The record-union., 1898-09-03

NEW YORK, Sept. 2.-The World
prints an interview with General
Shafter, in which he is reported as
saying:
AT Santiago we had to deal with
things as they We're, not as they should
have been. OF course there was sick
ness. 1t was inevitable in a summer
campaign. But nobody was neglected.
The doctors We're scarce at first, but we
had boatloads of.them as soon as they
could get there. The doctors got sick,
like the rest. They were overWorked
and exhausted, but their ability was
unquestionable. Look at the low per-
centage of deaths from wounds. 1t
never was lower in any war. Why, in
the Civil War 1 lay on the battlefield
myself until maggots developed in my
wounds, and was right near by, not
down in a malarial, sub-tropical coun-
try, far away.
The men who ordered a summer
campaign in a fever-invested country
are responsible for the natural and un-
avoidable consequences.
None of our wounded were allowed
to lie on the battlefields. as l was in the
Civil War. Nothing of the kind hap
1T was the heat that was so deadly
and the rains. Right in the midst of the
torrid heat a shower would fall 1t
would drench everybody, without cool
ing the air. In a few minutes, under
the sun again, every man would be
steaming. Men of the strongest con-
stitutiOnS Succumbed.
Our first case of yellowe fever devel-
me .af J11tt he nc
ripe for it. and it spread like a prairie
fire. Many man had yellow fever who
never will know it. And, to tell the
truth, it is not SO dangerous as the cal
entura, or heat attacks, that unaccli-
mated men have in the malarious re-
gions of Cuba Why it is a common
thing for a mans temperature to rise
from a normal state to 105 in a few
hours. That means death in most
cases.
1t can give cards and spades to yell
low fever in the game of death.
would rather have yellow fever. / tell
you, when a man burns up inside
there's little hope for him
Our men We're all unacclimated.
They never had faced constant sun.
Many of them had never slept outside
they be nodded into proper material
for such a climate and such a cam
paign? 1t could not be done These
men you see coming back with thin
bodies are suffering from the parasite
of the low fever of the Santiago pla-
teaus.
The cool air and good home care will
cure them. That malady seems to de-
stroy the red corpuscles in the blood
The veins are filled with water. There's
a man on deck suffering just that way.
Take a good look at him If he were
pale you would say he was in the last
stages of tuberculosis. But he is as yell
low as his uniform. Very we'll; he has
it. He is weak, and will require care.
But good air in a decent climate will
make him we'll again. He has had the
fever within three weeks. He does not
know how narrow has been his escape
from death Wait till October, or, bet
ter still, the first frost. They will be
all right again when they get whole
some, nutritious food.
we had to choose the lesser of the
two evils-to ship the men north to a
healthy climate, not wanting to keep
them where they must die. We at the
front did not wait to let the fever have
it's run We wanted to save life. Now,
the problem was to save the most lives
possible We never have had a foreign
war since 1S12-14. The United States
has no hospital ships. 1t was not a
question of using what was best, but
what he had. We used the transports
that brought the troops down.
IF I could have had few weeks to