The Irish standard., 1917-10-27


desired by him he will remove military camps from
those neighborhoods in. which clean conditions can
not be secured
It is much to be regretted that we have many
American business who tolerate or reject the
prostitute solely for business One of the
leading national weekes is responsible for the state
ment that in the town of San Antonio, Texas. an
effort made to rid the city of professional pros
ttutes and the business were opposed to their
being driven out for purely business reasons Later.
when the Secretary of the U. S. Army notified the
authorities that unless they cleaned the city the
military camp would be taken away, the same bust
at favored the election of prostitutes
for purely business reasons.
The class of putative business who derive
the most benefit the retention of the social evil
is the liquor dealers Wherever prostitution Ia pro-
tected the liquor dealers protected. Wherever
prostitution fourishes the liquor trade fourishes
Wherever the liquor traffic is hit prostitution is hit
If these undeniable facts could be scared into the
minds of good citizens, there would be trouble in
organizing efficient committees and associations to
suppress commercial vice and drive the immoral
woman far from the camps where our young men
in training and far too from the cities adjacent
to military posts and cantonments
People of faith not doing enough to lessen
the social evil. 1t is good, however, to be able to
refer to some desirable exceptions. We have it on
the best authority that of all the troops the Mex
lean border during late unpleasantness with
southern neghbors, the under command of
Maj Gen. John F. Organ, of the New York National
Guard had the lowest rate of treatment for venereal
diseases Our informant accounts for this by the e
forts made by Maj. Gen. Organ to stamp out liquor
drinking among his soldiers. "The Survey" of Au
gust 25th prints letter of this successful COM
mander to his in which he positively says that
"booze" must not be permitted in any form in
military machine He many strong things
against alcohol used in any form. The strongest in
dictment of alcoholic drink is that greatly slim
ulates the passions" and after rectng many other
very undesirable things for which liquor drinking
is responsible in the army, he pleads with his
to refrain from using liquor in any form. Lieut.
Col Donahue said in the Minneapolis Knights of Co.
lumbus hall, the occasion of his leavetakng for
the 'front.' that liquor drinking is responsible for 80
per cent of the trouble in the American army Dr.
Haven Emerson, Health Commissioner of New York
City, believes that "seventy-fve cent of this
ereal infection is contracted by men while under the
influence of alcohol"
At the last convention of the National Conference
on Social Work the question Of prostitution in proxi-
nifty to military camps discussed. The DELHI "
erations went further into the delicate
of immoral relations between soldiers and immoral
= Though non-professionaD women. cat best it was
felt that this (the ruin of young girls in the civil
communities adjacent to military camps) will short
X y be recognized of the most subtle and diff
y cult of problems For not only are hundreds
= of thousands of young fellows freed from all the
usual home restraints but many girls in the hysteria
OF wartime and eagerness to give good time to
the boys find themselves the worst of predica,
= ments"
We cannot close to the fact that the boys
in military camps need protection. They need the
help we able to give in keeping far from them
*~kad women and bad drink If we unite in a de-
termned effort to rid city locality from both
these we will be assisting Secretary Baker in quick
ly putting into proper condition the immense num-
Der Of men selected to win the war in which our
country is engaged We shall better than that be
helping the boys to lead clean life which sig
. mites much more than health of body. =
In time the public will be getting truer under
standing of the of drink and the social evil
when people learn the of the unsoundness =
of body of the countless who rejected. asked
one man in charge of the selection of fighters
what was the chief of physical un6tness and
his answer catapulted to in one word. {.
BOOZE"
In times of peace in stress of war; every good
citizen should be concerned about the public health
and public morals. They should drive far away the
corrupt and let those men follow her else
where who up to the present have opposed serious
efforts of few to jail her move her on. We .
should unite and labor for the bodily spiritual
wellbeng of our undrafted we'll drafted men, .
Minnesotans are beginning to do their share of
cleanup work through organization lately come .
into exfstence-the Minnesota Hygiene Commission.
Success to the efforts of the officers this organf-
zation, and it is to be hoped that in the future
people OF our faith will be found in greater numbers
In the small but noble army now fighting the
cal evil. The teaching of the Gospel effects most
Improvement In ALL but united social effort when we'll
directed does much to develop a stronger race.
= =