The Washington herald., 1917-06-25
Vice IS Big ENEMY,
HOBSON DECLARES
Raises Danger Signal Before Eyes
of officials He Says.

Raises Danger Signal Before Eyes
of officials He Says.
By RICHMOND PEARSON HoBSON.
Naval Expert and Former Member Of Congress
At a recent congress of mothers
held in Kansas City resolutions were
adopted addressed to the Secretary Of
War, stating that the mothers gladly
gave their sons to the service of the
country and humanity, but they asked
in return that all cantonment camps
and barracks be removed from sa-
looms and immoral neighbors.
The registration of the 100000
youths of the nation has brought
anxiety into millions of American
homes, not that fathers and mothers
fear for their sons the enemy bullets,
but they have serious misgivings as
to foes more deadly, that strike their
shafts into character and soul, as
well as body. The two deadly racial
poisons of young soldiers, the allied
enemies Of man, are alcohol and
syphilis. They endanger not only the
individual, but the future of the fam
lily, the nation and the race.
The fears of the mothers and faith
military service, clear eyed. clean of
mind and body, are well grounded.
DR.. Exner, reporting on the condi-
tions attending mobilization camps
abroad, says reliable facts at the
front show that during the first
eighteen months of the war one of
the great powers had more men in
capacitated for service by a single
disease contracted in the mobilization
camps than in the fighting at the
front"
Leads to Temptation.
The authors of THE Strength of
Britain" referring to the wet Canteen
and the rum ration in the British
I'VE know something about the vice
found in propinquity of soldiers
camps. We know that drink is the
cause of most OF it, that drink leads
men into temptation, reduces their
power OF resistance, and decreases
their chance of recovery. This disease
carries a canker to the grave, and
even beyond the grave, from one gen.
GRAFTON to another.
I'VE are not allowed to publish fig-
ures that throw light on CHASTITY
| things like these, but We may say that
the truth would set all Canada on fire.
Though the British censor may sup
press the publication OF the truth,
nevertheless the truth has gone back
| to the dominion through those poor
victims invalided home. These grue-
some facts are no doubt the cause of
| the brave Australians defeating con-
scrption by a vote Of 2 to land OF
| the indignation in Canada over pro-
| posed COnsCriptiOn.
After seven weeks Of inspection of
our camps in the IleXican mOpillza-
! tiOn, DR.. EXner reports:
"As soon as the order TO mobilize
went forth the vice interests in vari-
GUS parts of the country also began
to mobilize their forces and to man
them to the border TIe environment
! of practically all the camps quickly
became. If it was not already, such
as presented the severest temptation
to immortality. 1t was accessible
in the worst forms to all military
camps on the border and in Mexico" 3"
Inexcusable Situation.
names, places and statistics which
l refrain from quoting. The details
are gruesome beyond belief. In one
case woman applying for medical
treatment was found to be in the
active stage Of the most dreaded of
all blood diseases and she had COM
muniCated it to 10 young soldiers in
less than one fortnight. DR.. EXner
adds, What seems to me to have
been the most ineXcusable situation
was found in respect to one of the
eXpeditiOnary forces on the Mexican
where the main bodies of troops We're
located a red light" district was
maintained within the lines OF the
military . reservation and openly
cOuntenanced by military officers on
the assumption that it was necessary
for the contentment OF the men.
On the other hand, in one camp on
the border, DR.. EXncr proved that
the commanding officer had succeeded
in driyin gaway all the immoral re-
sorts and then he found the highest
standard Of health and efficiency, OF
contentment and well being. He
found, what could have been expected,
that the extent Of the vice is almost
in driving away all the immoral re-
says at least 70 per cent Of all the
practice would have been eliminated
If all commanding officers had adopt
ed a general policy of repression.
At the beginning OF the Mexican
mobilization the Secretary Of War
communicated with commanding Of
ficers on the subject, expressing con-
policy and issued no SPECIFIC IN
structiOns. The results were as de-
scribed by DIR. Exner in his report
in the Social Hygiene Magazine OF
April, 1911, nancy, that with one or
two commendable exceptions, saloons
mobilization camps. OF course, meas
ures were taken to curb the diseases
themselves. Soldiers were instructed
to report for treatment within six
hours after exposure, Taking into
account the unbelievable number of
cases reporting, the measures were
effective in part. The cases of dis
eases contracted were very much
lower in proportion to exposures after
the soldiers reached the border than
before their arrival. when stationed
at temporary camps around the
country.
Policy of War Department.
The question that concerns America
today more vitality than any other is
this: Will the War Department con-
tinue this policy of neglect in the case
of the millions of our Oung men who
are soon to be given over into the ma
tion's keeping? l can well understand
the deep, irrepressible fears that are
now rising in the hearts of millions of
parents. the fathers, and especially
the mothers of the nation. To these
millions / say your fears are well
grounded unless the War Department
changes fundamentally, your sons
have morel exposures that are unnec-
essary and aYoidable.
OF course. the War Department can
continue issuing general statements
and writing letters; in fact, 1t has al
ready made a commendable appeal to
Governors and chairmen of State coun-
ellis of defense and the civil authori-
ties in the vicinity of camps. But un-
less the War Department itself adopts
a policy and takes definite, adequate
steps of repression, no results will
follow"
The fact is, the whole vice ques-
ton hinges around liquor, the saloon,
the bootlegger, the blind tiger. Where
selling liquor is prohibited in houses
of ill-fame, half of these disappear
for lack OF patronage. With the end.
ing Of the liquor traffic. commercial
Of primary problems.
No disinterested good citizen can
differ with me when I say to the