The Army Canteen

International Religious Liberty Association · Chicago · Jun 21, 1900

FromThe American Sentinel, The Sentinel of Liberty, Vol. 15, No. 24.

The “army canteen” institution is justified by its supporters upon the plea that it is the lesser of two necessary evils. The men will drink anyway, it is affirmed, and it is better to supply drink to the men in the camps than to have them get it in the towns. A physician who is familiar with the conditions of army life in the camps punctures this idea as follows:

“The regimental canteen is worse than the grog-shop. The temptation is ever present, and any good resolutions or feelings of disgust after a spree are quickly dispelled by another drink. On the financial side, a soldier’s credit is limited at the saloon. Not so at the canteen, where his pay is held as security for his drink, and often entirely absorbed. A soldier is obliged to seek a grog-shop, but the canteen seeks him.”

These are self-evident truths, and in the light of them no reason for the maintenance of the army canteen appears save the unworthy one that the institution is financially profitable to the parties behind it.