Section 17 of the Army Act, passed by Congress March 2, 1899, reads:
"That no officer or private soldier shall be detailed to sell intoxicating drinks as a bartender or otherwise, in any post exchange or canteen, nor shall any other person be required or allowed to sell such liquor in any encampment or fort, or on any premises used for military purposes by the United States; and the Secretary of War is hereby directed to issue such general order as may be necessary to carry the provisions of this section into full force and effect."
After vainly trying to find some other method of evading the law, Secretary Alger, then the head of the War Department, obtained from Attorney-General Griggs the opinion that the army saloon, known as the canteen, could run as usual if only the bartenders were not soldiers. Griggs said:
"The designation of one class of individuals as forbidden to do a certain thing raises a just inference that all other classes not mentioned are not forbidden. A declaration that soldiers shall not be detailed to sell intoxicating drinks in post exchanges necessarily implies that such sale is not unlawful when conducted by others than soldiers.... The act having forbidden the employment of soldiers as bartenders or salesmen of intoxicating drinks, it would be lawful and appropriate for the managers of the post exchanges to employ civilians for that purpose. Of course, employment is a matter of contract, and not of requirement or permission."
This opinion, pronounced anarchy by every judge and every lawyer, outside of the President's Cabinet, that has spoken upon it, is upheld by Secretary Root, the new head of the War Department; and by President McKinley.