ABSTRACT
In 1916, the ratio of admissions to the sick report for alcoholism inside the United States stood at 13.07 per thousand, the lowest figure since 1870. The attitude of prohibition and punishment, prevalent in the army and in much of American society, served to mask symptoms rather than to relieve the causes of the problem. In the phase of Pershing's pursuit of General Francisco Pancho Villa, the army, despite ambiguously defined military objectives, vigorously carried the fight to the Mexican irregulars. According to Pershing's intelligence, of the estimated 485 men who attacked Columbus, 203 had been killed, 108 wounded, and 19 captured. To civilian reformers and regulators as well as the military, prostitution was a link to other physical and moral dangers. The abuse of drugs other than alcohol seemed to grow as more men found themselves encamped along the border with little to keep them occupied.
