The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-01-22


he would not be nearly so thirsty.
| Another evil Oh the beer canteen i
| the credit system. The soldiers wer
permitted to buy drink on credit t.
the extent that when pay day came, il
| many eases the canteen would get i
most all. They are not so apt to bur
| on credit from the outside so hav,
better chance to save their money
Railroads employ no drinking mel
because of the danger connected Will
it. When we think of drunken en-
gineer starting out on trip with hun
dreds of lives in his charge we shud
der to think what the outcome might
be.
The mothers and wives of the soldiers
are universally opposed to the restora-
tion of the canteen.
Ministers of the Gospel all over the
country are bitterly opposed to it. It
is imperative that the evils of alcoholic
drinks be taught in our public schools;
then if it is an evil it should be kept
as far from our young men as posi-
ble
We are happy to state that Captain
MeCracken, of one of the lat@st war
ships, has abolished the bar on his
ship. General Daggett, in speech be-
fore the recent national encampment
of the G. A. R., said that the army
canteen, as it was when Congress
abolished it, was a detriment to good
discipline in the army. The discharge
papers of soldier include ''char-
acter.' The soldiers who receive a
q character marked excellent are
proud, and justly so, of their paper.
Gen. Daggett said that in his regiment
at Fort Omaha, when without the can
teen nine -tenths of his men would have
had a ttcharaeter' marked excel
lent, = he had to mark them t'poor"
and Every POOR
An instance of the Philippine Is
lands might be mentioned here to illus
trate the harm of the canteen. The
soldiers stationed at an important
point had not been paid in a long
time. When payday at last arrived
the soldiers drank beer at the canteen
till their appetites were sharpened, then
went to the bino dens, the lowest of
Filipino resorts. Soon the president of
the town went to the commanding of
ficer and informed him that an attack
was to be made by, the islanders, who
knew the condition of the soldiers. The
commanding officer wired for fresh
troops from Manila and their arrival
prevented the outbreak. So it seems
that the beer canteens did not keep
the men from evil dens on the outside.
On the other hand, the canteen is a
feeder of saloons and other vicious
dens.
The majority of men who favor the
restoration of the canteen have had
no experience with it in time of peace
with the regular army.
NOthers who favor it are the bad off
cers-for it must be acknowledged that
too many of our army officers are very
ow down in the scale of morality
They are so fond of the drink them
selves and are so anxious to havef it
handy that they favor having it re-
CARELESS of their influence upon those
in their charge.
Major General Frederick D. Grant,
the Department of the
East, in his annual report, says. he is
convinced that the causes of the of
fences of the officers and men which
aeeessitate their being disciplined are
nearly always due to the use of in
oxicants or drugs.
In the year 1900 the general courts |
martial numbered $3.50; for drunken
less, 1915; decreasing each year until
800 they were. general courts martial |
E595; for drunkenness, 504. We need |
lot fear the restoration of the eanteen |
so let us continue to rejoice that the
CONSTANT inducement TO "drink' or
stand treat' or be considered
mean can not be held out to the
Older who does not wish to drink,
or that the man with total abstinence
principle will be forced, as has been
one in the past, to stand behind the
anteen bar and pour out the poisonous
nd degrading fluid he abhors.
Drinking alcoholic liquors is largely
matter of social custom. Much is
accomplished for temperance in any
community when it becomes fashion
BILE to be a total abstainer The large
consumption of beer in German Univ
rsities is-not due to any special de
ravity of the German youth, but to
established usages in students clubs.
here has recently been formed in Ger
lany, society of old graduates whose {
urpose is to discourage drinking in
he undergraduate clubs, to give social
import to the student who prefers to
ay "no," but who, without an or