The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-25
OTIS ON CANTEENS
THE GENERAL. THINKS ABOLITION
LAW HAS EXERCISED NO
GOOD EFFECTS
INCREASE OF INTEMPERANCE
DesertiOns Have Increased and Dis
cipIine Has Suffered Notice.
able ReIaxatiOn-Vievvs
of the Men.

"It is undoubtedly true that the aboli-
ton of the canteen has resulted in more
intemperance, more desertions and a. low
er standard of discipline. Most of the
officers and all of the men would be glad
to see the law abolishing the institution
repealed"
Maj. Gen. Elwell S. Otis, commanding
the departments of the lakes and of the
Dallotas, summed up his views on the
canteen controversy in the above words,
to The G o be yesterday afternoon.
'It is idle to speculate on the action con-
gress will take in the NATTER continued
the general, "for none of us knows any
thing about it, but from my own expert
ence I am of opinion that the service
has not been improved by anti-canteen
legislation Years ago, when it was first
proposed to supersede the trading posts
with canteens, 1 was opposed I'd the
step, and again, after the canteen had
been in force for some years, 1 was
asked for an opinion regarding it's
abolition. I had no hesitation whatever
in supporting the post canteens, and re-
ported that in my opinion experience had
demonstrated it's superiority over amy
previous expedient.
''In this connection a story always
comes to my mind whenever the merits
and dement's of the canteen are being
discussed. An Irish soldier at Western
post was scrutinizing the posted list of
delicaces purchased with the profits ac-
cruing from the canteen, delicacies which
went to the men free of charge. Sure, -
said he, this is great scheme. FIRST
you drinks your money up, and then
you eats it,
SQuander Their Pay.
Under the present regulations the men
do all their drinking away from the
O-4c craf bo6 lir,11O 1Ix1 oE
course. never derive any advantage from
the money they spend. The consequence
is that they often get much more than
they can comfortably carry, their pay is
squandered and their discipline is nor
nearly so good as when there were can
teens at all the posts. We have also, as
I said before, more cases of desertion to
Geal with, but this may be partly due to
the fact that great many recruits have
enlisted in recent months, and many of
these soon tire of army life.
con my last Western trip through the
posts in this department, few months
ago, there was one amusing incident
which particularly impressed itself on
my memory. A deputation of church
members called at the post while I was
there, with the avowed object of gather
ing information showing that the aboli-
ton of the canteen had been followed by
courtesy and allowed access to the rec
ords. After spending some time in going
over these, they were evidently divided
as to the results indicated, and when
they left were engaged in a heated dis
cussion among themselves We have
heard no more from that church commit
tee about the benefits of the anti-can-
teen law"
Personally Gen. Otis is in favor of Civ
ing the men as few opportunities for
drinking as possible, but to keep them
away from liquor entirely he recognizes
is impossible. He thinks, however, that
the canteen system is the best that has
yet been tried.
Prospect for Light Battery.
Asst to the prospect of light battery
of artillery being stationed at Fort Smell
ing, the central was non-committal. He
thought the secretary of war would take
the matter up shortly, and the prospects
for such a battery being sent here were
fair, and in view of it's extremely fa-
vorable location he was inclined to think
that the department might be disposed
to act favorably in the matter, railroad
facilities here being equal to those pos
sessed by any post in the country.