The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-06-22
CITY NEWS.
ARMY men APPROVE
Fort Smelling officers Heartily In
dorse Governments Attitude To-
ward Nearby Saloons.
Drunken Revels Demoralize Troops
and Embarrass Ladies
of the Post.

Officers at Fort Smelling are deeply
gratified over the announcement in T
Journals Washington dispatches OF
Saturday to the effect that the war de- |
partment would insist upon better regu-
lation by st. Paul authorities of the sa-
looms near the military reservation.
People going to and from the post must
run the gauntlet of two roadhouses-the
Allemania and the Fort Smelling hotel
which are situated on either side Of the
street at the end of the car line. Each Is
a saloon, restaurant and lodging house
and EACH particularly on summer evenings
and Sundays is the resort Of large
crowds of vicious and foul mouthed char
| acters Of both sexes. Civilians drive out
from the city to enjoy the easy going hos
| ptality of the places and the resorts are
a perpetual temptation to the private SOL
dier to spend his pay in reckless disregard
Of positive guardhouse penalties.
In addition to these features, beer pic
MICS are held almost every Sunday in the
woods near the saloons and as the men
who get their clothes from Uncle Samuel
are, thereby conspicuous, they are parti-
cularly subject to the temptations which
accompany debauch of this sort. It Is
these demoraliz ing conditions on whose
removal the war department is disposed to
insist In consideration of the permanent
improvement of the post. 60
Embarrassing for Visitors.
Aside from the general demoralizing eff
feet upon the enlisted men, there is the
more restricted but more annoying feature
affecting wives Of officers or their guests.
They must alight from the car or await
conveyance to st. Paul subject to rtbald
| comment or In the hearing Of the vulgar
conversation Of the habitues of the re-
sorts.
~'The situation across the bridge is most
certainly disgrace" said captain of the
Twenty first infantry yesterday. why st.
Paul allows those saloons to be there do
not know, but I do know that they make
1t almost impossible for any respectable
woman to go back and forth to St. Paul on
Sunday or In the evening. They attract
the toughest Of the rough element, both
male and female, and they should GER
tainly be moved or muZZled.
"As far as the soldiers of this command
are concerned we have comparatively lit
tie trouble. OF course occasionally some
Of them gets mixed up over there and
the nearness Of such places Is demoraliz-
ing, but it Is the outsiders who make the
place so disreputable and so unpleasant
for us. We would be very glad to see
them moved
1.-The men are apt to stop at these places
on their way home at night. are late for
taps and then they are In for 1t. That is
the principal trouble they create among
the men. OF course they attract the most
undesirable class Of women and the SOL
diers in associating with them are led to
sometimes forget their duty and our dis
cipline cannot overlook that.
ION the reservation we can in meas
ure counteract the direct effect of the sa-
loon and tough element. Once this year
one of the men was seen with his arm
around girl walking down one Of the
post streets. He was arrested, tried and
given stiff guardhouse sentence as well
as a fine. Since then we have had no
trouble The tough civilian element both
ers us very little over here because we
/ won't allow 1t. If any. man Is seen act
ing unbecomingly he Is notified by a SEN
tinel that If he continues he will be elected
from the reservation"
/ Argument for the Canteen.
incidentally the captain pointed to pres
4 emit conditions as an overwhelming argu
4 ment in favor Of the canteen. H.
i why the exchange Is under perfec
i control" he said. There Is no drunken
ness, no rowdyism there. The men hav'
i their beer that they are bound to &c
somewhere, and when they have enough
I they stop voluntarily or are made to. TIL
ladies Of the w. c.. T. U. work hand II
l hand with the saloonkeepers to abolisl
the canteen, and now they can see. If the,
|look-just what their co-workers saw al
4 the time-that their work has led to tn
growth Of places just like these at tn
Il Fort Smelling BRIDGE.
Yesterday afternoon was busy tim
at the St. Paul end Of the bridge Bot
resorts were doing a rushing business i
4 drinks of all kinds, and soldiers and CT
1 villains were lined up three deep agains
l the bar in each place. In the restaurant
l and on the latticed porches men and WON
en- were eating and drinking together, an
1 as tho afternoon waned, drunken female
4 contributed materially to the nveliness
the scene and to the confusion of sound!
4 The entire atmosphere Of the district wa
distinctly berry. Roadside peddlers {
peanuts, popcorn and various digestio
wreokers fried in reeking grease, erie
their wares, and anybody who wanted
i fight could find 1t without moving frol
his tracks. 1t was rare opportunity #
Carrie Nation, but hardly the sort Of
spectacle to be encountered by lady WI
was not reformer.
Conditions at MInnehaha.
While conditions at the bridge hay
been growing worse, there has been SON
Improvement In the situation at Mime
haha. There has been very little Of ''bliE
pigs" there this summer. and the Officer
at the fort say that they have heard r
complaints from that direction and ha,
noticed nothing whatever out Of the wa
i LIQUID refreshments are said to have bee
N furnished formerly at the old Minnehal
- Hermitage but If it is done now it
kept unusually quiet, and nothing strong
~ than malt extracts" sold at the pavilion
~ is known to be dispensed. There is, hoy
80 ever, a dance hall about a block or tv
ne toward st. Paul from the fort, where son
in rowdy affairs have taken place. At tn
he place some time last month 'love
nd party is said to have ended in fire.
ga for-all fight. A young woman is said
-, have been the principal sufferer, and
rs. have emerged from the melee with
en- indented physiognomy. Since then mo
care has been exercised in the selecti
of guests, with the result that the dane