The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-01
CRIME AND D"EBAUCHERY
THEY HAVE FOLLOWED THE CLOS
ING OF THE POST CANTEENS.
Expert Opinion Based on Experience
at the Preside Before and After
the Order Was Promulgated.

San Francisco Chronicle.
1t is now about four months since the
order from the secretary of war providing
for the abolition of the sale OF beer in all
garrisons was put into operation at the
Presidio. in this city. Four months is
rather a short time TO get a perfect judg-
ment on the working of any human in
stitution, but 1t is enough to obtain test
cases and to form a pretty fair judg-
ment of the probable results of the pres
ent condition of affairs If no change is made
in the law.
The pestilent colony OF saloons and dives
that have clustered around the Preside
gate ever since the volunteer regiments,
which have no regular canteens, began to
crowd the reservation commenced to spring
up and grow like mushrooms come six
months ago, when 1t first became appar-
ent that the canteen was doomed. The
proprietors were getting ready for business.
from the very day when the canteen closed
It's doors they did a thriving and unprece-
tented trade. Disorder increased. rob-
berry and "skin-game'' operations became
common, owing to the sharpers and crooks
VINO infested the dives to prey upon the in
toxlcated innocents of the rank and file.
Heglmental pay days, always the cause of
some disturbance. became the terror of the
police and the surrounding region. A SER
seant testified before the Police Commits
sion at Che time when a faint attempt was
MADE TO regulate these places that il was
as much as a policeman's life was worth
y try 10 enter during one of these periodi-
cal debauches.
That this staement of affairs is not ex-
asserdteo was proved by the riot which
NdS IDG OllIn1narlnn ~ N h4r
the night OF May 81 last. On that evening
seven or eight hundred soldiers swept
Gown on a saloon kept by a woman, whose
place is as respectable as Preside saloons
ever get, cleaned out the building i'm Carrie
Nation style, forced the proprietress to run
LOT her life, tried to beat TO death one of
b S e1hraaes who attempted to defend
her, ana would have killed both the man
ana the woman but for the bravery and
Goolhess or Sergeant of Police Ellis and
ra.roilnen Hogan and Jackson. who held
mem at bay with their revolvers until a
Hre company and a force of soldiers could
suDdue them with water and bayonets.
Inc cause OF this affair has been laid
10 d runlor that two men had been drugged
and robbed in the saloon in question. That
was not the true cause. The truth of the
matter is that the whole mob was wild,
OIL the Preside saloons. 1t was the end
Oh a debauch on such liquor as makes
men mao: On the night of the riot ana
diter peace had been restored by force, the
places along the line were filled with
! drunken men, some of them unconscious
on the benches and floor and the rest
ready Tor more mischief at the slightest
provocation. From one of the last cars
that came from the city that night the
writer helped carry out six men, four of
them regulars, who were limp with in
toxication as though they were dead.
Now 1t is true that the riot in question
was mainly a matter Of volunteers, who
nave never had canteens of their own at
tine Preside and who have always fire.
quented the resorts at the gates. But it
Is also true that the increased activity of
the saloons which brought about this dis
graceful affair is caused by an increased
trace brought about by the abolition of the
canteen.
WHAT THE CANTEEN is.
For the sake of the uniformed it is
we'll to state that the canteen was the
beer and wine privilege added to the post
exchange. the general store where the SOL
diers buy their supplies. BY regulation
only beer and light wines could be sold.
BY practice wine was dispensed with, as
Americans do not take TO wine as a bar
beverage. Regulation and custom alike
provide against intoxication. The profits
were divided share and share alike among
the regiments at the post and were added
to the mess fund, buying the delicacies
that could not be had on the army ra-
ton. The profits of the post exchange are
distributed in the same way, but as the
margin on beer is enormous, this item
was a great source of comfort TO the en-
listed men. AT the Preside the sum
never fell below 500 a month for each
| company, and more often came as high as
$fO "A month.
II is for the regulars who have lived un-
Ger the canteen system and not for the
volunteers who had it's benefits or harms
only indirectly that the testimony should
come regarding the effects OF those four
dry months. To get a line upon their opin-
ions. the Sunday Chronicle asked the views
of respectable and reliable men In all ranks
OF the Preside garrison. Here are the re-
suits. They all point in one direction:
Oliver G. Miller. chaplain of the post at
the Preside. is the man Of all men who is
most fitted to judge Of the results of the
| change on the morals Of the rank and file.
He has followed the army as a voluntary
chaplain at first, in the Cuban and Phil
ppine wars, and has lived in the garrison
az the Preside. He entered upon his work
with the soldiers believing that IL was a
terrible thing for the government TO sell
liquor TO the soldiers. Two years with the
army caused him TO change his opinion
so thoroughly that he appeared before the
congressional committee on the army bill
TO oppose the ending of the canteen system.
He says:
failed 10 come about. II is one OF the worst
mistakes ever made by the government in
relation TO the army. personally l do not
drinking. But soldiers are men, and II is
hard 10 change human nature. They are
American citizens, as well as soldiers, and
they claim the right TO drink If they wish
Under the old conditions. when a man
wanted a drink he went TO the c%anteen.
drank two or three glasses of beer and
drunk he was stopped. Now he goes to
some low dive on the outskirts OF the res
drunk. takes two 81 three glasses OF poison
Gus whiSkr a1i sets nike. This is not
theory. Il le teC know ..Nar4l men who
have e, llate6 SOLELY because frt1 aoi the
| drink : n.Lf . "hI".. ..r# .4L. wFNr"NNL