p. 7 | The Canteen and the Army

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 9, 1908

The Canteen and the Army

THE liquor forces of the country have persistently sought to make it appear that since the abolition of the canteen from the army posts there has been an increase of crime in the army. A communication to the Washington Post of February 27, written by Owen P. Kellar, is a convincing refutation of that charge. He says:—

The statement that conditions in the army have become worse since the abolition of the canteen is not borne out by the facts as we find them in the annual reports published by the War Department.

The canteen was abolished seven years ago—February 2, 1901. In 1900—the last full year of the canteen régime—the total number of trials by general court-martial among the regular troops, exclusive of the volunteers, was 5,462, of which 1,496, or more than twenty-seven per cent, were for offenses due to drunkenness.

In 1907 the total number of trials was 3,913, of which only 486, or 12.4 per cent, were due to drunkenness.

A decrease of 28 per cent in court-martial trials, and especially the decrease of 67.5 per cent in offenses due to drunkenness in the seven years since the canteen was abolished, will strike most people as being pretty good evidence that conditions in the army are growing better, and not worse.