The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1918-06-28
WHY SEC. DANIELS
MADE NAVY DRY

o~FA-~0 DtAA~Ac1 1~AuoJ ASShoVA &ih~ot
Sept. 9, 1919
One day, shortly after had become
secretary, gentleman came into the
department to plead for the restora-
ton of a young relative of his, who
had been dismissed from the navy for
intoxication. | showed him the rec
ord, which proved that this young
man had not only been drunk, but had
at the same time made a public exhi-
bition of himself. | explained that
there was no course to be pursued but
to act firmly and finally in approving
the court martial which had recon-
mended the young mans dismissal.
When l made it plain that the young
man must inevitably pay the penalty,
this gentleman protested earnestly
and with much feeling against what he
insisted was the injustice his young
relative had received at the hands of
the navy. "Now that he is the prod
uct of your system" said my visitor,
"you have turned him out in disgrace. !"
He then went on to tell me the follow
ing story of the young mans life.
said he:
Il am a Friend, Quaker, and the
boys father was Quaker. He was a
little shaver when his father died, and
the lad came into my home, and has al
ways been to me as a son. never
even had so much as a glass of wine
in my home, and when the boy left for
Annapolis to enter the naval academy
he did not know what the taste of Ii
quor was like. l gave him to the
American navy, pure-hearted, unsul-
lied, believing absolutely in the old
fashioned Quaker ideas in which he
had been reared.
an the seven years you have had
him in the navy you have given him
wrong ideas about drinking. You
taught him that it was all right for
gentleman to have his toddy. You le-
galized the wine mess. You had a
cold that made youth feel that he
was narrow-minded if he turned down
his glass at the table; but now that my
boy has been ruined by you and your
system, the navy kicks him out, and
puts a stigma on him."
Much more than this he said, but
this is the substance of his structures.
He was strong man, and his feeling
for the youth whose drinking had
wrecked his life was pathetically deep
and genuine. When he went out |
could not throw out singing sense
of justice in his accusation. All day
it haunted me that in the discharge of
my official duty | had been compelled
to approve decree for which navy
practice was largely responsible,
For days / was oppressed by the
thought that every young man in the
navy, many coming from homes like
that described by my Quaker visitor,
were subject to similar temptation.
As time went by there were more
court martials-not many, but enough
to add to my profound conviction that
the old Quaker had pointed out uner-
ringly the path of duty.
| knew very we'll what the issuing
of the wine mess order meant. l
counted the cost. | knew that many
officers of the navy, temperate, honor
able, as high minded as King Arthur's
knights, without fear and without re-
proach, would resent it bitterly; they
would feel that the order would convey
a wrong impression to the world.
l. realized that the order would he
assailed by a multitude of people who
would regard it as puritanical. / an
ticipated that the protest against it
might reach into the houses of con-
gress. But if was at any time temp
ted not to take the step for any Of
these reasons, the reflection that ev-
cry year there came into the navy hun
dreds of young men, some of whom
might find their undoing in indulgence,
made my duty plain. If had not is
sued it could not have rested with
clear conscience unto this day.
As you know, the storm did break.
Some naval officers did fear that the
order was reflection upon them. The
penny-a-liners considered it a wind
fall for them, and much cheap wit was
INDUCED in at the expense of the or
der. The cartoonists of some big dali
lies also considered it food for thought.
The tragic pictures they drew of
Mumm's Extra Dry, with a frightened
look on its face, walking the plank"
to take its doomed plunge into Davy
Jones' locker, from the deck of war
ship, while |, depicted as a tyrant as
relentless as Nero, was standing on the
bridge surrounded by weeping officers.
The approval, however, outside of
these restricted circles, was general.
The order was hailed with so much
satisfaction by the fathers and moth
ers of the country that my mail was
doubled and trebled for month or
two. By the time congress assembled,
those who had thought to attack the
order upon the floors of congress
found that there was not a man in
either house who ever raised the is
sue. By that time, too, the navy Of
fcers learned that it was far from
any thought Of mine to reflect upon
the service, I took occasion to let
the public know that so far as the
mass of the officers were concerned
there was no need for the order. 1t
was issued to safeguard the young men
who were coming into the service. The
public well understood that that was