ng canteens in Camp Thomas at
Chickamauga, with their daily sales amounting to hundreds of dollars. He
had seen something of the same evil at the little army post near their
own city; and a young man who had been his confidential clerk before the
war, and who was now with one of the volunteer regiments at Manila, had
written to him of the canteen: "It has been the curse of this army, and
has caused more deaths than the Mauser bullets. It is a recognized fact
that in regiments where canteens are established drinking is not
restrained, rather encouraged, and numerous sprees are started that are
finished in the saloons just outside. Six cases of delirium tremens have
resulted from the establishment of the regimental groggery. Our army is
in danger a thousand times greater than any foreign foe may ever bring
against us. When will the government take action?"

The lawyer's clear mind had seen where the responsibility for the whole
system lay, and, sorely tried by the President's inaction, partly to
lift from his party the odium of the canteen disgrace and partly as a
matter of real heart choice, he had worked with more than his usual
vigor to help bring to bear a pressure in Washington great enough to
abolish the army saloon.

"Cheer, Jean!" he said. "Cheer for the party in power. The bill has
passed."

"Was it your party or public sentiment in spite of your party that
brought about the passage of the bill?" asked Jean.

"Sentiment, my dear girl," said the judge, dogmatically, "without
machinery back of it, is good for nothing."

"Exactly. If you remember, father, that has been the burden of my plea
for a new party. Answer me a question, and I will cheer so that I may be
heard a block. You tell me that the position of this party you ask me to
cheer for is high license; now here is a list of ninety-five of the
principal cities of the country, forty-six high license and forty-nine
low license. The total arrests for drunkenness in the high license
cities was 288,907, as against 208,537 in the low license cities. What I
want to know is this: How is this sort of a temperance measure going to
'promote temperance and morality'? Public control, local option, mulct
tax and other measures you devise figure up about the same way. Take
these statistics and in the light of them solve the puzzle for me."

"Statistics are hard to dwell in unity with. Take them to a preacher.
This is a matter for them to deal with," laughed the judge.