Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-12-05
STORM king CONTRAST
WET NORTH,DRY SOUTH
influence OF The Open Saloon On
Camps And Cantonments
CAMP MEADE SOLDIER WRITES
Tells How And Where wet" Goods
Can Be Obtained In Annapolis By
Service hien Not In
Uniform.
(Contributed.l
To the Editor, Evening Capital:


Contributed
To the Editor, Evening Capital:
Two very interesting items appear
ed in the newspapers of New York
City within the past few days. Per-
nit me to use your columns in quot
ing from them. The first item is dat
ed December 2. and was copied in the
Baltimore American. II reads:
Vigorous steps against saloons and
restaurants known to be selling liquor
to soldiers and sailors in this city
viii be undertaken at once by United
States Marshal Mccarthy, he announc-
ed tonight / intend to punish these
men as severely as the law allows,
he said Such action on the part Of
these dealers is playing the game Of
our enemies and means the under
mining of the health and morale of
many of our soldiers if not stamped
out with vigor These dealers will be
proceeded against with the full force
of the. government ] propose TO see
that this business is stopped. can
stop it and / will stop it,
The second item appears in New
York paper written by its special
correspondent from the war camps in
the South, where the territory is dry.
The special correspondent, J. II. Odell,
writes as follows;
"At Camp Hancock the Judge Ad-
Yocate told me that in six weeks
there had been only four cases of
drunk and disorderly in the entire
division of $4,000 men, Naturally |
wanted to know what lay behind this
almost immaculate condition. The
city OF Augusta, Ga, is only four
miles from the camp, and l determined
to make an investigation. A news
paper man. writing for a syndicate
of papers in Northern city helped
me considerably. This is a Sunday
School pulpit with vengeance, he
said Where can you get drink
/ asked Why, old man, you will
have to go back home for it. I've been
here six weeks, and l don't know
where you could get pony to save
your life Further inquiry about
town, interrogations of hack-driyers,
and likely loafers and a more careful
questioning of the military police
confirmed the correspondents state
ment | found similar conditions in
Spartanburg, S. G. ! am now con-
vinced that something more than the
climate determined the choice of
those Southern States Gall dry as the
sites for the majority of our camps
and cantonments. Where liquor is
absolutely hanished from region. the
moral problems of the military COM
manders are reduced almost to
minimum And ] write the following
deliberately about Camp Hancock.
That l would rather intrust the moral
character of my boy to that camp
than to any college or university /
know"
These two items speak loudly New
York. where the u. S. Marshal is hay
ing the time of his life to keep things
right is wet Down South every
thing is dry
In the light of the above, Mr..
Reader, kindly read the following. A
soldier who had been at the rife
range and returned TO Camp Meade
recently wrote a letter to me on Sun
day in which he describes a few in
Iteresting things which were going on
in Annapolis, a wet town, while the
soldiers were enjoying night liberty
in this city He writes as follows:
"The sailors have access to some
room where they have civilian clothes
stored. As soon as they have chang
ed their clothes they are free to pur
chase liquor. Several Of the soldiers
carried out this plan with the help
of sailor pals Another method is for
a soldier to rent suit of oyeralls and
cap at some garage and then, so
adorned, to proceed at will TO obtain
any amount of liquor wanted There
are couple of hotels that rent rooms
to the soldiers for the evening When
in the room with the uniform hung
in the closet they ring for the porters
and are able to have quite a booze
feast in their underclothes. Another
stunt is to get in the wash room of
one OL AllGSc uOlCiSs N1OSC lAS NSOA e%AN
call the porter and give the order for
drinks. The porter delivers the bot
tie under the door, receives his money
and leaves the. room. There is, or
course. the street pedler. but he does
not figure with the better class of
men. Their wares are not as satis-
factory L is so that q man can get
his booze IL he uses his brain at all.
although ne be soldier or sailor in
active service
In closing permit me TO say that a
message from Secretary Daniels is
now in Annapolis. and viii be read at
a meeting 10 be held next Sunday
afternoon at 3 o'clock in the Repub-
lie Theatre In that message he says
very positively what he thinks An
napoIis ought TO do with its saloons
II. W. BURGAN.