El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-09-21
Why the Army Suffered.


A young surgeon in the army, writ
ing from Lyle, Ga, TO the st. Louis
Mirror, declares that much of the re-
ported suffering of soldiers in the var
lous camps is mere hysteria and Is
being used for political effect. There
is, of course, much truth in the state
ment. The yellow journals are con-
tinually seeking the sensational and
they touch nothing they do not exag-
gerate. That there was great suffer-
ing and unnecessary suffering goes
this suffering resulted from the faults
of the soldiers themselves, this sur
geon at least believes, and he was on
the ground.
The rawness of the recruits was pit
liable. They knew nothing of camp
life o. how to take care of themselves,
and they were exposed to every danger.
'One thing l Observed" writes this
surgeon, lis that the volunteer officers
very seldom know how to provide for
their pen. They can not learn
in three months how to
iraw supplies so that the sup
plies will no: be wasted. They do not
know what to draw, and in what pro-
portion. They allow meat and vege
tables to spoil. They do not under
stand the great virtue of having just
enough and of preserving what they
nave in excess. L have seen whole
beeves tainting in the sun at Chicka-
manga, when if the volunteers had any
-ense they would have boiled or roast
cd.the beet" This is quite natural.
Young men who had never been re-
quired to explore the mysteries of
dinner farther than ordering it in q
restaurant or having it set before
them at home could not, in the very
nature OF things, be expected to learn
The duties OF cook, butcher and COM
nissary offic er In month. 1t was
something new to them, and something
required of them. With the
regulars there was no such
trouble 'In the Santiago camps"
continues this surgeon, 1.-THE regulars
suffered less than the volunteers.
They did not eat anything that offered
They stuck to the rstions and the ra-
tions stuck by them. Very little food
was spoiled. Among the volunteers so
much was spoiled that after one meal
they had to go hungry"
OF course, under existing conditions,
the trouble was to have been expected.
The boys who were taken from COM
Portable homes knew nothing of rough
lug it and were in no way prepared for
what they had TO encounter. Contin-
uing, this writer says: where there
we're many old-time regular officers in
charge of camps there was little sick
ness. I'need only cite Jacksonville.
The novices at Camp Alger and Camp
Thomas, the officers | mean, did not
know their business. The same thing
vas the trouble at other camps
The political appointees of
q he state governors did not
know the routine, and the political ap-
pointees of the war department were
equally ignorant. The great shame
was that there were not enough regu-
ar officers to leaven the volunteer Off
GERS and show them how to do it.
There were not enough professional
soldiers to show the amateurs the
ropes The few professionals there
we're, were swamped by the necessity
OF doing the thinking, at the concen-
tration camps, for the volunteer Off
GERS. The volunteer officers got in
their own way, stumbled over them
selves, lost their heads. and the no.
vices in the commissary and medical
did the same thing. 1t
takes time to learn anything, and the
art of war is no child's play. AS in
every other matter, cruel experience is
the only thing that teaches, and much
suffering WAS, you may say, necessary,
in order that the new men, officers, sur
geons and privates, might know how to
prevent more. This may seem brutal:
it is brutal in fact, but it is law of
life and there is no escaping it." Pre-
paredres is one of the prime essentials,
ana no matter how vslorous a nation
may be, it can not fight unless pre-
pared for fighting. A writer in one of
the magazines pointed out some time
ago the curious fact that while Anne
ricsns were the most practical and
shrewdest of business men, they con-
Quoted the business features of the war
with a lack of order and q clumsiness
that would disgrace hslf-civilized |
nation.
But strange to say the city boys who |
were raised in luxury and pampered, |
who were dudes or cavaliers at home. |
stood the hardships of the campaign |
better than did the country boys. This /
claim has been made and disputed very
often by the survivors of the late war
and now this writer explains that 1.-The
:ity boy knew how TO take care of him
'slf. No did not wear out SO sosn under