The record-union., 1898-11-03
OUR TROOPS IN PHILIPPINES.
THEIR HEALTH FAR FROM
BEING GOOD.
Forty Deaths During September,
Mostly Due to Typhoid
Fever.

Correspondence of Associated Press)
MANILA (P. ID, Oct. S.-The health
OF the troops here al present is far from
being good, notwithstanding the state
ments of the medical department to the
contrary. At Cavite the conditions are
very bad. There have been over forty
deaths there since September 1st.
mostly from typhoid fever. One third
of the officers of the Montana voIun-
teer regiment are on the sick list in
Guiding the Colonel and Lieutenant
Colonel, who are unfit for duty.
In one battery alone over 10 per cent.
of the men stationed there have been
on the sick list within a month. the
officers being affected as we'll as the
privates. The hospital accommodations
there are inadequate. The supply Of
medicines was exhausted at one time,
and for days there was nothing medi-
cinally to administer to the patients.
The place is unhealthy at best. The
men are quartered on ground floors
where it is damp, and in this country
especially, conducive to illness Many
of the men worked themselves i'll dur
ing the process of cleaning Cavite, but
now that the sanitary conditions are
being looked after, an improved record
Will doubtless follow.
In Manila the conditions are better
The men are fairly well quartered, and
are being given better accommodations
as fast as possible, and it will not now
be long before all reason for complaint
Will have passed. Much of the sickness
of the past can be traced to the over
croWding of the men while proper
quarters were being prepared
Malaria is the most common of the
diseases among the troops. A mala-
rial condition is the natural result of
the climate and sanitary conditions
which prevail. Typhoid fever has also
developed to a serious degree. The
average number of sick in the hospi-
tails. in addition TO the number of men
relieved from duty by order of the
physicians, is 500. The new cases re-
ported to the hospitals daily average
about forty cases.
! There have been twelve cases Of
! smallpox among the soldiers so far,
! six of which have proved fatal. The
| regimental physicians have advised the
/ whitewashing of the soldiers quarters
and the liberal use of corrosive sub
! Innate, but there is not sufficient lime
or corrosive sublimate, or even a good
/ substitute to be had. Smallpox is al
ways prevalent among the natives.
many having it as children. The doc
! tors are doing everything possible to
/ confine it among the natives. No cases
have been reported for the past five
| days.
| The hospitals, which in the past have
] been nothing more than death traps,
are being put into sanitary condition
They are abundantly supplied with
| food. and medicines are now obtain
able at moments notice. The Red
! Cross has been grossly mismanaged,
and has been of little assistance.
Colonel Lippincott has steadfastly re-
! fused to give out any information to
| the press from his office up to to-day,
and only then through General Otis.
Colonel Lippincott said. with cooler
weather, a radical improvement is
!! loked for" General Otis recently ir-
| speeted one of the hospitals, the con-
vent hospital, established since the
capitulation of Manila, and said it was
the finest hospital he had ever Wis
/ tied.
/ For the three months ending October
| 1st the number of deaths in this army
| from all causes number four officers
and eighty-three enlisted men.