The Mena star., 1898-11-23
MORTALITY LOSS.
Fewer Deaths from Sickness in
 Spanish Than in Civil War.
Deputy Surgeon General smart Makes Com parisons from the Five Months of Each ar-Expenditures by
 Fifty-fiFth Congress.

Washington, Nov. 22. --Col. Charles Smart, deputy surgeon general of the army. has sent a communication to Surgeon General Stern berg. compar- inc the deaths from sickness in the war with Spain and in the civil war. He says:
 can very promptly state that the sickness and mortality during the war with Spain were not relatively so great as that from which our volunteer troops suffered during the civil war A comparison of the deaths recorded by the medical officers of the present time gives over yhelmiug testimony to the effect that any dif- rerences discovered in the percentage of deaths from battle casualties and from disease are not due to the great prevalence and fatality of dis ease in the recent struggle, but to the number of sanguinary hattlefeids of the civil war
 Beginning with July. 1881. when we had medical reports from regiments aggregating only 69, ilS men. and including August Septem- Der, October and November, five months we find recorded a loss by death of 3,075 men in the reports sent in by medical officers. from an average strength present of TT, 690 men or i7.3l deaths out of every thousand men during that period of five months More deaths occurred than ere reported for some surgeons failed to send reports: but the probabilities are that had the missing reports been forthcoming. the deaths would have continued to havD the same | proportion to the reported strength.
 In April, 1898, President Mckinley called for i25 coo men and later for 75 0O0 which with an increase in the regular army and the immune and other special regiments, made total Of over coo men. Beginning with May. .s9S for which month we have medical reports in the office of the surgeon general of the army from regiments aggregating 1885 men and June July. August and September we find on ile . loss by death of only 1.l75 men reported by medical officers in an average strength of 16717S or 02l deaths out of every 1 900 men during that period oi i've months IT reports mad come in from the whole 270.C0) men. the number ofdeaths would probably have amount ed to 2,770
 According. then, to the testimony of every medical officer who has placed himself on record then and now. we lost in the five months war with Spain, 10 2l men out of every thou sand reported present by medical o fficers serv- ing with them and in the first five months Of the war of the rebellion, i73i out of every thou sand similarly reported present
 This Congress a Record Breaker
 Washington, Nov f9-The grand total of appropriations made by this congress at the regular session and the extra war session last spring ag- gregates Ss93, 23l,6 ,6l5. Of this amount SS61, ,s59, 927.26 is to meet expenses incurred on account of the war with Spain. At the short session commencing in December there will be regular appropriation measures to pass, in addition to the new bills, which will doubtedly swell the total amount of money appro- priated by the Fifty-fifth congress to S1, 500, 900, 900. This will be the great est sum ever expended or appropriated by any one congress during it's life of two years. And vet. while it will pass the high water mark in appropria- tions it will not go into history as needlessly extravagant The war with Spain, bringing with it vast ex- penditures for the army and navy. will account for the greater part of the in crease. Speaker Reed will be urged during the short session to permit the passage of public building bills, all of which have been held up for two years. There are now pending meas ures providing for government build, ings aggregating $40. GOO, 000. They are for all sections of the country. Mir. Reed may permit them to go through this winter