The Columbus journal., 1898-10-05
RICO ARMY SICK.
twenty-five Per Cent of Troops
on the Sick List.
MEN SHOULD BE sEHT North.

American army In Porto Rico. that the
condition of the American forces here
necesdtates their removal north. Sick.
ness has been increasing during the
past three weeks at an alarming rate.
Today the sick report shows over s.70o
In hospitals, or in quarters. out Of >
total command Of 10000 men, that is,
over Is per cent of the troops are ON the
sick list. This does not mean that there
IL IN effective strength Of $500 men.
The soldiers discharged from the hos
pitals as ct for duty, are in nine cases
out of ten incapable for service and if
ordered ON duty are almost invariably
back in the hospital in few days. The
medical officers have found that the
convalescents do not and seemingly
cannot recover their strength in this
climate and for this reason they are
being sent north as rapidly as possible,
several hundred leaving every week,
volunteerx Most Sickly.
Il is significant fact that there ID .
wide disparity between the sickness in
the volunteers and regular commands.
In the two regular infantry regiments.
the Nineteenth and Eleventh, the sick
ness averages only about 10 per cent.
while in the volunteer regiments, the
Sixth Massachusetts,, First New York
engineers, Fourth Ohio, Third Illinois,
First Kentucky, Third Wisconsin and
Sixteenth Pennsylvania, it averages 81
per cent. In the last named two, where
the conditions are the worst, the sick
report shows percentage of 46 in the
Sixteenth Pennsylvania and AZ in the
Third Wisconsin. Over half of these
two regiments. which. with the First
Kentucky, comprise General Ernst's
brigade. are unfit for duty. The dis
parity between the percentage Of sick
ness in the volunteers and regular or
carnations is largely due to the fact
that the former are better able to care
for themselves.
Steady Iscreass In Sickness.
The medical staff of the army under
direction of Major Snowden, has Ia
bored increasingly to stay the progress
of disease aud sickness, but the sick re-
port grows larger at the rate of GO day,
despite their efforts. Every tent on the
island was provided with q board floor
ing by the order of General Brooke;
and camps. cooking places and sinks
were carefully inspected time after
time until their sanitary condition today
seems perfect, yet the number Of sick
swells daily.
The weekly report of . week ago
shows $50 cases of typhoid fever, 565
cases of malaria, one case of smallpox
and 1,A5O cases of climatic fever, diar-
rhoea, etc. The worst feature Of the
situation Is the steady increase in the
number of typhoid fever cases which
has reached over 400. For time it ap-
peared probable that the typhoid fever
in the army, most of which is alleged
to have come from Camp Thomas and
Camp ARer. originally, would be
stamped ont, but about three weeks
ago new cases began to appear at an
alarming rate. Major Snowden and
his associates do not believe that there
10 q new source of contagion, but
rather that the cases are due to infec-
ton from the old cases.
It is possible that when the troops
cross the mountains after the evacua.
ton Of the island is completed by the
Spaniards aud get into barracks out of
the rain, which falls almost daily, their
condition will improve, but as to this.
the physicians are very skeptical. There
are spacious barracks in every large
town in the island, more than sufficient
to accommodate any garrison we may
leave there, and ut San Juan. Five
thousand men can be accommodated
easily in the barracks and the San Cris-
tObal and Morro fortresses. At Ibonito,
which might be used as q sanitarium in
case it is decided to keep the volunteer
regiments in Porto Rico. the barracks
will accommodate 1000 men. In most
of the towns there are also fairly well
equipped hospital buildings. 1t is said
to be the opinion Of many Of the general
officers that the volunteer organizations
could be withdrawn and that the two
regular regiments with the three troops
of cavalry and the four batteries now in
the island would be amply sufficient for
garrison duty,