Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-09
A Potent Means Of Dimin-
ishing Drinking.
RUN BY THE SOLDIERS
LIQUOR TRAFFIC REGULATED BY
THE MEN. ri
Experiences Of Col. De Barthe, Secre-
tary of Military Affairs in the
viceroy's Cabinet.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,

Viceroy's Cabinet.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,
Special Corresls ndence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
LUCKNOW, March TO- 1904.
After fifty years of experience in India
the British military authorities gave up the
attempt to prohibit drinking in the army
AS Lord Kitchener says: You might as
well try to hasten the millennium and for
twenty years they have been using various
measures, some of which have proven prac-
tical and others Impractical, to promote
temperance.
The result is an almost unanimous conciu-
sion upon the part of those who have given
the subject study that the most effective
m cans of preventing intemperance and pro-
noting discipline and morals are the SOL
diers' institutes and clubs at which liquor is
sold in small quantities under strict regula-
tons enforced by the enlisted men them
selves. In other words, they have stopped
trying to prohibit drinking because they
found it was impossible. and are now trying
to reduce it to the minimum The placing of
the regulation of the liquor traffic very
largely with the men themselves and re-
moving the semblance of official interfer-
ence of authority is said to be one of the
most effective arrangements, and the very
1t that drinking is not forbidden and that
liquor can. be obtained at any moment
within few steps of the barracks Is of
itself most wholesome influence, because
II takes away the Aesire and all the spirit
of adventure and risk. AS long as human
nature is stubborn and contrary men will
do out of pure mischief what they are told
must not be done.
These matters l. We a deep interest for
the viceroy, Lord Kitchener the commander
in-chief, and other prominent officials of
the army in India. Lord Kitchener takes
an active part in the temperance work
and in the administration of the soldiers
Institutes, and has had an officer detailed to
look after their arrangement and manage
ment. Not long ago the viceroy came up
here from Calcutta to deliver an address at
an anniversary of the Army Temperance
Associa ton.
Lives of the Soldiers Trying.
Colonel De Barthe, secretary of military
affairs in the cabinet of the viceroy, to
whom 1 was sent for information on this
subject, said: THE lives of the British SOL
diers in India very tedious and trying,
especially during the hot summers, which,
in the greater part of the empire, last for
several months. The climate is enervating,
and is apt to reduce moral well as phys
ical vitality, There are few diversions. The
native quarters of the large cities are
dreadful places, especially for young for
eigners. cannot conceive of worse, from
both sanitary and moral point of view.
But they have a certain novelty; they are
picturesque, and oftentimes attractive and
entertaining to homesick soldiers, who as
is natural, yield easily to temptations to
dissipation. Il
And the best remedy is to furnish coun-
ter attractions and give the men resorts
that are comfortable and attractive, where
they will not be subject to the restraint OF
authority or come in contact with their Of
ficers too often. The government as well as
philanthrophic societies are doing every
thing that 1t can to provide such places, to
protect the enlisted men as far as possible
from the temptations to which he is SUBJ
jected, and to furnish him loafing place
where he will feel at home, where he may
do as he likes to all reasonable limits, and
where he can obtain moderate amount of
pure liquor without feeling that he is vio-
lating regulations and subjecting himself TO
punishment.
I'VE formerly had bars at which soldiers
could buy pure liquor, instead of the poi
Sonous stuff that is sold them in the native
quarters of the Indian cities, but we soon
concluded that they defeated their own
purposes. Being situated at convenient
locations, soldiers would patronize them
for the love of liquor, and induce others to
do the same for the sake of companionship
This promoted intemperance, because the
soldiers went to the bar only to drink and
for no other reason. There were no reading
rooms or loating places, or attractive sur
roundings, and they were not permitted to
remain at The bar after they had been
served with one drink.
Clubs Succeed the Bars.
Those oars have been abolished, and, I'M
der the present system, an sffort is being
made to furnish honelike. attractive club
houses where the enlisted men may pass
their leisure time in comfortable chairs, with
pleasant surroundings. games, newspapers,
magazines, books, writing materials and a
well-flled library. We give them lunch
room and a bar which are much more at
of the native baZaa can
offer They are allowed to drink liquor on
the premises in moderation, and the regula-
lions of the institute are enforced by
committee of the men themselves. which
appeals to their i.onor, their pride and their
love for their profession. drunken en-
listed man is quite as much of humiliation
to his comrades as drunken off1cer would
be to his associates, and the men feel quite
as much responsibility in restraining each
other in preventing their comrades from
getting into trouble as their off1cers-per-
haps more. To this spirit, this esprit de
corps, we appeal, and find after several
years of experience that the Institutes pro-
mote temperance, health, discipline and con-
tentment among the men.
THE surgeons of the service will tell you
and their reports contain the details, that
the largest amount Of disease and the worst
cases are due to contact with natives in the
bazaars of the cities near which our bar
racks are located. 1t is impossible to keep
the men out of Them and their visits can
only be lessened by furnishing counter at
fractions. The soldiers Institutes have
proved to be the strongest ever devised.
Any one who knows India can tell instantly
where soldiers institutes have not been es-
tablished by examining the sick reports of
the officers of the medical corps
Drinking Diminished.
"You cannot prevent men from drinking
| any more than you can prevent them from
swearing or indulging in any other vice,
continued Colonel De Barthe; but you can
diminish the amount of vice by judicious
measures, and that we believe is being done
by our institutes, with their libraries, read
ing rooms, lunch rooms cafes, amusement
rooms, bars, theaters for concerts. lectures
and amateur dramatic performances. The
government does not put in billiard tables
or any other kind of games. We allow the
men to do that for themselves, and they pay
| for them out of the profits CT the bar. Nor
do we furnish newspapers. We require the
soldiers to subscribe for themselves. There
is a good reason for this, which should be
obvious to every one who has, ever had ex-
| perience in such matters. We furnish the
building, provide the furniture, fuel, lights,
| fill the shelves of the library with excellent
standard books of history, travels biog-