Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-11-16
MEDICAL STANDPOINT.
MEN WAIT HOURS FOR ATTENTION.


Washington. Nov. ie.--Major Legar-
dcs continued his testimony before the
war investigation commission today.
concerning the conduct q the war from
medical point OF view.
lie spoke nrsi OF the yellow fever
hospital at slbony. which was under
his charge In a genera way He said
however. that bis ilmc haS been %
fully occupied with oihot duties ,h3t he
had not visited The inr.i,ution daily.
lie was satisfied. however. that the noa-
pIial waa wen conducted and chat the
supplies on the whole were ample. lie
dld not have the complete records be-
fore him. but he was sure that lhc NOR
tally In this hospital ala not exceed
eight por cent. There might however,
have been some suffering. IN lndlvidual
cases on account " lnsuiiicioncy 81 sup
pdcs and FOR want " expert nursing.
Dr. conner asked whether the con.
t,ngency u ycEow fever could not have
boon provided against. asking whether
II Ia hia Judgment It should not have
been known by the surgeon general that
under the circumstances there would
be an outbreak u fever
"Ile should nave known that such
were the probabilities and everybody
should have known that such we're the
chances In sending nm army Into an
affected district In the summer Evil
IDENTIFY. the surgeon Egn'ral did forcsee
what happened. and his word on this
suhjert written before the exp dition
SIT out and giving warning against the
lnvarion nj me time u WIS undertaken
rcad like prophecy
TAe witness added that under thcse
circumstances h. could not understand
why more complete provision should
not have been made Tor supplying I'M.
mune nurses ana he ala not know hut
that the corps surgeon had asked To-
this assistance ~ advance, he knew
only that they had not been provided.
Apparently. however. the army depend
81 upon the yellow fever expert 70 say
when yellow fever would break out
However. u must be Hnid that the yell
low fever was very mild and i was
10 be dreaded less than typhoid. A.
consequence the mortality among
the Nck In cuba was less Than among
those ieft In the United states.
Returning % the cago ~ the hospital
for wounded soldiers, Dr. Legarde SAID
that between 1900 aud 1900 wounded
men had been treated by the surgeons
at this Institution.
Ticrc were six operating tabes and
more could have been used 10 ndvant-
age. There mere times when forty or
nfiy men were waiting outside f0T at
trng0n. OF the wuunded men there
were about dozen deaths or less than
one per cent. There had never before
been a war when the mortality record
Nna 20 small This was due largely
10 the NE 81 modern rifles and the
prompt methods ~ rendering aid on the
hatilsneld 10 prevent blood poisoning.
ne biourhi that under the old condl-
lions the mortality would have been
twenty per cent greater.
Dr. I.sFnrde expressed the opinion
that n the soldiers had been fwly
eauIrp,.i there would have been less
.ickneHs among them, ana he thought
thns much ~ the irplbla was due 10 the
fact shat the soldiers were cinpcutd
10 ile on the ground without cover,
col. ]. w Jacobs, who was chief
aunriermaater Of the FIRM coftr AZ
Tampa and In cuba. tcHilned mat cen
Humphrey had been In charge % fhe
eufiarkatiOn % troops a. Tampa ana
that NJ order specifying what vessels
they were t. 0rcupy were Issued, In
repiy TO a question from 0ov. Beaver
he sald she emharkhtlOn had been "a
haphnrard Alphabetically So lie
aisn thought that there was a great de-
nciency In the provisions Tor dlsem.
bafknrion a. only two lighters were
provided and one OF these Was last on
the way over