian Temperance Union was ac-
tuated by the best motives. but that 1t tried
to improve a matter which it knew nothing
about
SURGEONS TESTIMONY.
MAJOR Gibson, a post surgeon, said: Il
saw the two systems tried side by side a
few years ago during a practice march of
the Sixth Infantry in Ohio. One year We
marched without any canteen. We were
troubled by the men getting drunk while
on leave, until we had more prisoners than
we could handle and were obliged to cut
down all leave of absence. The next year
1t was suggested that we take along a
portable canteen. It was tried and worked
like a charm. The regiment got away with
ten half barrels OF beer a day, but there
was not one arrest for drunkenness"
Finally, here is the testimony Of two
civilians working at the Preside:
l.. S. Melsted Is in charge of the tele-
graph office at the post. an office which he
served In the California Heavy Artillery
and in the Signal corps, seeing active serv-
ice In the Philippines.
You could not write anything strong
enough to describe the true state of af-
fairs" he said, when asked for an opin-
ion. ION pay day the post has the. blind
but / stand with the army in saying that
the abolition OF the canteen is a terrible
mistake. the result Of ignorance. Outside
away a great source Of Comfort to the ea seIl
dlers. / am convinced that n great many
men got home from the islands alive be-
cause of Improvement in their food brought
about by the profits from the canteens."
William Bell. for four years bookkeeper
TO the Post Exchange, said:
II have seen one or two drunks i'm the
canteen In my term. They were men who
had come into the reservation drunk and
wandered in. They were removed at once
by noncoms. In all that time we have had
only one arrest there. That was caused by
n fight over a regimental matter. When q
man showed the first symptoms OF intoxi-
cation he was served no more drinks here.
How would / estimate the increase of intox-
ication? About trebled, as far as can
Judge"
Most of the keepers OF the dives outside
the gate refused to discuss the increase of
trade since Feb. 20. One, more honest than
the rest. admitted il. saying: 1--WE ex-
pected that they would come here after
the canteen shut down. That's what we
are here for. There were too many of us
bctore, and some of the joints lost money.
ut / reckon they've made il up since. Iss
been a big business all along the line. and If
hey weren't afraid of the police the pro-
prietors would be putting in improvements.
OF course. the boys drink more beer than
anything else. but there's a good trade i'm
whisky. II was a good thing for us when
they did up the canteens."
FROM FORT II ALIEN