FRENCH WAR MINISTER AND DRINK.

White Ribbon, Volume 22, Issue 261, 19 March 1917, Page 10

FRENCH WAR MINISTER AND DRINK.

At a meeting of the French Chamber, during a discussion on a demand for the regulation of the drink shops in the areas on upied by the armies, 4 petition emanat ng from the publicans of Marseilles 111 favour of less stringent regulations was referred to. General Gallieni, the Minister for War, made short work of this and other appeals, and spoke with soldierly directness on the drink evil. He said: “When I read manifestos like that of the publicans of Marseilles I am compelled to tell you that 1 am, as Minister of War, the guardian of the health of our soldiers, and also of that of the young men of the 1917 class, just called up, for whom the -Chamber and the Senate unanimously demanded that special measures of precaution and hygiene should be adopted. I wish to speak frankly, and to give my clear opinion. I cansider that the vendors and the publicans in a large number of localities in the interior are among those people profiting by the war who deserve the least consideration. For my part, I shall always do what 1 can to pk*e obstacles in the way of their pernicious activity. All the worse for them if their war profits are not what they expected! It will be a great benefit to our race, and a great benefit to our army and our country.”