The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-08-26

1.-THE first place, the declaration that a
low standard OF recruits and failure
of the canteen TO sell booze are in
lcombination. does not hang together
we'll Il Is scarcely to be believed
THAT because no liquor is sold in the
Icanteen. low standard or recruits
lis attracted and a better class dis
Icouraged.
The scantiness of pay, combined
with the general demand for labor
outside and high wages and liberty
may have much to do with scarcity
of a better grade of recruits. and in
some respects accounts for assertions
The fact is however, that conditions
of peace have more than anything
else TO do with the unattractiveness of
army life. Those, who enter the
service now. the better class of the
men. are attracted by the prospect
of travelling to the orient. For the
rest. military life is monotonous and
luninteresting TO liberty loving peo-
| pie. If we desired big army in time
of peace, we should I'LL 1t with Latins.
They love gaudy uniforms and little
responsibility. Let a rumor of war
arise, and the army will fill up di-
rectly. Pay won't cut much figure
then. After all. when a man is
housed and fed and clothed and
given from s13 to SIS besides every
month to spend for fun, he is receiv-
ing in reality more than the average
aborer.
If we can keep the standing army
of sufficient strength to form the
nucleus of an available body and
garrison the colonies. 1t is sufficient.
A volunteer army well officered. in
six months is better than the regu-
lar army for active service. because
the average intelligence of the SOL
diers, more than makes up for lack
of machine discipline. When the
war with Spain broke out call was
made for 100, 900 men and 1000 ,00J
responded in a day.
Naturally, the regular army will
wane in prosperous times and I'LL in
hard times. Misery aids the recruit
ing Offices as much as does the gilt
ter of the brass buttons. Most OF
our militant youths have been salts
fed with the late war and the inter
vening 10 years of foreign service.
Army officers, of course, wish the
ranks full; but no more than the
Kansas farmers want harvest hands,
and the latter are offering big wages
without avail.
Monotony of fare and drill and
clothes and discipline induce those,
in whom the reverence for an oath
| is not strong, to desert and take
chances of q prison term.
AS for the canteen. That is a
mooted question. The canteen,
properly speaking, was not a public
saloon, where soldiers stood up TO a
bar and filled themselves with drink
and the till with nickels. The can,
teen was club. Its profits went to-
ward supplying the soldiers with
comforts and conveniences. They
argue that officers have liquor in
their clubs, and anyone desiring TO
drink in moderation is allowed to do
$50. Other respectable civil organ
izations permit drinking in their
Quarters, and the soldiers demand
that they be accorded a like privil-
ege. Good officers state that disrep-
utable resorts have been flourishing
in the vicinity of the posts since the
anti-canteen law went into effect
How much this is exaggerated by
lofiicers, who sympathize with the
thirst of their men, OF course, it ia
impossible to say.
On the other hand, good women
interested in the welfare of the men
brought to bear the influence, which
put the lid on the army canteen, and
this influence seems even now to be
. dominant. Whether their coup was
a good move, or whether they merely
succeeded in depriving the private
soldier of his comforts and lined the
purse of the dance hall proprietor
and disrupted the military organiza-
ton, remains to be seen. But they
Icertainly have raised something of a
stir in their efforts toward the
eyangelization of the army.