The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-29
WATER NOT CONTAMINATED
ONE ACCUSATION SEEMINGLY
UNFOUNDED.
Many Expressions of Commentator
by Members of the Methods
Pursued at Sternberg
hospital.
Special Dispatch to The Call,


CHATTANOOGA, Tenn, Oct. 28.-
The war investigating commission
spent the entire day inspecting the site
of Camp Thomas in Chickamauga Park
under the guidance of General Boynton,
General A. 2. Stewart, member of
the Chickamauga Park Commission,
and Mr.. E. e. Belts, the engineer of
the committee. The inspection began at
Lyle station and covered all points of
interest in the park and near it's Dor
ders which have been in any way in
volved in the controversy concerning
the sanitation of the camp, including
Sternberg and Letter hospitals; the
various springs from which water was
obtained by the troops, including the
famous Crawfish Springs and the point
on Chickamauga Creek at which the
water of the pipe line supply was taken
out
Especial attention was given to this
latter place, because of criticisms which
have been made upon this source of the
camps water supply. They found the
intake pipe submerged about twenty
feet above the mouth of a tributary
creek locally known as Cave Spring
Creek, which drained the camp. The
charge had been made that the water
from the tributary stream had con-
taminated the camps water, being
carried back into it by means of eddies.
and, in one case, by an overflow after a
freShet.
General Boynton and Mr.. Belts, who
had both been concerned in the loca-
ton of the pipe line, admitted that
there had been an occasion when Cave
Spring had oVerhOWed, thus throwing
its water into the main stream. The
l,0I n OF ityhr hon
the pumps were shut down and no
water was being taken in. They call
ed attention 10 the depth of the stream
and urged the impOssibiity of infection
from this stream.
General Wilson gave. especial atten-
ton to the question as an engineer
ing problem, and While he refused to
allow himself to be quoted, it was evil
dent from the interest he manifested
and the expressions he dropped that he
was impressed with the striking i'm
probability, if not the impOSsibility, of
infection from this source. 1t was also
equally evident that a majority of the
committee formed the same opinion.
There were many expressions of COM
mendation of the methods followed at
Sternberg Hospital, and General Dodge
was heard to remark that it was a
pity to have to leave any situation so
well equipped. All patients were housed
in wooden houses. Major Griffin, in
command of the hospitals, said it would
soon be abandoned.
The committee gave attention to the
proximity of the various camps to one
another and the depth and localities of
the sinks. The conclusion seemed quite
general that many camps were too
close together and that this fault could
have been avoided by moving, as there
was in the opinion of at least some of
the committee, sufficient space that was
not occupied for the accommodation of
many thousands more of troops. Many
of the sinks We're found to have been
nearer the tents than proper ideas Of
sanitation encourage and in some cases
the character of the surface was found
to be such as to warrant the conviction
that the sinks were shallOWer than they
should have been, but this was true
only of parts of the camp.
After concluding the inspection Of
the camp Major Griffin, who had peen
before the commission before, was ask
ed to make statement concerning
some criticisms of the hospitals, made
in a Vermont newspaper by Frank a.
Bailey who had spent six weeks in the
hospitals nursing his brother When
he returned home he wrote an article
saying, among other things, that he
had heard physicians tell attendants to
give their attention to patients who
had a chance to recover and not to
nurse those who were sure to die. These
instructions were given, he said, in the
presence of those designated as of the
latter class and he had heard other
physicians instruct their helpers 10
give ice cold baths with the view Of
finishing their patients"
DR.. Giffin pronounced as false all this
statement.
DR.. Charles F. Craig, bacteriologist
of the Sternberg Hospital, was also ex-
amined. He was questioned especially
with reference TO the water supply Of
the camp, and he expressed the opinion
that the water taken from the Chicka-
manga River through the pipe system
was purer than that in the wells and
springs Of the grounds. He said he
had found some sewer bacilli in one
or two of the wells, though no typhoid
germs. He had also found impurities
in water taken from some Of the
springs. He had made two analyses of
the water from the river, one before the
July freshet and the other after it, and
had found it to be entirely wholesome
from a archaeological standpoint. 1t
was muddy and he thought it should be
filtered He had also made tests which
convinced him that there was no dan
ger Of eddies carrying the water of the
Cave Spring Creek into the pipes.
DR.. Craig expressed the opinion that
common housef1ies are capable Of prov
ing a decided source of disease infection
and he detailed bacteriological tests
showing that they carried typhoid
germs upon their feet. He also said
that he had macerated a number Of
flies which had been placed on sugar
impregnated with the germ and had
procured from them pure typhoid
bacillus culture.