The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-06-12
RUM RATION STATISTICS.
German Soldiers Consume Three Times
as Much Alcohol as Allies.

The European war, subJecting mil
lions of men to the irregularities and
Exposures of life in camp, has natural
new material for the discussion of
many old problems. Among these prob
lens is that connected with the use of
alcohol by the soldiers. The time has
passed, in the opinion of medical men,
when alcoholic liquors are to be re-
.garded as inseparable from warfare
and essential for military activities
Efficiency is now the prime considera-
ton.
Since the last great war, scientific
research has greatly increased our
knowledge of the effects of alcohol on
tho human body. While the physiolo-
gist has not as yet spoken the last
word on this subject, the overwhelming
Ipreponderance of scientific evidence is
IN favor of the proposition that the
use of alcohol, in any amounts, large or
small, tends to impair muscular CO.
ordination, to dull the special senses, to
retard muscular and nervous reactions
and mental processes, and to reduce
efficiency in any work requiring rapid
and accurate mental or physical eff
fort.
The question stiIl open to discussion
is whether, in times of unusual ex-
posture, strain and exertion, the tenn
porarily stimulating effects of alcohol
are sufficiently valuable to compensate
for its undesirable results. Evidently
the military authorities of Europe think
so or are still influenced by custom or
tradition, since in each army the regu-
lation ration of alcohol is still provid-
I'm ho tn liSh
half ounces of rum are issued to each
man twice week. For men in the
trenches this allowance is increased to
three ounces twice a week under ordi-
nary weather conditions and to two
and one-half daily in very bad wealth.
| er, making n minimum of FIVE ounces
a week and a maximum of II IL
ounces. The regular ration of two and
one-half ounces is estimated to contain
25.5 grams of alcohol
The French soldier receives daily 30
grams of rum containing 90 grams OF
alcohol. The German soldier receives
! 1913 grams of beer and 20 grams OF
| brandy a dav. The beer, which is Of
the ordinary lager variety, has low
alcohol content of only about 3.5 per
iceHt, but this quantity would amount
to total of 70.7 grams of actual al.
eohol a day. Austrian soldiers receive
each day 0.5 liter of wine, equivalent
to 40 grams of alcohol.
i The physiologic effects of alcohol or
military efficiency would probably not
be so clearly apparent in the army as
in the navy. The modern battleship
lcruiser and submarine have become
marvels of mechanical complexity ano
ldelicacy The soldier in the trenches
might take the maximum German re
ton of 20 grams of alcohol a day
without impairing his ability to handle
his rifS or manipulate a machine
gun. Whether the members of tn,
aviation corps, the artillerymer
charged with handling the heavy guns
or the signal men, on whose quicknesi
and accuracy of vision much might de
pend, could maintain the highest eff
cheney on a daily allowance of alcoho
remains to be proved.
"There is, says The Journal of tn,
, American Medical Association, "abun
: dant testimony on the part of nava
experts to show that alcohol diminishe
! the accuracy of the gun-pointer on tn
battleship and so reduces tho nunbe
Of probable hits. Dutch courage ha
heretofore been regarded as an indis
: lpensible equipment of warfare and al
I cohol has been looked on as the all
rather than the enemy of the fighting
man; but the present war will revcrs
: the opinions of the civilized world O.
good many questions, and it is poss
: BILE that the indispensability of alcoho
= in the army may be one of them. =