The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-15
THE ARMY CANTEEN.
Deductions from Reports of Surgeon
General and Inspector General.

General and Inspector General.
To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
All the readers of the Journal appreciate
it's impartiality in the discussion of the
canteen. 1t is an open question, yet not
enough facts having been developed to set
tie it. AS fact, however, 1t is plain that,
though many of the most eminent officers
Of the army are in favor of banishing in
toxicating liquors from the army posts
and believe that the short experiment has
greatly improved the morals Of the army,
the majority of the officers are in favor
of repeating the anti-canteen law and Of
restoring the status that has long OBJ
tanned, and of providing intoxicants
for the enlisted men within the post, diff
fering from the custom which has pre-
vailed from the beginning until 1862 when
the temperance sentiment of the period
demanded that a ration of whisky should
not be dealt out daily to the soldiers; too
many of them were fresh from religious
and temperance families. BY the canteen
errangement the soldier paid for his
drains as he took them, or on pay day,
with other sutler goods he had had oc-
casion to use. 1t must be said, however,
in favor of these officers, that they are
using due diligence to gather statistics to
prove their contention that the good OF
the service will be promoted by returning
to the canteen system of providing within
the post for those who will drink, rather
than lease them to the mercies of the low
saloons, which are found In the vicinity
of the camps. In pursuance of this pur-
pose, Colonel Sanger the inspector general
of the Philippine division of the army,
was instructed TO report on the effects
that had resulted from the abolishing OF
the canteen. His report has been printed
and is now in the hands of those who
wish to study the facts as he presents
them.
After few Introductory sentences. show
ing how lonesome soldier becomes in
camp when almost idle, he apologies for
their resorting to dram-drinking as re-
lief, and then tells how much better the
the canteen than the vile articles that are
dealt out to the soldiers at the saloons.
These are productive of many evils: He
begins with the impulse to desert" and
shows that during the first year of the
anti-canteen "a small fraction over i per
cent" of the army deserted from the Phil
the fraction is, but probably less than one
tenth of per cent. But the report of the
advocate general of the army for the same
period says the assertions In the whole
ing that. after all, the vile vino which the
Philippine soldiers drank was no worse
than the LIQUOR the soldiers In America
drank Another item of his report is de-
pended upon to show the bad results of
the anti-canteen law. He shows that dur
ing the year 10 per cent. Of the army In his
the report of the surgeon general shows
that in the same division. in the last year
of the canteen. the admissions to hospital
were "a per cent; and that the admissions
for the whole army that last year Of the
canteen were % per cent
For reasons not necessary to this dis
cusSion, enlisted men are liable to become
too insane for service in the army, and
those were sent home. Colonel Sanger, In
his report, gives the number OF insane sent
home from the Philippine division the first
rirndo fhn nfi tee {
but the surgeon generals report shows that
ISL of these We're of the last six months
of the canteen regime. and only l2o for the the
anti-canteen law.
One form of disease. in the army as well
as at home. is known as alcoholism ;..is,n,
the first year of the anti-canteen law
eighteen one-hundredths of the army af
fiicted with ii, while for the whole army
that same first year the surgeon generals
report shows 1t was twenty-six one-hun-
dredths per cent, showing that, after all.
that miserable vino of the Philippines is not
quite as bad as the first-class beer and
whisky the soldiers at home can get at
the saloons just outside the camp. But the
surgeon general. as II bent showing
how detrimental the canteen is TO the army,
reports that the mean average of alcohol
ism in the army for the ten last years of
the canteen was thirty-two one-hundredths
per cent of the entire army.
Colonel Sanger, In his quest of figures
to show how detrimental to the army the
anti-canteen law has been, instituted an
investigation that did not come within the
scope of the surgeon generals duties. but
perfectly legitimate TO the purpose OF his
inquiry He took the regiments In detail
and instituted thorough investigation to
ascertain how many Of the soldiers drank
intoxicantS to excess. The result was a
surprise TO him. IL must be TO everyone.
True, the answer is indefinite and unsatis-
factory for want of a definite standard as
to what constitutes excess" the stand
ard varying all the way from the
least departure from total abstinence
10 that degree of drunkenness that
lands the victim In the gutter In
this case IL is fair to assume that, with
one who Is pleading for the canteen
good intoxicants may be within easy reach
of the soldiers. excess" must mean at
least such a degree OF intoxication as to
Temporarily disable the soldier. The re-
suit OF this investigation was the discov-
cry that the degree OF drunkenness I'm the
army varied in different regiments, from
10 per cent. in some TO 30 per cent. of the
men In other regiments. These figures are
paraded in the report as showing the dam
age TO the army that has resulted Srom
banishing the canteen. AS no such inquiry
had ever been instituted before there Is
no way of comparing these figures with the
figures of the canteen period. but in the
light of the facts developed by official re-
ports on the other items. showing falling
of In every one of them under the anti
canteen law. IL will be difficult TO make
! people believe that this humiliating and
alarming condition Is In the least degree