The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-24

sion, with the humanities that amelio
rate the hardships Of war. They should
have all fit food, and 1t Is only too
true that they have not always had it.
They should have clothing suitable to
the climate In which they serve, and
we know that they have not had that.
But the soldier in the field, well and
hearty, expects deprivations. 1t is diff
ferent when disease or the enemy's
bullets have laid him on his back.
Then our humanities should come out
strong. They do at home. The work
of the Red Cross societies attests that.
But they fail to reach the field or
transport hospital. A contemporary
recently gave the narrative Of what q
father saw in a division hospital in
the camp at Chickamauga, where he
had gone to see how his sick son Jared
The story Of neglect, of appropriation
by hospital forces of delicacies intend
ed for the sick. Of gross inhumanity to
the helpless, made a grim contrast
when compared with the rhetorics of
the humanitarians.
The Seneca recently reached New
York loaded down with sick and
wounded officers and soldiers from the
fields about Santiago. For three days
these lncapacitated soldiers had been
carried aboard before she sailed on July
L. When she sailed she was filled
with the sick and wounded several
hundred of them. What would the
ordinary humanities demand in such a
case? Clearly that ample attendance
or doctors and nurses should be pro-
Vlded; that medicine surgical instru-
ments. food fit for the sick, ice in plen-
W, pure water, provision for cleanli-
ness, ana pure air should have been
furnished. An invaded correspondent
OF the New York Evening Post, who
came home on her, tells how all this
was not done. Two young, inexpert-
enced contract doctors were put in
charge. When a surgical operation
was found necessary "the doctor had
nothing better than table knife with
which to perform it," There was no
ice; the water was what remained of a
supply taken on at Tampa and was
turpid and vile to such an extent that
1t could not be drunk" Meals were
served twice day, at 10 in the morn
ing and in the afternoon, and "the
food was so incredibly bad that, though
one might be suffering from hunger,
ones appetite vanished on sitting down
to table,
The ship was sent away UNPUBLISHED,
and in storm the rolling was so Sc
we're that men were hurled from their
cots. Before leaving Siboney Miss
Janet Jennings. a nurse of the Red
Cross, came on at the last moment and
was Mortified to find how little prepa-
ration had been made to care for the
men. She procured a boat and went
to the Red Cross boat, the State of
Texas, and brought oyer what supplies
she could and sailed with the steamer
and devoted herself day and night to
the care of the men, but her supplies
were insufficient, and there was lack
Of woman's nursing" She could not
DO it all. The crowded quarters were
soon in state Of dirt and foulness be-
yond description" And thus a. great.
rich country, pretentious of its bu-
mainly, permits to be treated the men
who put life and health at risk In its
service. Let us have done with this
pratlng about the inhumanities of the
Spanlards until we shall have cleared
our own skirts Of these inhumanities to
our own sons.