What Some Soldiers Say About Drink
COUNT VON HAESELER, of the Sixteenth Army Corps, in Germany: “The soldier who abstains altogether is the best man. He can accomplish more, can march better, and is a better soldier than the man who drinks even moderately. Mentally and physically he is better. Brandy is the worst poison of all. Next to it comes beer. Each limits the capacity and lowers mind, body, and soul. Strong drink tires, and only increases thirst.” Gen. Frederick D. Grant, U. S. A.: “I have favored the cause of prohibition all my life. Not that I have always been a total abstainer, for I have not been, although I am one now; but I have believed consistently that the liquor traffic was a source of evil. As my belief was strengthened by my observations, I decided that the cause demanded more than passive acknowledgment of the truth. So I am an out-and-out prohibitionist.” Sir Frederick Treves: “As a work-producer alcohol is exceedingly extravagant, and, like all other extravagant measures, leads to a physical bankruptcy. It is also curious that troops can not work or march on alcohol. I was, as you know, with the relief column that moved on to Ladysmith, and of course it was an extremely trying time by reason of the hot weather. In that enormous column of thirty thousand, the first who dropped out were not the tall men, or the short men, or the big men, or the little men. They were the drinkers, and they dropped out as clearly as if they had been labeled with a big letter on their backs.”