Show w ii FACTS ABOUT CANTEEN i i Attitude of War Department ll ii on This Question 1c 1 c 1t t CORBIN WRITES ON SUBJECT Ii i AdjtGen Declares It Has a Bonc I ficsnfc Result Uponthe Morals h Health and Contentment of tho h Army Service Almost Every Company I Com-pany Commander Has Reported UpI Ii 1 Up-I 011 the Exchange as an Effective t r I Temperance Measure He Also Declares c De-clares the Army is Temperate III i1 I i11 Washington Aug 31 AdjtJGcn I Oorbln has written a letter to Senator r Sewell of Now Jersey 3 member of the Military committee of theSenate set i 11nr t ting forth the atUtude of the War department I de-partment on the question of army canteens I can-teens He says I The sale pC nil spirituous liquors hy l I i the canteen is and has always been I absolutely prohibited Only beer and I J I light wines arc 01 to either ofllccra ii 017 men and these only when the commanding I com-manding officer Js satisfied that giving i I il to the troops an opportunity of obtain I j I Ing such beverage within the post Ihn I 1 i its will prevent them from resorting j 1 for strong Intoxicants to places without I such limits and tends to promote temperance 1 11 tem-perance ant discipline among them established and hag I The canteen was establsbc rnd 11 been maintained In the interests of i I temperance and betterment oC discipline l I disci-pline with most satisfactory results 1 This Is shown in fcver trials by court I martial in the decreased number of desertions j i de-sertions and In the Improved health of ili i the men is cooperative store r The exchange acoopcraUc I where supplies are sold at cost or as I ncarjy suPJ so possible fon the benefit of officers and men of the army The j 1 canteen is a department of the exchange I ex-change constituting nn enlisted mens I club Rooms in or near the soldiers quarters arc set apart for this special I I j purpose furnishcH with reading matter i mat-ter billiard tables and other games but every form of gambling Is absolutely abso-lutely forbidden Here the men write I their letters home and read the newspapers J I news-papers and magazines The Government Govern-ment has nd financial interest whatever II II what-ever In the exchange or canteen the II funds being suppled by the men themselves I them-selves Almost every company commander I com-mander has reported in favor of the exchange i ex-change and canteen as an effective temperance measure One thousand and nineteen commissioned officers have made special reports to this effect ef-fect In the beginning I opposed the canteen bur AWIS brought to its support sup-port by ovorwhelmlng evidence of its f beneficent result upon the morals health and contentment of the service Assistant Surgeon Munson uS A under instruction of the War department depart-ment hCd a careful ImtcstsaUQn Into the effect r the canteen upon he health ot th enlisted men The result more than met the expectations of thoso most Ini rested Inlhc promotion of temperance hi the military service He finds that the perccntae of desertion has beencontlnuouslyreduccdSince the I Introduction of the canteen Prior to Its introduction ° i desertions averaged from 10 to 1 ftfer cent annually Since its establishment these have decreased s follows First eat to 77 the next year to 57 the next 57 then C3 the next to 36 then 53 The next to 31 and finally to 29 Further the number of tlals and convictions for drunkenness I drunken-ness and offenses originating there fn m for the six years preceding the canteen was 372 5 Those decreased during Ins the following six years of Us establishment estab-lishment to IGOC Further for the seven years preceding the establishment of the canteen the average number of men I who deposited their savings with the Government was 7233 For the seven years following its Introduction the average has increased to S3S2 It has been stated in the public press that The receipts of the exchange are nearly all for drink The official reports of the department show that i the receipt from sales of beer and I light wines are and have been less than onethird of the gross receipts being In lS fiveseventeenths and in 1S09 six seventeenths Taking the amount of the gross receipts on account of the sale of b ° er and dividing it by the total to-tal number of officers and men shows that each ofllcer and enlisted man for the year 1SS expended eXPcJdcd on account for ono 91 beer only 20 cents a month equivalent to four glasses of beer per month or less than one lass3 week apiece for each officer and man In thd military service In 1E39 the expenditure on the r I part of each officer ttnd man reached an average of 58 cents per month or I but 19 cents a day These facts make I t it clear that In comparison with all other citizens the army of today is the I most abstemious body In our country I There is no community of which we hae any report or knowledge that will wil I show so small a consumption of drink per capita This average should in I tact appear much lower for the rca son that citizen employees of which we have taken no account have the priv lee of purchasing from the canteen The number of clerks mechanics ana teamsters employed with an army In the field is as you know very large This number however Is not obtain able but would very materially reduce llal rcduc the average of 20 and 58 cents a month The anxiety o the temperance peo pie outside the service about the army is unwarranted As compared with those existing twcnty or thirty years agoor with any community at the present time anywhere In civil life the army Is a model temperance lfe tempernce so ciety a practical one one where rea 10 sonable abstinence is the rule and where excesses are the exception a so ciety whose prpcepts no JeRS than its example could be followed by all Is pie In safely and sobriety |