The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-16

where a villainous kind of liquor was sold, as well as deadly native drinks, There was no drunkenness, for the canteen was under the care of a non- commissioned officer and beyond cer- tain limit man was not allowed to drink. Should he insist he was re-
 ported to one of the three commissioned officers who governed the canteen. Now, where in civil life can you find such @ government in regard to sa- looms?
 ''Then there is another feature of the
 canteen not generally understood.
 There is of course, profit on all the
 beer sold at the canteen. This is taken
 charge of by the three commissioned
 officers, and at the end of the month
 it is divided between the different com
 panies. The captains of the various
 companies are cutodians of this fund,
 subject to the inspection of the com
 mittee, which is used to pay for mag
 azines and papers and to buy delicacies
 for the soldiers which they could not
 otherwise have.
 Tn Cuba I used the money to sub
 scribe for all the picture papers and I
 
 forms and footballs, as we'll as delca- cies for the men. By carefu manage ment, when we were ordered to China, there were several hundred dollars in the treasury and when we reached San Francisco 1 purchased a quantity of the best fruit I could get and gave it out to the men on the way. When we reached Honolulu I bought pineapples which I gave to the men, and when we landed in China my men were in splen- did condition and were ready to 70 at once into the field, and it was all due to the food. How else could have done it had it not been for the compa- ny's funds?
 "If at any time the commissary train fails to come or food gives out for one reason or another, or if the men are sick, the captain can go out and buy what is necessary and thus often save the men much suffering. During the war with Spain the volunteer commis- stoned officers were blamed for the condition of their troops and wrong fully. They did not have the funds to purchase what the men needed, while the regular captains had the company funds to buy food with. I tell you the abolishment of the canteen is a blow 10 the army in other ways than injuring the cause of temperance.
 What do you think of the climate of China?"
 "Abominable!" calculated Captain Benham. T tell you, if the Lord had intended that white men should live In those climates, He would have ere ated them with skulls like the negroes so that they could endure 1t. The heat is ntense and the humidity almost un- bearable. took cold the day stepped foot in this country and have not got my voice back yet.
 Fancy spending three years in Turkish bath and then stepping out on the street on day like this, and you will know how we feel when we return from those climates A white man, if he is perfectly healthy, can endure it for a little while, but if he has any taint in his blood or has sustained any Injury he will succurnb very soon. For exam pie, we had a surgeon who, as boy, injured his knee, but had not felt any bad effects from it for years and years. The germ of a fatal disease was there, however, and in the moist climate of the Philippines it developed and the bone became diseased. His leg was ann putated and he finally died from the trouble. Any hereditary disease will develop, for the climate is like an incu- oator to latent germs.
 You sec the natives are used to the ,nodc yvil1 mt trprlf in, r,oJIJIa of the day, while our boys have to peg dong, no matter what the time of day or the temperature. They say that you must not eat this or that; that you must boil all the water you drink and Ill that. We'll that is all very well. You boil the water in your canteen and 'tart out, but in short time it Is ex- lausted and you simply must have nore, and you fill your canteen at the irst stream or in the muddy water in he rice paddys. You must have water IT you will die.
 "A rice paddy? We'll, it is rice ield They inundate the field and plant | he rice in water. After it has grown | few inches they transplant it and | hen they flood the fields again. You an fancy what the marching is. 1 trough such mud, when I say that yhen they blow the mud is up to the tomach of the caribou with which hey blow. The hemp is another thing ,hich the American soldier has to cope 1ith. It grows from eight to twenty eet high and like banana, with the ruit at the top. The heat n the hemp ancy, and fighting in them we'll nigh eds is something intense, as you can to any but a Filipino. I re- lember one fight when the Filipinos ere on bluff above us firing down n us in the hemp. There was not a it of air and I thought that I should lffcoate. I had to go to a nearby tream and bathe my head in the mid le of the fight in order to keep up and my men. It was awful
 Then, too the food is had, At one me, I remember, we had not had beef ut once in five weeks After living on ce and bacon and canned stuff we be- lme so ravenous for something that lsted that when a steamer came with ome onions aboard officers and mon ,ok the onions and ate them down as 1ey would apples. l never thought lat I could take a great big strong nion, peel off the jacket and enjoy it 5 if it was the finest of apples, but I i'd.