Lord Kitchener is dead, but there are two things that are with us still—that rare little note that he gave to his men as they went out, warning them of drink; and that infamous note sent out by a drink firm in London, begging our people to send out drink to our men. They can guarantee it right up to the firing line, they say, and even when our shells could not get there through drink, drink seems to have found its way. It can get on to transports when the Ministry of Munitions is waiting urgently for shipping space; it can commandeer our vans and horses and trains when these mean life or death to us; it seems to get past any regulation; it goes about with the power of a king, doing its work where it will. It is regrettable that our troops at the Front cannot get more British Beer. Managing Director of Allsopps, July 14, 1916 Dear Sir, In answer to your inquiry, the only limitation in the size of cases consigned to officers in the Expeditionary Force is that they must not exceed 1 cwt. We can guarantee delivery right into the front trenches. The cases are handed over at Southampton to the Military Forwarding Officer, and the A.S.C. see them right through. We are shipping hundreds of cases weekly. Yours faithfully, _Letter from a Wine and Spirit firm in London_ So drink finds its way to the front, to weaken our troops, with all their matchless heroism. Let us call the witnesses who have seen the work it does. Soldiers at the front, tried for drunkenness, have declared that they have received drink from home. Men sometimes receive flasks in the trenches. They are exhausted, the stimulant revives them for a minute or two, and the harm is done. “And then (says Col. Crozier) they get about two years’ hard labour.” _Letter from Colonel Crozier, commanding 9th Royal Irish Rifles_ As a result of a Court-martial investigating charges of excessive drinking among the officers of a regiment at the Front, the Army Council removed the commanding officer from his post. _Records of Court-martials, 1916_ In the torrid climate of Mesopotamia, in defiance of all military medical history, rum was issued to the men instead of food and sterile water, and the presence of cholera, dysentery and other diseases, was attributed to this by Sir Victor Horsley. “Our gross failures and stupidity,” he said, “are in my opinion due to whisky affecting the intellectual organs and clearness of our leaders. They do not realise that alcohol in small doses acts as a brake on the brain.” _Facts in a letter from Sir Victor Horsley, May 13, 1916_ [Illustration: THE JUNKER’S LITTLE BROTHER]