Beer’s Threat to American Soldiers
The worst enemy the United States soldiers have had to contend with in the present war is not the Spanish foe, nor the Cuban fevers, but beer. And the strange part of the story is that they are ambushed by this subtle enemy through the connivance of the government which they serve. It is said by those on the ground that the first blood of the war was not shed by contact with the Spanish army or navy, but in a drunken riot in one of the southern camps. Perhaps it is no worse in the sight of God to spill the blood of an American brother than that of a Spanish brother, but it seems strangely inconsistent that the government (assuming the role of a "Christian nation") should handicap its own soldiers with the beer pit before they have fairly learned to "keep step." While charitable ladies are soliciting means to procure articles which the government does not supply, for the comfort of the soldiers in camp, the "boys in blue" are spending many times as much for beer and the other evils to which the beer leads. If it were not for the "canteen" evil, and the camp-following venders of a similar nature, and the disposition of the soldiers to patronize them, the "patriots" could buy all their own necessaries and have money to spare. The writer of this note knows by experience that this is true. W. N. G.