The Washington herald., 1917-11-01
END OF LIQUOR
FINDSS SOLDIERS
READY TO FIGHT
Mother Lauds Making Over
Intensive Training Has
Worked in Son.
BY ANDREW r.. KELLEY.

Camp Meade, Admiral, Md, Oct. 81.
old John Barleycorn passed to
peaceful death in Washington to-
night. but this is not one of the
spots with a radius of fifty miles Of
the Capital City where he will be
seriously missed. ..,
In fact, John Barieycorn passed out
of the lives of the men in the ma
tional army, with few exceptions.
after the brief intensive training that
the routine of becoming a regular
soldier in the service of Uncle Sam
involves.
There are many thousands Of the
boys who wear the olive drab who
were accustomed to put their foot
upon the brass rail and quaff the
! foaming fluid after the days work
was concluded. There were many
others to whom container of eight
ounces of spiritus frumenti was worth
/ risking a spell in the guard house
to obtain. And the guard house has
held and is holding some of these
violators of army discipline. But the
number is constantly diminishing and
Work Bests BarIeycorn.
Army discipline and the rigor of a
days work in this herd training of
a soldier makes a man forget about
stimulants. His body is built up and
his mind is so occupied that he for
gets about pleasures that center
around the bright lights and as his
physical manhood increases. his de-
sire for liquid stimulants decreases in
the same ratio.
One of the tired mother from WASH
ington. who has given her oldest son
to the service of the country said to-
day:
We all miss Joe. He Is good boy
at heart, but he did love his liquor.
1 saw him today and 1 am proud to
see how the army has improved him.
He has gone three weeks without a
drop and he told me this afternoon
that drink has gone out of his life
forever. So l am satisfied that whe,,
he comes back, even IL he never has
to fight, he will come back a better
joe"
That statement expresses the feel
ing of thousands OF mothers for the
| regularity of the daily life that the
iAi'il AlaNC AlidCl SOllCg iihS blONS III
color to cheeks, put flesh on the
emaciated and taken off avoirdupois
| wher avoirdupois is unnecessary.
Pianos All Going.
Tonight the player pianos are going
| all over the camp. The guitar and
violin PLAYERS are having their in
nings. The amateurs and the real
comedians are holding forth. For it
is an evening of real gaycty and in
| all three Washington barracks mirth
is king.
Company A, of the 3lt2h Mack.rc
Gun Battalion, started the merriment
| ball rolling about p. m. today. They
have plenty of talent and when it was
exhausted. the barracks cots were
pushed one side. the floor was clear
cd and the boys had a chance 20
dance with their sisters and sweet
hearts. The big thing about the
whole day. however, was the eats"
The army food is plain and sub
stantial. There are no delica cies, and
ice cream is generally as unknown
as terrapin. Tonight, on the con-
trary, 4 Baltimore caterer brought
over some of the real things that
everybody likes to eat once in
while. Thee were chicken croquCttes,
oysters. salads and ices. and the way
those boys dug into the commssary
stores would give heart failure TO
man with dyspepsia or the gout.
20 More Men Coming.
About seventy more men are due to
arrive in the camp from Washington
on Friday and that will complete the
Districts first quota. They will be
assigned to their companions from
Washington in the 3l2th Machine Gun
Battalion.
The work of drilling the men with
the rifles is somewhat retarded by
the lack of these implements, but
notwithstanding this the boys are
| learning the manual with wooden
sticks. There are only 5000 rifles in
the camp and thes nave reen dis
tributed so as to permi. each unit TO
use them in squads at time and be-
come proficient in the manual.
For time the guards were using
clubs instead of guns, but now all of
the men on guard duty have the
rifles. Soon a number of machine
guns and thousands of rifles are ex-
pected at the camp.
Today they riSged up a dummy on
the parade field and labelled it
Kaiser" His heart is plainly marked
and the men poke at it with their
bayonets in a style that indicates they
will be proficient at this art If they
ever meet the Huns.
Some of the District boys who were
moved on Monday are now at Annis-
ton, Ala, as postal cards to their
barracks ''buddies" received today
testify.
BriGadier Gen. Nicholson will soon
be selected to head the 18th Division,
according to authoritative rumor.
Gen. Kuhn is slated for advancement
as military observer for the army and
eventually chief of staff, and his ad-
vancement will mean the command
for Gen. Nicholson.
Six hundred more colored men ar
rived at the camp today - all from
Maryland. Not a sign of trouble has
accrued because of the quartering of
the colored men with the white SOL
diers. Gen. Kuhn said that it was
the uniform that must be respected,
and any man worthy of wearing an
officers regalia must be saluted re-
Eardless of his color. He returns the
salute from colored officers and has
instructed every one of the privates
to pay the same respect to officers in
the colored contingent at the risk of
being turned over to the guard and
subsequently, court martia1ed