The record-union., 1898-09-15
Reported to be Excellent by Lieu
tenant-CoIoneI Smart.
In Charge Of the Sanitary Division Of the
Surgeon-GeneraI's Office.
Has No Hesitation in Saying That
the Troops Could Remain on
the Ground All Winter Without
the Least Danger Of an Out
break of Fever.

NEW YORK, Sept. I4.-Surgeon GER
eral Sternberg called attention to
some additional features in the report
made by Lieutenant Colonel Smart con-
cerning the condition of Camp Wikoff.
Colonel Smart is in charge of the SAN
itary division of the Surgeon Generals
office and Professor of Hygiene n the
Army Medical School. He has had great
experience in water analysis and is re-
garded as an expert. He was sent by
General Sternberg to make a sanitary
inspection of the camp and report on
the conditions. The conditions to
which General Sternberg calls atten-
tion are as follows:
The first subject which attracted my
attention on arriving at the hospital
was the utterly PROSTATE condition of
some of the men furloughed at the in
tervention of friends who desired to re-
move them TO their homes. No doubt
much pressure was brought to bear on
the surgeons charged with the duty of
furloughing by the injurious entreatieS
of friends and of the sick men them
selves, but it appears to me that much
greater care should have been exercised
in authorizing the departure of certain
OF these men on journey which neces-
sarily involved much fatigue. An hour
later a telegram from yourself to the
surgeon in command, explicitly forbid
ding the furloughing of men unable to
take care of themselves, appeared to
me to be sufficient to remedy this evil,
due not to careIessness, but to exces-
sive sympathy with the soldier and the
desire to have him in the care Of his
friends and relatives.
The site of the camp is an excellent
one-a firm, compact and weli-draired
grassy sod. the soil beneath the surface
being held together in the intertwinad
roots of the grass and forming thus a
surface which wears we'll under foot
and is productive of neither dust in dry
weather nor mud in rainy weather.
Here and there in shallow depressions
and ravines the surface had been trod-
den down to a clay bed, which supports
surface water in pools, but, in view OF
fresh-s .breezes constantly blowing n
from the ocean, l am of the opinion
that no malarial developments need be
anticipated from these ponds.
Some of them. in the progress of
time, probably would become a nuis-
ance and would require 10 be drained
and filed up, particularly one on the
north side of the general hospital and
between it and its sinks
The camp of some cavalry recruits
and Of the engineer battalions is en- the
southeast corner of Fort Pond. The
First Division extends from this east
ward on a plain skirting with it's sinks
the seaward side of the mems quar-
ters, and well removed from them, the
Second Division is on a high, rolling
ground overlooking the ocean, and the
cavalry division on the rolling ground
in the interior between the ocean and a
large body of fresh water, a great
pond.
The camps are kept in excellent con-
dition; all garbage is burned except
some refuse which is more convenient
ly disposed of by burying. The sinks
are deep, well protected by buildings,
and also are fully attended to SO as in
no instance TO constitute n nuisance.
The streets in front of .he camp are
from twenty to twenty-five feet wide,
as most of the regiments are small. In
the cavalry division they are wider, as
the camp areas are larger. TO give
space to the horses. Only two regiments,
the Third and Twentieth Infantry, are
in any way crowded.
The tents of all commands are wedge
wall tents, three men to a tent; each
tent well spaced from its neighbor In
a few cases board floors have been laid
and the lumber is being delivered TO
some regiments for this purpose, but.
sr,eaking in general terms, the men
sleep on bed sacks filled with straw
and hay. These, with their blankets.
are cleaned and summed daily. Some re-
cr.uits recently arrived are not yet pro-
vided with bed sacks. In the interior of
MANY of the tents there is a lack of
tidiness and soldierly neatness, due 10
the worn-out condition of the men. The
Tenth Cavalry was exceptionally good
,n this respect. every tent being notably
clean and new.
The kitchens of all the commands
are under tent flies, all utensils clean
and waste burned. No suggestion of
a complaint as to the character of the
food supply could be ELECTED in any OF
the regiments. Ice, milk, eggs, mel
ons. etc, appeared to be abundant in
every camp.
The water supply of the camp and
hospital is taken from well about
200 Yards from the eastern margin of
the Fort Pond. A free supply is found
at a depth of forty feet below the sur
face. Two sheets of clay, one near the
surface, the other at dSsth or tWeh-
ty-five feet, separated the well water
from surface contamination. 1T is DIS
tributed by about eight miles or pipe
and is on tap in each Of the regiments.
Two of the regiments, the Ninth ana
Thirteenth Infantry, are provided with
Pasteur filters in their company tents.
The following tabulation shows the
result of chemical examination Of the
water by myself on Thursday, Septem-
Der Sth, Immediately after the samples
were drawn:
Pond Well Tap
Water. Water. Water.
Chlorin 62
ossrsenS oxvgen required .... .$75 .o75 .o75
Free Ere ammonia ..... Oo25 .OQ2 .oo2
Albuminoid ammonia. AS .0O3 .O05
The figures represent parts for one
hundred -thousandths of the water The
nond water is unfit for use as potable
water. The other samples are organic