Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-11-24

Oncers Were in Great Measure
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Were Al
ways Ready.
Washington, Nov. 21-The report OF
Surgeon General Sternberg Oh the work
of the medical department during the
Spanish war says:
Immediately upon the declaration OF
war, April a. officers in charge OF the med
lead supply depots were directed 10 make
arrangements so that supplies could be
Immediately obtained for 10000 men for
six mon MS. Requests from the medical
officers Cor supplies were always granted.
In M opinion the reduction of the age
HyAt from y TO Is years. and the haste with
whieh the volunteer regiments were or
carried and mustered into the service
were responsible for much of the sickness
WHEN was reported in the early days OF
their camp life. All military experience
shows that men under q years break down
easily urder the strain of war service, and
every regiment had many of these youths
In It's ranks.
sickness Increased.
'Soon after the newly raised ievies were
aggregated in large camps sickness began
to increase progressively from causes that
were so general in their operation that
scarcely a regiment escaped from their
harmful influence. These causes may
be largely referred to ignorance on the
part OF officers of the principles of camp
sanitation. and or their duties and re-
sponsibilities regards the welfare OF
the enlisted men in their commands. Med
ical officers, as a rule, were also with
out experience in the sanitation Of camps
and the prevention of disease among troops.
The few who knew what should be done
were insufficient TO control the sanitary
situati in the large aggregations of men
hastily gathered together.
A Prominent Cause.
zone prominent cause Of the increase OF
sickness in the early camps has been COM
mented upon by only few of our medical
officers. These cite the prevalence of drunk
enness and of venereaI disease due TO the
facilities and temptations afforded by the
proximity of cities to the larger camps.
They hold that If the systems of our men
had not been weakened by dissipation they
would not have succumbed so readily to
the other influences which affected them.
Malarial fever added to the sick lists of
camps In Florida and of southern regi-
ments In the camps of Georgia and Vir-
ginia.
at was. however typhoid fever which
broke down the strength of the commands
generally the outbreak becoming distinct
~ manifest in July. The sanitary condf-
lions affecting the commands in the va
rious camps have been studied in connec-
ton with the prevalence of typhoid fever
among tho men by a board OF medical Off
GERS but the results of the Investigation
of this board have not as yet been reported
In full. II appears to me, however, from a
general review of the sanitary reports al
ready fled that the prevalence OF the dis
ease was proportional to the unsanitary
camp conditions which have referred to.
The Santiago Campaign.
''I,ong before the Fifth army corps em-
barked for Santiago its field hospitals We're
in condition for efficient service. Suisse
quent events, however, rendered valueless
these preparations of the medical depart
ment When the command embarked on
the transport vessels the baggage wagons
and mules were left behind. The ambu-
lance trains of all the divisions, with
large part OF the outfit of each of the hos
pitals were also left behind. OF the prop
erty and supplies carried TO Cuba, por-
ton was NOT available for service at the
time it was needed, buAall the hospitals
were well supplied for surgical work,
After the cGpitulation OF Santiago the
troops at the front broke down rapidly
under the fatfgaes they had undergone,
and the malarial influences 10 which they
were exposed.
Transfer 10 Montauk Point.
THE transfer of troops from Santiago
20 Montauk Point, n Y, was an emer-
gency measure and the great responsible
ity of excluding yellow fever Infection from
every transport rested on the medical off
GERS, who had charge Of the embarkation
Had they failed in this duty the erect
would have been disastrous during the
voyage to the men confined on shlpboard
and the risk of importing the disease into
this country would have been greatly In
creased.
at Is needless to refer at this time to
the complaints of starvation which APP
peared almost daily in the newspapers dur
ing the occupation of Camp Wikoff. for
il is now generally understood that tho
weakness, prostration, anaemia and ema-
20 tho
results OF malarial. typhoid and yellow
fever"