A VOICE FROM THE RANKS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Sru,—Having served in the ranks since August, allow me to say a word about "National Military Service" and the "Drink" problem. On the grounds of equity and right, the flower of our British manhood—that manhood which is now serving with the colours—cries out for National Military Service throughout the Empire. We of the rank-and-file also see for ourselves the wonderful physical development which takes place in a lad after some two or three months of military training. We note the clearer eye, the more sprightly step, we notice the " glory " of a man—namely, his physical strength developed to a very wonderful degree under our present conditions of military service ; a service which gives to a man the very best form of freedom that a man can possess, the freedom of a mens sana in corpore sand.
The way in which we Englishmen tackle the drink problem is, I think, simply nauseating. Ninety per cent, of us see the sick man of drink lying at the side of the road; we go up and shake our heads and say : "Poor devil! What a curse drink is! It ought to be stopped," &c., &c. Then, instead of doing the brave and straightforward thing—namely, rushing the trench of drink at the point of the bayonet and wiping the cursed thing right out—we pop at it with a toy pistol from behind a rock. As a non-commissioned officer responsible for order in his own unit, I have learnt one or two facts about drink. The abuse of liquor does not of necessity mean "drunkenness," but the abuse of liquor does of necessity mean harm both to the individual and his unit. At the present moment certain of our soldiers are allowed to help in the haying. These men are doing good work, receive good pay, and, I regret to say, receive also beer. The War Office would do well to prohibit
Previous page
