New-York tribune., 1898-11-22
DEATH RATES IN TWO WARS.
A STATEMENT FROM THE DEPUTY SUR
GEON GENERAL OF THE ARMY
MORTALITY IN THE CONFLICT WITH SPAIN CON-
TRAsTED WITH THAT IN THE

MORTALITY IN THE CONFLICT WITH SPAIN con-
TRAsTED WITH THAT IN THE
CIVIL WAR.
Washington Nov 2i.-Colonel Charles Smart.
Deputy Surgeon General OF the Army has sent the
following communication to Surgeon General Stern
berg. comparing the deaths from sickness In the
war with Spain and in the Civil War:
In reply 70 your INQUIRY can very y2IOS RTIOmpby tby
state that the sickness and mortality during thc
war with Spain were not relatively 80 great az that
from whicn our volunteer ,r9ors sNnsren nur.ms a
ory of what nappened In the days OF the 0iyii Wnr
perhapS he Of those dbsTs mss en b
cause was with the troops IN the netd UNI, bd 'ns %
fmii an Experience OF army life in the field but be
cause 1t afterward became my duty ana my ,hiSh
sudyihg the records Of sickness while compiling
the third part Of the medical volume OF tns Me-
may at any time find out how diarrhma and dys.
entery. typhoid fever and malarial disease swept
through our camps and sent their thousanIs 70 tne
parr the deaths recorded by the medical officers o,
those days with the dea tbs recorded y me ieurh1
that any differences discovered in the percentage od
deaths from battle casualties and from disease are
not due to the greater prevalence and fataity o.
o,seare IN the recent sirugsle but & to W. We ""''''
In April. 1851 President Lincoln called FOR @ I3"p
g but It was not until afer ;hy ,hat we had
armies comparable in size with those s, rbn IN
beginning,
We had medical reports from regiments en,n
ing only 69lls men and including August oep'ccnIa
ber October and November-ivc months-we ma
recorded loss by death Of SM5 men IN s tne re-
ports sent In by medical officers from an aSe'nse age
Of evcry thousand men during that period OF five
months. More deaths occurred than were report'd:
the probabilities are that had the missing reports
been forthcoming the deaths would have contlnued
In April 1898. President Mckinley called for le5.-
which,
crease In the Regular Army; and the immune ana
month We have medical reports in the office OF the
surgeon-General of the Army from regiments ag-
grcgatng i5l.6s5 men, and Including june July.
August and September-hve months-we find OH fe
a loss by death Of only l7l5 men reported by medi-
cal officers in average strength Of 1878 men,
or 1921 deaths out Of every thousand men during
than were reported. for some surgeons have failed
so far TO- send In reports hlt the Drooa 5iitiss are
ditlonal deaths would be associated with pro-
Come in from the whole 1000 men. the number OF
deaths would probably have amounted 20 2''0.
THE DEATH RATE REDUCED.
According then, to the testimony Of every medi-
cal officer who has placed himself record then
and now. lost In the five months OF the
with Spain 1921 men out OF every thousani re-
ported present by the medical officers serving with
them and in the first five months Of the War OF
the Rebellion 49, out OF every thousand similarly
reported present This Is interesting but It is still
these reports During the month Of May last the
death rate was low. 0.46; It was somewhat higher
s4 per thousand In July 1t rose 10 2.l5 for the
month. or the equivalent OF annual rate OF 25.s
spread OF typhoid fever in the camps and to the
broken down condition OF General Skaters corps,
* reached 40S. equal 70 annual rate OF 1896.
such as was common IN cities before the era OF
municipal sanitation. The War Department imme-
dlately put forth its energies to remedy this CON
dition Of affairs and with such efficacy that the
death rate I'm September fell 10 2S. II It be claimed
typhoid nfection had done It's worst and that ir-
respective Of al sanitary measures, the death rate
ceptibe material. we have merely TO consider what
was the history Of our Civil War camps subsequent
to November l. 1851. when. as have stated. the
number OF deaths had already amounted TO Il 81
per thousand Of the strength OF those present. In
what more than recent maximum OF August
last but the next month. December. showed no
thousand. During January. 1862. the ravages OF
disease continued. l84 men having been swept
II March sos %, II AorIl the sulmnation Wa
Ing death rate for the month OF sf2 per thousand
rate twice as high as that reported from our
This Is a startling record. Mortality from dis
ease reached its maximum In the camps OF. our
count from July 1861. or at the end OF the twelve
months II we count from May, 1861. when 47i6
strength present or to put II otherwise the maxi
mum mortality was reached only after ten or
the mortality was greater than that OF the disease
which did so much harm in August last. In that
toric utterances OF yellow Journalism" with 4Os
deaths per thousand. and the morale Of the Army
became broken by making the volunteer believe
that never I'm the history Of armies had men suf-
fered from disease he and his companions had
the manhood OF this country. after most deadly
losses. suffered in April 1862. more than twice the
loss incurred In August last; and. instead OF going
FOR the attack on Richmond BY way Of the penn-