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A serious effort to raise the moral tone of the Army is a reform that must begin at the top; if the officers recognise their responsibilities and set a good personal example, a long step will have been taken towards a higher standard. But it is very difficult to get officials to believe that any new thing is worth trying. It is only quite recently that any serious efforts have been made to check drunkenness in the Army; but already these efforts have been attended by very satisfactory results. Lord Roberts contributes a letter to the end of the report of Lord Onslow's Committee in which he speaks of the difficulty he had in getting commanding officers to believe that the habits of their men could be improved, or that well-managed coffee shops would be of any practical utility to the men. What is now in process of being done to discourage drunkenness we want to see started for the purpose of discouraging vice; I do not mean, of course, that the methods used should be identical, but that there should be an honest and energetic attempt made to reach a better state of things, and that every officer who was proud of his profession should look upon this as a very essential part of his duty.
I have already referred incidentally to the way in which the health statistics are kept, and I should like to say a few words more about this.
These statistics are now kept station by station and not regiment by regiment. If they were kept regiment by regiment or battalion by battalion, commanding officers would have the opportunity of comparing the health statistics of one military unit with those of another, and it would give them an opportunity of observing what officers had the best influence over their men in regard to these matters and also whether any particular educational or moral agencies were useful or the reverse in combatting the evil. The officers would then learn by their own and each others' experience, and the mere spirit of emulation would make officers eager to get a good record for their own men.
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would make officers eager to get a good record for their This is very much the system adopted by General Goodenough, now Commander-in-Chief at the Cape. The hospital return for every company is sent in each month to the Colonel, and from the Colonel to the General. The returns are then circulated among all the officers for mutual information. This plan has already led to a considerable and progressive improvement: General Goodenough has earnestly exerted himself to create a better tone among officers and men under his command, and make them feel that vice is a disgrace and a violation of natural laws conducing to health. In the debate in the House of Lords (Times, May 18th, 1897) Lord Lansdowne referred in very appreciative terms to General Goodenough's efforts to improve the moral tone of the men under his command; but he omitted to state, and I think the omission is unfortunate, that the General is a strong opponent of the principle of the C. D. Acts.
I have said enough to justify the expression used in the resolution that we view with alarm the steps which have recently been taken. I have also endeavoured briefly to indicate the lines on which I believe we must work for a better state of things. Some people are greatly shocked at finding women touching these questions. Though when women expressed approval of what the Government is doing, or were supposed to be about to do, almost every newspaper in England expressed admiration for their courage and public spirit, so that the horror which is sometimes manifested at women having opinions on this subject must be rather superficial. I am very far indeed from saying that it is a question which every woman should try to understand. I have often urged women of nervous and excitable organisations to leave the whole matter alone.
* See letter signed "No Fanatic," Times, June 8th, 1897.
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