The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-11
THE ARMY CANTEEN.
What II Means to the Enlisted Man
and 10 the service.
Gen. George A. Forsyth in The Story of the
Soldier \


| Gen George L. Forsyth in The Story Of the
| Solder.'1
The post canteen of today, which seems
| to have so much excited the ire of some Of
The most uncompr0mising of the advocates
| OF teetotalism, is an Outgrowth of the
| experience of the English army in India
| All men need an outlet in the way of COM
| radeship and society, and If they cannot
| get it in good and legitimate way, they
| will seek 1t in bad and Legitimate di-
rection. Some place must be had for social
| intercourse, and some enjoyment must bo
| obtainable in the way of a slight stimu-
| liant to good fellowship. This the post
! canteen affords the enlisted man, and it
| is so regulated and looked after that 1t
! offers the maximum of simple and legiti-
| mate enjoyment at the minimum OF cost,
and is entirely debarred from everything
| that in any way tends to degrade or lower
| the status of e good respectable man. 1t
| is, in fact, the enlisted mans club, and
| out Of it he gets, in the opinion Of the
writer, nothing but good. The principle
| upon which it is established is very simple,
and is this:
An officer of the post where one is to
| be established is detailed to take charge
| OF it beside and in addition to his other
| duties \ vacant building at the post as
suitable as may be that happens to be
unoccupied at the time and can be spared
is turned over to him for this purpose. The
post commander authorizes him, under
Article XXXTX of Army Regulations in
regard to post exchanges, to sell beer and
light wines to the enlisted men to the
exclusion of any outsiders now that post
traders or suffers are no longer recog-
niZed by law. He has the building put in
order. at no cost to the Government. by
the enlisted men, purchases entirely on
cI'adit from the leading brewers all the
beer he requires. procures in the same way
beer glasses always the largest to be
found in the markell and hires barteS
der, who is always a civilian, and opens
the caflteen. The men are each given
credit $50 many tickets at cents each)
to the amount of 81 a week-no more
during the month. At the first monthly
payment thereafter this amount is col
lected from the men at the pay table. This
Is the beginning.
In six or eight months the canteen pos
sesses what is practically a good store,
well stocked with the kind Of goods that
the men may desire to buy-a billiard
table a restaurant and any other thing
that the men may desire such as check
erboards dominoes. chess and card tables
(the men are not allowed to play for
money or stakes of any sorD. They are
now the possessors of neat, roomy, and
pleasant place where they can get a good
good tobacco, all kinds of mineral waters,
soda water. and good and substantial
lunches at about half the price ordinarily
charged at saloons and eating houses. In
order to test this the writer recently in
spected, by permission of the post COM
mander the post canteen at Fort Myer,
Virginia Four troops of the Third United
States Cavalry garrison the post. Within
a year the post canteen was started with
out a dollar of capital in just the man
ner above described 1t now consists or
an officers room a large room for the
enlisted men, 4 large half-enclCsed veran-
da, perfectly appointed bar. large res
taurant where one can obtain anything
furnished by any ordinary restaurant. a
well-stocked store well paironiZed by
both officers as well as the enlisted men,
and is in independent circumstances, hav-
ing paid its way from the start. In May
its sales we're from beer, 81, 226.O5; from
the restaurant Sl,1S5.60 from the store,
SS12.y6. making a total OF S3,224.6l. 1t en-
ploys seven civilians, whose pay roll
amounts to s26657 monthly The net
profit for the month of May, which is di-
vided between the post fund and the COM
pany fund of the four troops Of cavalry,
was S645.S9 How much wine do you
SELF" was asked Of the head clerk. who
By the bye holds certificate OF the civil
service examining board. Practically /
none, was the reply; "a little light vine
to the officers for an extra occasion, when
they are entertaining guests" do you
have any drunken men at the post?" 4 /
have only seen one man under the in
fluence of liquor in the last three months"
As the writer passed through the rooms, I
out of say ten or more men who were /
quietly sitting and chatting at the tables. I
three were drinking beer and the others /
were being served from the restaurant. /.
The fact is that the post canteen is the !
old-time suffer- store shorn of all its bad
features. with the profits going to better
the condition of the enlisted man by Civ
ing him certain luxuries at his table and I
helping pay for good reading matter in
the company library, instead of going TO
swell the private fortune of perhaps some
INSCRIPTIONS post trader whose only in /
terest was to sell poor whisky and in
ferior goods at high prices. The writer
does not wish to convey the idea that all /
post traders and suffers of old were bad F.
men.In fact. some OF them were very /
fine. men and most honorable traders; but /
others were not
Just here the writer proposes to digress /
for few moments to say kindly word !
of warning to the advocates Of temper /
ance, or rather teetotalism who are once .
again. with the best intentions in the /
world seeking, unconsciOusly to them /
selves. a second time to infiict a great in |
Jury upon the enlisted men OF the army, |
especially those upon the frontier, and 10
again demoralize it more than ANYONE .
but an officer of practical experience can |
tell them.
During the Administration OF President |
Hayes. owing to the persistent efforts of |
the teatCtal party. an order was issued by |
the War Department forbidding the sale
Of alcoholic liquors Al the suffers or trad
er's store at all army posts. 1t was
promptly complied with, as a matter of
course and the post trader had 10, and in
all instances did, confne himself to the
sale of malt licIors. Now, as a general
thing for the last twenty years beer has
been what the average private in the
army preferred to drink when he could get
it. and IL is by all odds his favorite drink
today as il is that Of the privates in the
English. Prussian. Austrian. and Bavarian
armies. Therefore. the order mentioned
was thought by many of the army officers
to be good one. and met their hearty
approval for The first few months after it
went into operation but long before the
first year had passed they had to meet
new condition of things arising out of the
enforcement of the said order that put
few unlooked-for grey hairs in the head
OF more than one conscien tious frontier
post commander.
Now. as | have heretofore written. the
enlisted man OF the United States Army is,
as q class the most thoroughly law-abid-
ing of all the men of any profession in the
whole country and there is little trouble
in enforcing any lawful military order is
sued by the War Department Sun he is
anything bat a fool and in this case ninety
per cent Of the men promptly set this