The times., 1898-09-14
MADE PUBLIC IN PART.
Extracts From Lieut.. Col Smart's
Report on Camp WiI<off.

Extracts From Lieut.. Col. Smart's
Report on Camp wikof
Surgeon General Sternberg has made
public the following paragraphs from the
report of Lieut. Col. Smart, chief of the
sanitary division in the medical depart
ment, who was detailed to make an in
vestigation of Camp Wikoff, Montauk
Point, n. Y. Col. Smart says In part:
The first subject which arrested my
attention on arrival at the hospital was
the utterly Frustrated condition of some
of the men furloughed at the interven-
tion of friends who desired to remove
them to their homes. No doubt much
pressure was brought to bear on the sur-
geons charged with the duty of furlough-
ing them. but 1t appears TO me that much
greater care should have been exer cise d
in authorizing the departure o. certain of
these men on journey which necessarily
involved much fatigue.
IAN hour later a telegram from your
self to the surgeon in command explicitly
forbidding the furloughing of mel unable
TO take care of themselves appeared TO
me to be sufficient to remedy this evil,
due not to carelessness, but TO excess Of
sympathy with the soldier and desire to
have him in the care of hs friends and
relatives.
THE camps are kept in excellent condi.
ton, the streets and inter-regimental
areas perfectly clean, all garbage buried,
except some of the refuse, which is more
conveniently disposed of by burning, and
the sinks deep, well protected by board
ing. and SO carefully attended 10 as in no
instance 10 constitute nuisance. The
streets of the infantry camps are from
twenty TO twenty-five feet wide, as most
of the regiments are small: in the cav
airy division they are wider, as the camp
areas are larger, to give space for the
horses. Only two of the regiments. the
Third and Twentieth Infantry, are in
any way crowded.
The tents of all the commands are
wedge wall tents, three men TO tent,
each tent well spaced from its neighbors.
In few cases board floors have been laid
and lumber is being delivered in some
regiments for this purpose, but speaking
in general terms, the men sleep on bed
stacks filled with straw or hay. These
with their blankets, are clean and summed
and aired daily. Some recruits recently
arrived are not yet provided with bed
sacks. -#-Ht--7 =-"-
I'm the interior of many of the tents
lIltIt II a IdCh VI lluiLSSS anu SDlultItS
neatness, due to the worn-out condition
of the men. The Tenth Cavalry was ex-
ceptionally good in this respect every
tent being notably clean and neat
THE water supply Of the camp and hos
pitfalls is taken from a well about 200 yards
from the eastern margin of Fort Pond.
A free supply was found at a depth of
forty feet below the surface. Two strata
Of. clay, one near the surface, the other
at a depth of twenty-five feet, separate
the well water from surface contamna-
ton. 1t is distributed by about eight
miles of pipe and on tap in each of the
regiments. Two of the regiments-the
Ninth and Thirteenth Infantry-are pro-
vided with Pasteur filters in their COM
pany kitchens.
with this satisfactory water supply
and the good sanitary condition prevail
ing in the regimental camps, l have no
hesitancy in saying that the troops could
stay on their present ground in Winter
quarters without any such outbreak of
typhoid fever as has occurred at Camp
Alger and at Chickamauga Park"