Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-05

More Manning Done by Railway Cars
and Machinery Than by Wars.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun
Gen. Hoke, Of North Carolina. is credited with
renarking on the rapid disappearance, In late
years, of the manned veterans of the civil war;
and saying that in few years men who have
lost arms or legs will be rare. A newspaper
paragraph to that effect was shown to a maker
or artificial limbs who furnishes more substi-
tute arms and legs than anybody else In the
United States, and he said: ut is true that
there are not so many cripples observable in
the streets as there were a few years ago,
but it is also true that there are almost as
many In the community, and probably always
VIII be as long is we have railroads. So far as
the old soldiers are concerned, l don't imagine
that they are dying off any faster than any
other men who were in their prime when the
war ended. seventeen years ago. As for Grip
pies becoming rare, that is true as far as their
ceasing to be conspicuous objects, but they'll
be here among US all the same. The difference
will be that the perfection to which the making
of artificial limbs has been carried. especially
in legs, prevents the mutatiOn of their wcarers
being noticed. Many men wander about with
artificial legs whom nobody would ever suspect
of being MANNED"
In practical demonstration of what he said
he called up three of his empioyes-ay young wO-
man. boy. and middle-aged man-and set
them walking to and fro in his large office.
There was nothing peculiarly observable in the
gait of either-nO heavy. wooden tramp. no
stiffness in the motions of the feet, and no halt
ing in the alternating steps, yet the young wO-
man wore one artificial leg, and each OF the
Others were supported on two wooden limbs
There" he continued. with an air Of triumph,
lis the climax of scientific invention in this di-
rection. Nobody would imagine seeing them
in the street, that they have been crippled.
And the young woman will dance all night with
that substitute leg without her partner sus-
pecting its existence, the man will skate,
and the boy can run a race! This is all at
tanned by the use OF a solid rubber foot that
is elastic under the heel tread and bends at the
toes like natural foot | could point out to
you in the street scores of men that wear these
solid rubber feet. not only old soldiers but
victims OF railway and other accidents. and you
would not recognize in their easy. sprin@y and
nOiseless walk that they were not in possession
of al their natural members. And that is the
great reason why cripples are disappearing
1t is very common error that more
men were manned in battle during the
war than during any other time of equal
duration in the history of the country; tut
the fact is that there are as many crippes
made by the railroads in each year now as were
made by the war in any wear of the war. That
| affirm from intimate knowledge of more than
6.oOO cases According to the war records there
were only about % COO crpples made on both
sides. north and south. by the war OF course
the exact number has not been. and cannot be-
aScertained. for not only We're many cascSneV
reported but in not few instances injuries re-
ceived in battle led to amputations number of
years afterwards. so long that they could not
have been included i'm the official records or kent
any exact account of. There was Henry La Rue
of Chinchilla. Lackawanna county. Pa. for i'll
stance who had a ler amputated in 1877 in con-
sequence Of a fracture received in 1865. when he
was q member of the Eleventh Pennsylvania
Cavalry.
Il have made thousands of legs and arms for
soldiers. who are supplied with them free of
cost by the Government. They are allowed s75
for q leg and $50 for an arm. and are entitled
every five years to renewal of the artificial
limb Or to its value in money. good leg of
willow, well made. with good steel joints and
springs and solid rubber foot. will last fifteen
years with proper care. and an arm is good fer
a lifetime. The elasticity of the rubber foot in
creases the durability "a well as the serviceabil-
itv of the leg. A fisst-class leg costs $l0O but
the one that is furnished to soldiers and sailors
for 80 is equally good except in the matter
OF finish. have heard of artificial legs being
made to order in France with gold-pated
joints. and all sorts of fancy business, costing
several hundred dollars. but have never been
called upon to get up anything of the kind and
II had to wear an artificial leg ] am sure l
would prefer plain one with that great Ameri-
can invention, the solid rubber foot. rather than
any gold-pated and jeweled one without it. /
am called upon to furnish from 500 to 600 arms
and legs. comparatively few of the former every
year. and you may say. on my authority, that
the railroad system Of this country as at pres
ent conducted, and the machinery used in so
many branches of manufacture may be relied
upon to make three crippes for every one that
would be likely to be made by another war. OF
course there are numbers of men in this bust
ness all over the country. and believe they all
do a pretty good business"
dealer in surgical appliances said ~ do
not deal in artificial limbs any more. for the
reason that the things have to keep are null
hilarious enough to set mans head whrling
and to prosecute the artificial limb business
properly requires exclusive attention to it. But
l know all about it, and often have to repair
arms and legs, SO that | meet many persons
who wear such things and give you my word
that have been surprised more than once by
men who came into my store and disclosed
that they had artificial legs. ! had not OBJ
served any indication Of it in their walk |
know girl employed in the Fifth Avenue Hotel
who has "a wooden leg with solid rubber
foot, and nobody of all those about her every
day, not even the ether girls. who sleep In the
same room with her at night suspect the fact
She is very smart bright girl, and she told me
that the secret of her concealing the fact so well
Is that when she commenced wearing it she
Carefully and Systematically trained the well leg
to adapt itself TO the movement of the manned
one, instead of reversing that process as most
persons do. The solid rubber foot is the inven-
ton of an old and experienced American maker
ana Is acknowledged in Europe as well as this
country, as the greatest discovery of the age in
this direction
Henry Laurens BascOmb, the actor who had
both his feet aInputated in consequence of their
being frozen. has had them replaced by rub
Der ones, and he now walks about almost as well
as anybody. well enough at all events
to enable him to teach elOcution and acting