Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-10-07

Hau " wait ioi iouis III tHe uVp'e "he"
the red tape proceedings should have
been gone through with. Not long since,
siIty-two sick and convalescent soldiers
from various regiments were sent to
Chattanooga Saturday night, before
any provision had been made for their
transportation. After some hours of
misery, the Central station master took
up the seats in one of the waiting rooms
and the ladies of the Soldiers Rest
brought cots, blankets and pillows and
made the men as comfortable as they
could under the circumstances. 1t was
more than twenty-four hours before the
TRANSFORMATION was arranged for.
Official and other reports are now be-
fore the public. There has been that of
Rev. Marion r. Ham, Chattanooga
pastor who has daily visited the hospit-
ais; there has been that OF Gen. Boynton
only mildly critical there have been news
paper rumors and private testimony ga
lore, all agreeing that there has been in
efficiency, neglect and needless suffering.
But nothing that has been published is
50 startling as the report on the Second
Division hospital which appeared in Fri
days press as the official report of the
board appointed bv Gen. Breckenridge to
investigate the charges made against it.
On testimony of officers, chaplains and
privates it is proven that medical sup
plies and attendance were inadequate,
and that men went for days without
medical attention and died OF neglect;
that the sinks Of the hospital were neg
lccted, the grounds about the tents filthy,
and sanitation wholly disregardcd The
sworn record of the revolving facts will
send shudder through the nation. The
columns of the Tribune do not suffice to
even hint at the horrors revealed by this
and other sources.
Gen. Bovnton touches lightly on the
dark side of the picture and eulogizes
Letter hospital, and dwells approaching
ly on the splendid equipments of the
Sternberg hospital and the skill of its
competent manager, DR.. Griffin. But
what avails its magnificent resources
just as the camp is breaking up, lavishly
provided too late to save the needless
death and suffering of the soldiers in
these long weary months OF waiting. 1t
is almost mockery of fate, that all this
should come just in time to emphasize the
awful and criminal hardness of our Gov
eminent.
And even Sternberg has its drawbacks.
1t was dependent for the filter that gave
it pure water to the beneticent eIertions
of a private citizen, Rev. DR.. Trimble'
president of the Relief Commission. Its
location is in quagmire where the debris
of large portion of the camp has been
dumped all summer, and there the heaps
still remain and are still piled up within
a hundred yards of the hospital. The
typhoid fever has thoroughly infected
the hospital Within three weeks of its
opening fifty cases died and five Of the
contract nurses were down with the
dread disease, while Others have gone
home to recuperate.
One conclusion should be drawn from
all this woeful record, and if these inves-
LEGATIONS but lead the authorities to see
where the real source of trouble lies,
such things may be rendered impossible
in the future.
Our Government has copied the German
system, which makes the medical depart
ment of the service independent from the
military, yet without that efficiency and
organization which prevail in
that nation which is always on a war
footing. 1t is an innovation in this
country and it's practice has shown it to
be entirely unsuitable for dealing with a
volunteer army. Under this system as
soon as the sick soldier passes from regi-
mental hospital to the division or gener
"a HOSDlldI ne II dDSDlulClV lCiioNSu iioiH
all control or relationship to his colonel,
his brigade and division commanders.
and even that of the commander OF the
camp, as # he were a subject of the
Kahn of Tartary. The loss in personal
contact, sympathy and responsibility is
while it is just here in this
transfer of authority that all the delays
md failures and plumbers have their orr
yin and difficulty Of bringing the guilty
parties to account
1t is un-Amcrican that an officer should
,ndcr any circumstances tail to be re-
iponsiblc for the welfare and comfort OF
he men in his command. This separa-
ion of interests has made the officers
,owerless, giving the men "A feeling of
version to the hospital service as if it
we're wholly foreign to them and has at
he same time SO multiplied red tape OBJ
that the medical department
las been baliled at every turn.
Let every thoughtful citizen give earn