The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-15
No Beer for the Old Soldier.

The vote in the House on Mr.. BOWER
SOCKS amendment to the Sundry Civil
Appropriation bill excluding any State
or Territorial soldiers home in which
a canteen is maintained from a share of
the appropriation settled the question
Of restoring the canteen to the army,
90 far as the Fifty-ninth Congress is
concerned.
If the old soldier cannot have his beer
within the limits Of the home grounds,
the less responsible young soldier must
go without tor, rather, both must
resort to the dive near the home or post
to take a social glass, with all the con-
sequences involved.
1t was the plea of Mr.. GARDNER OF
Michigan that the Government should
throw around the old soldier, the weak
soldier, the decrepit old soldier" it's
arms of protection and make the even
ing of his life one Of sobriety and con-
temptation, and not the testimony of
officers Of soldiers homes, as cited by
such Missionaries as Mr.. GoULDEN of New
York, that stampeded the House to pass
the amendment by a vote Of 100 to SO.
The arguments Of believers in the
canteen, although supported by retired
army officers, chaplains and doctors,
could not exercise the dread which
haunted the minds of members that the
old soldiers would be in imminent peril
of a drunkard's death if the Government
allowed a dollar of the appropriation to
be used for the purchase of beer con-
tanning three per cent. alcohol for con-
sumption in the reading and domino
rooms of the soldiers homes. Among
the advocates of the canteen whose
letters were read to the House were
Colonel JOSEPH f. EwELL of the Bath,
n. Y, Soldiers Home, and the surgeon
and chaplain attached, and Colonel
GEORGE w. STEELE Of the home at
Marion, Ind. What these gentlemen
had to say in approval of the canteen
as rational and protective fell on deaf
ears. If the House could have been
convinced by the testimony Of honest
and self-respecting men 1t would have
needed the following admission of
Representative BROwNLow, one of the
managers of the board OF control over
soldiers homes:
There is not and has not been In the United
States any man more ~fanatical on the subject Of
the use of into 1icau ting drnks than myself. l
never tasted a drop of whiskey, wine or beer: I
never smoked q cigar, and l never took a chew OF
tobacco. And | went into the mana cement Of
the Mountain Branch Home Tennessee, as much
prejudiced against the sale of Intoxicating drinks
IN any shs pc, form or fashion as any man In
this country. But after careful Investigation.
after visiting all Of the national homes, and after
going In there and making a dill gent search for all
of these thin rs that you complain OF. I came to the
conclusion that the canteen IN the home was an
absolute protection TO those who were addicted 10
the use Of intoxicating liquors."
A protection because III the vicinity
of every soldiers home there IS a hive
OF low groggeries selling the vllest stuff
that was ever put in. a human stomach,
places to which old soldiers repair when
denied the temperate use OF a light beer
at the home. Asheaf Of statistics fanati-
cally compiled by the superintendent of
the A~nti-Saloon League turned the scale
against the manly avowal OF Represen-
tative BRowNLow. Proof Of the scru-
pulously proper management of can
teens at the homes was as a straw in