Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-04-02
Editorial Comment
Proof of the canteen PUDDING.

The Boston Transcript, that admira-
bile NEWSPAPER which is so often quot
ed giving solace to those who oppose
prohibition, had this to say editorially
on Saturday: "One need not be a par
tisan of either side of the everlasting
army canteen controversy To be graft
fled by the assurance of distinguished
officers that soldiers like civilians, are
much less addicted to heavy or steady
drinking than were their predecessors
Of a generation ago. At & recent meet
ing of the Womans Christian Temper
anCe Union in New York. General Miles
and Colonel Maus of the Medical De-
partment Of the army put themselves
on record against a restoration OF the
canteer. General Miles, going into the
history of military liquor legislation,
said that one hundred years ago the
regular daily spirit ration of the army
ranged in amount from one pint for L
private soldier up TO fifteen fer a ma
jor general. AT that time nobody OBJ
iected to the soldier letting the eanihin
clink as often as his rations permitted
provided he kept clear Of the provost
marshal The sale of spirits in the
ARM WAS ilbN eutt0 uHll I lGSiptil
HAYES prohibited il rather more than
thirty years ago. According To Gen
eral Miles SO far from the abolition Of
the canteen resulting in discomfort.
driving soldiers to Cescrtion, the per-
centage Of those who abandon their
colors is now 2.2S against y to 20 tor a
much smaller aggregate in the sixties
or seventies.
General Frederick n. Grant has heen
quoted usually as favoring the restor-
a:icn OF the canteen. but il seems that
he now thinks the army could get along
we'll enough without it. In the course
of Il decade. he asserts. the enlisted
personnel of the service has changed,
and the soldiers who are now N II
have adjusted themselves to present
conditions. Were the question left to
him. owing to this change e. eondi
tions he would not recommend tie re-
establishment Of the canteen. There
are other officers however. who insist
that With the canteen. discipline IS
more easily maintained and the habits
of the enlisted men readily regulated.
The exact truth is usually found be
tween extremes and may be in this in
stance. but it is not strange if The per
sorAel today reflects the sentiment at
the civil population from which il is
drawn.
Very many Weil-meaning persons
say hat the drink evil is now al its
worst in the United States. but the so
will not he likely to confirm
them \ man peed not he so very DID
VAS the daily beverage cf wor<mcn At
work and when employers either pro-
vided the liquor as part Of their pay
ment or readily allowed it Il be
brought To the place of employment.
There died moi many yeaIs age here in
Boston. gentleman who had been
identified with shipbuldng IN the clip
f9er era He we'll remembered that his
gang Of worlNne ordinarily Knocked
off drink twice a DAY and that what
ever his personal objections In the
practice were. expsidieaeY caused him
10 refrain from any re.aonstrapee. He
thought the temperance revolution
among hard working wage earners WAS
one of the. most notable he had oh
served in his fifty years OF active bust
ness in Boston"
The Transcript facility admits that
one by one those who once believed the
world could not run without frequent
wetting of all it's joints and bearings in
alcohol. are learning and owning up
that the outgroWth of suppressed evils
is better conditions; and that it isl
easier to mold and maintain morality
where evil is not encouraged by gov
eminent sanction.
The wisdom of the w. c. T. L. stand
against the canteen has been justified
and is now approved by some of its
opponents. Gen Grant calls
attention TO the fact THAI the enlisted
personnel of the service has changed.
Who does not recognize that conditions
have vastly changed for the better in
Maine, in a generation?
And if it were not turning against the
drink evil why have the matters and
sellers of booze become so desperate in
recent years? They have descended in
their demands until now it is anything
that will give them d tangible hold up
on the trade of hreefourths of mil
lion people. They would know that II
the interstate commerce violation Of
Maine law is halted. the Pine Tree
State is lost TO the rum and beer traf-
dc.
Only few months of absolutely dry,
covered bridge" conditions in Maine
would demonstrate to all the people
just what the loss of the army can
teen has proven to high army officials
that those affected are better of and
happier without it than they were with
it: that all laws are more easily en-
forced, that the longer they are without
it the better they like being without it,
and the sophistry with which the rum
trust is now appealing for support
would then be ludicrously apparent.