It's not either/or. Bikes have had stems without stem cable holes but with cantilever brakes forever. Most use a hanger on the stem quill located with or in place of the washer between the top headset cup and the locknut. My Peter Mooney has used this for all of its 50,000 miles. And with most bikes it is not hard to use a fork crown mounted housing stop which has the benefit of preventing shudder caused by fork deflection while braking with headset or stem stops.

One example https://external-content.duckduckgo....6pid%3DApi&f=1

Newer and snazzier https://external-content.duckduckgo....6pid%3DApi&f=1

And a fork crown version https://external-content.duckduckgo....jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Any bike coop or older bike shop should have a few lying around. All older centerpull bikes came with these hangers so there are thousands out there of probably several dozen varieties. Mafac, DiaComp and Shimano all made a lot of these. Their hangers are fully trustworthy even if old enough to be past good looks. (Shimanos are probably the stiffest and best of the three but I have plenty of miles on all of them.) I've never owned a stem with the hole and stop for a brake cable and roughly half my 200,000 or so miles have been on cantilever or centerpull brakes. You can also drill your new stem for that stop and many do but I never will. I'm superstitious; having had a key front end part fail and having paid a huge price for it.