Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1917-05-10

porance Scores Big Victories.
sy MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM
HARDING CARTER, v. S. A.
With the declaration of war with
Germany and the enactment of the Sc
!ective draft law, we have assumed
obligations whose ultimate ends no
man can foresee. Primarily we have
now become responsible for the prepa-
ration of hundreds of thousands of
young men for the stern duties and
hardships of war, and in the natural
order of things they will constitute the
human element available for the ma
tion's defense for many years to come
The nation owes 1t to the young men
who are selected for military training
and service that from the very first
they shall know that the training will
be carried on under circumstances
above reproach.
The development Of minds and
bodies to meet the demands of mill
tary service in war requires not only
the most modern hygienic surround
ings, but the absence of every form of
personal dissipation. Any one who
sells or gives intoXicants or drugs of
any kind to young men undergoing
training for the nations defense not
only commits a crime against the in
dividual but a reasonable act against
the nation.
The experience of European nations
has made it clear that to maintain a
modern army in the field there must
be organized industry at home. Any
thing that initiates against this by
depriving the human element of its
normal energy, working under war
pressure, must he combated and if need
be destroyed.
lntoxicants Produce Criminals,
The public is far better advised to-
day than ever before concerning the
effects of the habitual use of intoyi-
cants in producing criminal, insane and
untrustworthy men and women and
degenerate children. Prisons. asy-
lums and public reformatories furnish
continuous and abundant evidence
along these lines. The increasing un-
discipline of Americans has been OBJ
served and noted by investigators and
students for many years. This is evi-
denced in lack of respect for parents.
for the aged. for the officers of the law
and for the law itself. 1t has also been
uniform observation that these con
ditions become aggravated whenever
and wherever Intoxicating liquors are
habitually used Confronted with
these facts, we are about to undertake
the creation of a large army of the
people and to prepare it for participa-
ton in the most gigantic struggle in
the history of wars.
When the army was reorganized in
1901, following the war with Spain.
there was introduced in the act pro-
hibitory legislation regarding the sale
of wines and beers upon military res
ervations. There was much resent
ment on the part of the army at this
discriminatory legislation. for, while it
introduced prohibition on reservations,
it encouraged border line saloons in
surrounding territory.
Navy Also Bans Liquor.
In the course of time following the
abolition of the sale of beer and wines
alcoholic liquors were previously
barred-on military reservations the
naval regulations banished intoXicat-
ing drinks from war vessels. Modern
battleships, destroyers and submarines
had become too complicated to be in
trusted in any part to minds beclouded
with drink. Efficiency and safety of
operation alike demanded the exclu-
sion of liquors from war vessels, and
1t is certain that if the restoration of
the wine mess for the period of the
war were put to vote Of naval Off
GERS it would be overwhelmingly de-
feated.
Observing the operations of the so
called anti-canteen law, which stopped
the sale of wine and beer at post ex-
changes or canteens, it was found that
for time the offenses involving drunk
enness increased at army posts located
In territory where saloons were per-
mitted to exist. This was credited to
the fact that men went considera BILE
distances from barracks for liquor and,
not expecting to repeat the trip soon,
INDUCED in too much for their own
good. The statistics of disciplinary ac-
ton through a number of years seemed
to establish that more than so per cent
of the cases of desertion and absence
without leave were due to drunken
ness.
Big Victory For Temperance.
While the current returns of the Ill
ternal revenue bureau of the treasury
make it appear that the income from
the manufacture of beer and liquors
has steadily increased, there can be no
question that the temperance and total
abstinence campaigns of the past few
years have brought about marked