The sun., 1907-08-28
The Army Cantecn Issue.

A. W. GREELY, who commands the
Northern Division, the following curious
recommendation is to be found:
II the csnteen is not restored there should
be enacted legislation similarly restricting the
use OF llausr by all Federal oi&cials employees
Whether justly not, the enlisted men regard II
as class legislation not only restricting privileges
but also imputing unrellablty 10 them Is Q body"
No doubt the W. C. r. L. and other
ardent and indefatigable temperance
societies would heartily approve of such
legislation. We presume that General
GREELY knows that the clerks Of the
various departments have no canteen
in the department buildings, and that
if Federal officials, an elastic term, want
drink" they have to go out to cafe"
to get il. There may be those who
sport a sideboard on the premises, but
as a rule Federal officials from Cabinet
members down attend strictly TO routine
in business hours and indulge in stimu-
lants only when of duty.
The soldier has the same privilege. He
may drink strong spirits when he is absent
from the post on leave, and thereby
hangs the tale OF the insidious danger
that turks in his privilege, II light beer
and wines were sold at the post exchange
his consumption of them would be re-
stricted and he could play cards. DOM
mos and checkers and smoke his pipe
while he drank, and what he drank would
be pure liquor. Thanks chiefly to the
w. c. T. U. he no longer enjoys the
hygienic and disciplinary comforts Of the
canteen, and to indulge the habits of
a lifetime he resorts to dives" whose
swinging doors invite him the moment
he steps across the post boundary. In
those dens he is poisoned, body and soul,
succumbing to temptation as much be-
cause he resents the abolition of the
canteen as because he is made Of COM
mon clay like the rest OF us.
We can understand in what light the
soldier regards the worthy but imprac-
ticable, and in some cases fanatical, tenn
perance bodies that have deprived him
of the canteen, and in what light they
regard him. 1t is true that their blind
agitation imputes unreliability to him as
a man and a brother, and unwittingly
they try to prove their case against him
by placing temptation In his way. But
it cannot be said that there was class leg
islation in the abolition Of the canteen.
The soldier can advance no inherent
right in the nature Of his service to the
use OF canteen. Il was originally given
to him as a privilege which conduced to
his health and increased his efficiency,
and theoretically it could be taken away
from him for the same reasons When
he enlists he agrees to submit TO all the
military regulations prescribed for him.
His service differs from that Of civilian
Federal employees in that they become
private citizens when their daily work is
done. Their time is their own in the
intervals of routine, and there is no ques-
ton of leave Of absence, as in the case
of the soldier.
General GREELY's recommendation
may have tendency to confuse the issue
in some sympathetic and antipathetio
minds. That issue is whether the can
teen should not be restored for the phys
ical and moral good of the enlisted man.
The testimony of the great majority Of
department, regimental and company
commanders is that the soldier has not
been as efficient and has been harder to
manage sin CO he was deprived of the can
teen privilege. He has suffered In health
and has morally degenerated. Both
President ROOSEVELT and Secretary TAFT
have declared themselves in favor of the
cantccn. and ir would be restored by
Congress il members had tho courage Of
their convictions and you'd not hide
behind the skirts Of the W. e. T. U. II