, 1908-08-28

according 10 the statistics submitted tn
me, that the health OF The United
States army is worse on the whole,
than that of any other of the worlds
armies. There are many reasons for
that. but they are mostly to be found
In connection with the restrictions
placed upon the men as the resllt OF
Woman's Christian Temperance un-
ions and other such movements.
Politics plays a large part in this
country In the legislation in army at
fairs. and there has been a good deal Of
pandering to the temperance societies
and 10 other such restricting organiza-
lions. The canteen has been taken
away. and these organizations have
put nothing in its place. The health OF
the men In general Ii better, although
there has been a great increase In
some diseases. Yet politics continues
to play Its part.
"one has to speak plainly" said the
general, I'm dealing with such matters,
and 1t Is no good mincing things. Take
a lot OF them out to camp for man
oeuvres such as we have been having
a, Pine Camp, New York state, and de-
prive them Of their canteen. What
happens? Simply this: So soon as they
are free the men get away to the near
est saloon and drink. They are some
distance from their quarters n may
not get back and forth at will, so they
stay as long as they can at the saloon
bar. Instead OF having one or two
drinks. they have many. The longer
they can stay the more they drink and
the worse their condition. We had
one man drowned out at Pine Camp,
He evidently had become intoxicated
and fallen into the water In that con-
dition ana drowned. We can trace
most of our violent deaths in the army
to drink.
I'VE had much less trouble when we
had the c%anteen. The men go to the
canteen and get a drink, and, because IL
Is close at hand, are satisfied with one
for the time beiny. THEY may get an
other later on, bur their Trim King . In
termittent. A man is more under tie
eye of others, too, when the canteen Is
In camp, and the actual opportunity,
or temptation, say, for him to became
intoxicated Is less. Experience has
proved 1t SO; 1t is SO.
THE present system Is much NOR
expensive, too. The canteen fund
used to go into the regiment and was
used to supply extras in the way of
rations for the men, fruit and dainties
of all kinds, and 1t cost us II cents a
mar a day for rations. Now 1t costs
us rs cents a man q day, in addition to
which we have had to go to the ex-
pense of building gymnasia, reading
rooms ana exchanges (for soft drinks.
as an attempted makeup for the loss
Of the canteen. We have much less
satisfaction in the ranks generally and
much more expense, 20 1t Is hard to
justify the change.
1T is all nonsense to suggest that
the men should not be allowed to go
away from camp to visit saloons. You
cannot keep men at work and confine
them to quarters all the time. Re-
suits SO far prove that the loss Of the
canteen has not tended toward greater
sobriety; has really increased the rates
Of sickness, death and, in some ways,
desertion. and 10 costing the country
o money.
The effect of other movements
which have prevented the legal re-
cognition and inspection of the social
evil tend to prove the truth Of the old
adage that you cannot make men
moral by act of parliament. The bad
results in disease may as well he ad-
mitted right away. Yet we know that
abroad, where such houses are legally
reeegni.ca-and carefully i~nsneetei.
conditions are much better. We have
to Judge by results and statistics
speak for themselves"
fee. the director peneral IF the medi-