This article, written by Callum Beg, appeared in the Navy & Army Illsrrated published on the 17th June 1899
The soldier of past ages was content to
invest what little surplus money remained to him, after paying for his regimental
and other necessaries, in tobacco and ale. Not so the youthful warrior of today.
Frequently fresh from school when he takes service under the Union Jack, it is not
a matter for surprise that he has no appetite for either the one or the other. From
time to time one hears of the prevalence of the “liquor habit” in the ranks and
its dire results- crime and disease. Now it can not be denied that an abnormal love
for “the flowing bowl” has been the ruin of many a promising soldier. It is equally
true that no small proportion of our modern soldiers, although displaying no tendency
to indulge in alcoholic liquors, is busy sowing the seeds of future disease connected for the most part with the digestive organs.
Lest either the Army reformer or the agitator
against armament of every description should for one moment suppose that the Government
rations are responsible for the cultivation of dyspepsia among the defenders of
the Empire, it may be well to clear the character of the “regulation” bread and
meat before proceeding further. Let it be understood, then, that the provisions
supplied free to the soldier are in no sense calculated to injure his "internal
economy". On the contrary, were he to satiate his appetite with the rations
provided for him, he would in all likelihood develop into a useful fighting man. Nowadays, however,
he too often prefers to fill the "aching void" with a mixture of jam-tarts,
cakes, and "fizzers". A fizzer,
as its name implies, is strictly speaking, a drink of an effervescent nature, but
the term is in reality applied indifferently to almost every kind of temperance
drink.
The demand for this species of liquor has
within recent years become so great that it has provided a number of persons in
the vicinity of every garrison town with a visible (and sometimes exceedingly lucrative)
means of subsistence. Needless to say, the camp followers referred to are made up,
like every other trade and calling, of honest men and rogues, although the latter,
when discovered, are very quickly deprived of "Tommy’s" patronage. A few
years ago, when the Fusilier Brigade - the old 5th (now Northumberland) Fusiliers,
the Royal Scots Fusiliers, and the Inniskilling Fusiliers - marched
out of Shorncliffe Camp on its way to Ashdown
Forest for manoeuvres, it was closely followed by a veritable host of what those
who had "soldiered" in the East were pleased to term
"fizzer-wallahs" of varying degrees of respectability. Some, sufficiently
well endowed with this world’s goods, carried their wares in carts or wheelbarrows.
Others in groups of two or three were, perforce, charged with the conveyance of
the ingredients necessary for the carrying on of their trade.
All that is required to manufacture the
fizzer proper is aqua pura and a proportionate amount of sherbet. During
the first few miles of the first day’s march it may be assumed that the former commodity
was to be had in abundance, but the thirsty young soldiers, unaccustomed to self-control,
had soon exhausted the water supply of the smaller dealers. The capitalists who
had a sufficient supply of Adam’s wine on their carts were overjoyed to see their
trade suddenly increased; but those who lacked transport were not wanting in resources.
The Hythe Canal lay along the route, and ere long the cans of the "small
fry" were again filled - but with what? A greenish stagnant fluid rich in bacilli.
Regardless of this fact, the younger men
of the brigade continued to drink; but before "lights out" had sounded
in camp that night there was "weeping and wailing and gnashing of
teeth" not to mention work in plenty for the Army Medical Staff.
"It’s an ill-wind that blows nobody
any good." So said the wiser "fizzer-wallahs" the following day;
for the mandate went forth that soldiers were to purchase their refreshments from
none but those provided with passes. Needless to say, the vendors of bacteria
were "unprovided with a pass" and wended their way homewards, sadder and
wiser men. In barracks and camps such as Aldershot strict rules obtain regarding
hawkers and their wares. None can follow their calling within the hallowed precincts
of Government property without the necessary pass, and before permission is granted
a strict investigation is made into the character of the applicant.
Generally speaking, the privileged dealers
are either pensioners or soldiers’ widows. The discovery of any illegal practice
on their part leads to the immediate loss of licence, but unfortunately there is
no regulation by which the authorities can control the appetite of growing lads
who are accustomed to leave all their pocket-money with these denizens of barracks.
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