Arizona republican., 1902-09-30
Funston on the csnt.sn.

Funston on the Canteen. General Funston, in his annual re- port as commander of the department of the Colorado. states in forcible Ian
 guage his views of the 'anti-canteen law and its results. After pointing
 out that the percentage of trials by court martial of enlisted men has nearly doubled during the past year,
 and explaining that to some extent the
 infractions of discipline are on account
 of resentment of unaccustomed limi-
 tations and restrictions felt by men returning from field service to the monotony and routine work of garrison life" he fiends that the unsatisfactory conditions are largely due to the 'abo- lition of the canteen feature of the post exchange" He adds:
 "Since this action was taken. saloons of the lowest type have been established just outside the boundaries of the vari- ous reservations their proprietors, in almost every case. unprincipled scoun- drels who leave nothing undone to de- bauch the soldiers and obtain their money. Being in all cases outside the limits of any city, the proprietors of these resorts are subject to no munich pal police regulations and sell liquor regardless of hours and whether the buyers are already intoxicated or not Gambling is universal in these dives. ? and they are frequented by absolute women.
 "The soldier whose desire for a drink would ordinarily be satisfied by a few l glasses of beer in the canteen of the post exchange, goes to one of these | resorts and does well if e escapes be- fore he has spent or gambled away all his money, overstayed his leave or en- gagged in an altercation
 "As a rule. the local authorities re- gard the existence of these places with ! indifference or approval, as it causes | the soldier to spend his money in the community. The efficiency of the army
 or the ruin of a good soldier is nothing
 to them. There can be no reasonable doubt that most of the trials by general courts martial and summary courts, at ! least so far as this department is con- cerned, are directly traceable to this cause
 "Since I have had command here
 there has taken place the ruin and deg
 radiation Of several non commissioned
 officers of long service and fine record.
 Tn short the recent legislation by con
 gress on this question, so far as this
 department is concerned, has had no 1 effect except to lower the discipline Of
 the army, ruin scores of good soldiers | nd of t14
 keepers and gamblers"
 | In expressing these views General
 Funston voices the sentiments of prac- tically every officer in the army, and of
 every citizen capable of taking dis
 passionate attitude toward the problem
 of promoting true temperance and con-
 serving the interests of our soldiers. l The army canteen was a post club.
 No hard" liquors were sold. beers and light wines being the only beverages of
 an intoxicating nature. There was d
 low percentage of drunkenness and the
 men were contented and well behaved.
 But visionary people insisted upon a change. They bombarded congress
 with arguments against the "iniquity''
 of federal participation in the "horrible
 saloon evil" In vain a few courageous | congressman set forth the facts-that {
 to abolish the canteen would drive the
 enlisted men to the lowest doggeries. places located just outside the military grounds. The attitude of the intem-
 perate temperance" people was infiex- | ible. It was illustrated by a meeting
 at Scottsdale, in this county. Chaplain Scott. 2 man of long experience in the army, and withal lifelong record in the temperance cause, explained that
 the very conditions which have been
 so graphically described by General Funston would result from the abolition of the canteen. A lady representative
 of the element which shortly thereafter
 intimidated congress into passing the
 anti-canteen bill. replied to the Chap
 lain to the effect that she and her asso-
 ciates were not concerned as to the consequences-theyw were contending for a principle" The impractical enthu-
 siast on any question always considers that a knock down argument is ad- vanced by the statement that a great moral principle" is contended for. The | logic of her remarks was, as suggested in the editorial columns of The Repub- l lican at the time, that she stood on the proposition advanced by Cain, that he