The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-15
THE CANTEEN PROBLEM.

/ Ever since secretary ttOOL III MS ali'
| nual report recommended the re-estab-
| lishment of the canteen system at army
posts prohibitionists have been trying
to pick flaws in his arguments. AS
| yet, however, the figures which the Sec
rotary says are at the disposal of Con-
| gress have not been published. We dc
not question, however, that when they
are published they will prove exactly
what the secretary claims and what
the great majority of the army officers
predicted would be the result Of this
| ill-advised interference on the part of
prohibitionists. In recent New York
| paper g. correspondent, in defending the
present conditions, asks why it is that
the army cannot be controlled in the
same way that the employees of some
of the great railroads systems are.
He quotes from the rule in force on
| the Pennsylvania road, which is: mo
person addicted to the use of intoxicat-
ing drinks shall be employed or con-
tinued In the service of this company"
He also gives the rule governing New
York Central employees, which is: THE
use of intoxicants by employees while
on duty Is prohibited: their habitual
use or the frequenting of places where
they are sold is as efficient cause for
dismissal" There is great differ
ence between an enlisted soldier, even
in Uncle Sans army, and an employee
of a great railroad. Soldiers are en-
listed for term, and if they were dis
charged for using intoxicating liquors
that would be very easy way for
men to get out of. the service when
tired of it, and before they had served
their full enlistment term.
Unquestionably there has been no
factor for temperance in recent years
that has been more potent that these
rules by railroads and by other firms
and corporations where men are en-
! ployed in positions of trust The. fear
of losing their place is strong deter
rent, but the same could hardly be the
case with the army. The wages are so
small there that military service offers
very little attraction, especially in a
time of peace, to an American, and the
men cannot, therefore, be discharged
with as little concern as a railroad
company would have over the dis
charge of any number of its employees
for using liquor. There is, therefore,
the widest possible difference between
a soldier in the army and a railroad
employee. AS at least 70 per cent. of the
men who enlist in the United States
army use vinous, malt or spirituous
do 70 Of icfr o11t
cannot be expected that even army dis
cipline can prevent large number of
these men from using liquor in some
form or other after enlistment. 1t is,
therefore, better that they should be
allowed to purchase beer and the other
of the less harmful alcoholic beverages
under the careful supervision of their
officers rather than that they should be
Obliged to depend on the low dives
which are always to be found in the
vicinity of army posts where there are
no canteens.
A census was taken of 342 companies
Of our army in the Philippines. Of
these, In sixty companies every man
used liquor in some form or other at
the time of his enlistment. In 1870 COM
panies this was true of 80 per cent. or
over of the men. That is, in over half
of these 342 companies 80 per cent. or
over of the enlisted men used liquor d.
the time of their enlistment. In IS
companies between 80 and 80 per cent.
of ting men used liquor, and in rs COM
panies between 70 and 80 per cent. In
only 6S companies were the figures less
than 70 per cent. The argument that
the men are taught to drink in the
army by the canteen system must
therefore, carry but little weight. The
great problem is not so much to pre-
vent enlisted men from learning to
drink as it is to prevent them from
drinking to excess, to such an extent,
in fact, that drunkenness and crime are
increased in our army. This, according
to Secretary Root. has been the result
of doing away with the army canteen.
it has been step directly against an
increase Of temperance and morality in
our army, step that Congress should
at once retract, by permitting the es
Establishment of canteens at the army
posts under the old rules. Boston Her
aid.