The National tribune., 1902-07-17
NATIONAL WASHINGTON c. THURSDAY JULY H.

man. There is no punishment prescribed
| for drunkenness in itself. IL soldier o:
officer is drunk on duty" then he is liable
| to court-martial. or if while off duty he
becomes drunk and msbehaves himself. he
| is punished. but the punishment is for the
bad conduct. and not for the fact of having
| been drinking.
With small Regular army in a coun-
try of the size of the United States it is
| entirely feasible to stop drinking. If all
officers found guilty of violating regula-
tions which might be adopted against
drinking were dismissed from the service,
it would not take long to make the army a
total-abstinence institution, so far as the
officers are concerned, and that is the
most important part, since soldiers who
see their officers under the influence of
liquor are not likely to be much impressed
with temperance sermons. AS for the
men, the same penalty would not be prac-
ticable, for if it were every man wishing
to get out of the service would simply get
drunk in order to be discharged, provided
he were willing to get n "bob-tail.' as
dishonorable discharge is called. That
large number would be willing to. do this is
shown by the fact that the number of de-
sertions seldom falls below 10 per cent,
and often runs much higher, per annum.
Figuring mans enlistment at three
years, this would mean 80 per cent. or
nearly n third of the enlisted strength of
the army.
Care in recruiting is the essential thing
in keeping up the standard of the army.
OF late years there has been much i'm
provement in this respect. chronic drunks
not being enlisted, but the necessity for
having men quickly for service in the
Philippines led to a relaxing of the stand
ard, with the result that the army sent to
the Philippines to take the place of the
Volunteers was below the standard in this
respect maintained by the Regular Army
for several years preceding the Spanish
war. Dismissal of officers for drinking,
care in recruiting men and punish
ment Of men for drinking, regard
less of their conduct while under the
influence of liquor, would make a canteen
unnecessary, but until such an attitude as
that has been assumed in the army the
canteen is the best institution yet invested
as a mitigation of the evils of intemper-
ance.
The canteen question is generally in
yolved in its discussion with the social
evil and the saloons, and some of the alb
surd stories that have been sent home
from Manila with regard to these things
have served to prejudice the minds of
those who do not understand the subject
and to make them think the canteen is an
outgrowth or an associate of these things.
instead of being in its effects antagOnistic
to them.
have said that when the army entered
Manila there were some 400 licensed
drinking places, but most Of them We're
simply little places where cigars, fruit etc.
were sold through a window in the side of
building, and where anisado, beer in
bottles, soda water, etc, We're kept. There
were but few regular drinking places
where one could go and sit down at
table on the plan of the American saloon
or could stand up to bar. There We're
quite number Of cafes, patronzed almost
exclusively by the Spaniards, where they
could eat and also sit in the evening and
drink wine. Occasionally there was a
little noise from such places, made by the
drinkers singing and laughing but never
knew them to become disorderly or to be-
come intoxicated to the point of offensive
drunkenness.
AS for the Filipinos drunkenness was
not one of their vices. i never saw but
one Filipino under the influence of liquor,
and he was repudiated with Indignation
and his conduct apologized for. This was
at "baile" or dance given by some Off
GERS and attended by the Mestizo class Of
natives of the social set. Quite number
Of the Americans felt the influence of the
wine and other drinks provided with prodi-
gal liberality, but only one Filipino, man
who spoke English and therefore came
more in contact with the Americans and
accepted their invitations to drink more