ALCOHOL AND THE ARMY.

White Ribbon, Volume 24, Issue 282, 18 December 1918, Page 10

ALCOHOL AND THE ARMY.

Perhaps the most important rule is to use no alcohol of any kind. — U.S.A. War Department. Alcohol is a terrible enemy, not only to the soldiers and workers of both sexes, but also in a general way to the women and the youth who lepresent the future of the race. -Vice Admiral Rouyer, of Frame. I have been in the held a par, and can bear witness from my personal observation, that alcohol shatters the resistance of our soldiers. Whenever it is a matter of holding the nerves tense, of concentrating the will power for hours and days, there the effects of alcohol were highly injurious, as physiological and experimental observation during recent years have clearly demonstrated. Ihe poison may, indeed, (all out for .m instant a high tension of the nerves, but « xperience shows that react ion in in a few minutes, and the paralysing or impairment of the power of resistance lasts for hours. Anyone at the Front can see that the alcoholic breaks down qui< kly under the terrible drum fire, and that the soldiers ac< ustomed to the use of alcohol are not equal to abstainers in sustaining the continuous shock and strain. Dr. Max Joseph Retzger, of the Austrian Army. How can a division, of troops be ever up on the bit to drive ahead if because of drink some sold ers forget orders? If some are noisy when silence is essential? If some fall asleep when every faculty should be alert? Our job is to whip the enemy hard. Alcohol i> a breeder of inefficiency. Major-General O Ryan of United States Army.