The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-01-01
LEGS TO ORDER.
Interesting Items About the Army of
Crippled Soldiers.

eve have the names of about eight
cen Thousand veterans who have ap-
piled for REPAIRS said Mr.. Ramsey,
department of the surgeon general 5
office, to a Washington Star reporter.
You know we tit them out with new
sets of legs, arms, or other apparatu.
every five years. 1t is now getting to-
ward the close one of those periods,
and we have repaired IA, 900 veterans.
Aren't the one-legged men dying
off?' asked the reporter.
Now that's an interesting question.
/ guess they are. | presume many OF
those whose names we have have since
died, but l can't tell certainly. Now,
as I've said, every five years we recon
struct the manned veterans of the
army, but they have their choice to
take the repairs or the money. The
allowance for LEG is $75, for anything
less than leg is $50. From one period
to another many old veterans drop out.
Some of them make one or two appli-
cations, and then we never hear from
them again. Naturally, we conclude
when they don't send for their money
VI lluSl NC dlu HdNc lC
more use for them But we don't
limit ourselves to men who have actual
ly lost their limbs. A man who has
simply lost the use Of his limbs is en-
titled to wooden leg or arm, as the
case may be, though lie can't wear them.
SO you see we can keep a record of all
the one-legged men, but / guess there
aren't as many as there used to be.
Yet there are lots Of them, and many
who haven't any legs at all, aud some
with neither legs nor arms. Then there
are many who have not lost their limbs
but who have no power to move. There
IS one man who gets two arms and two
legs allowance, who cannot move any
part of his body except the little finger
on his left hand, which he can bend
the least ittle bit. There is another, a
New England soldier, whose arms and
legs are dead, and who is blind in both
eyes. Not long ago man came in
here with no arms and sat down at
one of the desks and wrote with his
teeth. 1t was not particularly fine
writing, but you could read it. know
of another mamie was in the sharp
shooters service-who can't be stood
on his feet because he is bent in the
back so that his head would strike the
floor first. Think how many wears
these men have suffered, and many of
them are still living! Why, there's
hardly enough left of some of them to
hold together.
But you asked if they were dying
Off Now, here's roll we are Just
completing" and he laid several i'm
mense tally-sheets out on his desk.
You can see how they run. This is
the fourth period, and here's a man
who has gotten four legs-quite num-
Der for one man if he used them all at
once. And here's another who has
gotten four legs and four arms. No,
we don't furnish heads. but we supply
part, of heads, jaws, and secUIons or
skulls, and eyes. Now, here's a man
who got one leg in the first period, and
has never gotten any since; he is prob
ably dead. But here is another who
came in for repairs just after the war
and was never heard from again until
now. when he comes up again. He
didn't wear out very fast. Some men
wear well. and don't bother about get
ting repaired so eften. Here's another
mau, he added, pointing to another
name on the list. ''heres man who
comes up now for the first time, hav-
ing done without his limb all these
years. 1t runs this way, you see, all
the way through. Those men who have
not applied for their fourth leg, or
whatever ii is they want, we conclude
must be dead. Some, presume, will
live to get five or six legs, or as many
arms.