During the whole of Christmas leave he was drinking, made drunk by his friends who were probably proud of his having held part of a trench against a German bombing party. His captain described him as a good soldier in peace, and brave in action—a man whose disgrace would be felt by the regiment. Mr. Justice Rowlatt said everyone was hoping for the time when millions of brave men would come home after facing incredible dangers, and we must look forward almost with terror to having these men exposed to drink and its temptations. What would be the state of the country in such a case unless we could make a clean sweep of drink? We should have to face this question over and over again, and the sooner we faced it the better. _Records of Derbyshire Assizes, February 1917_ Whoever allowed soldiers or sailors to drink to excess, said the Mayor of Tynemouth, should be tried by court-martial for treason. He would be recreant in his duty to God, to himself, and to the citizens, if he did not call attention to the brutalising of so many townspeople and the callous conduct of the “waster” element in the drink trade. He had no quarrel with those who conducted their business properly. _Facts in Tynemouth papers, February, 1915_ The Aldershot command appealed for the closing of half the publichouses, to save the men from temptation when the troops are demobilised and return with their pockets full of money. _Record of Workingham Licensing Sessions, 1917_ The _Army and Navy Gazette_, in an article disapproving of the Prohibition Campaign, issues a terrible warning which should be printed on the door of the room in which the Army Council meets. These are its words: “It is on record that towards the end of the siege of Sebastopol rum was made too regular an issue, with the result that almost every soldier who survived to return home became a drunkard.” The siege of Sebastopol lasted less than a year, and that is the work of the rum issue for a few months. If rum does that in months, what will it do in years? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Into the Firing Line