The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-09

morning finished it's duties and left at
O'Clock last evening for Huntsville, Ala.
Its special car was attached to the rear of
the Florida Central & Peninsular train leav-
ing at that hour, and the work of the COM
mission viii be continued in Huntsville,
Chickamauga, Middletown, Pa, and at Mon
tauk. The instructions issued to these Off
GERS were to make a thorough study of
typhoid feTers in the different camps of the
army and also to make suggestions to the
commanders Of the camps as to improve
ments which WILL in the opinion of these
medical officers, benefit the camps from
sanitary point of view This report of the
evidence taken here was prepared and for
warded to the surgeon general of the army
before the party left last evening, and a
letter was also sent to General Lee.
These officers, Maj Walter Reid, U. S. A,
Mai. T. 0. Shakespeare, u. s. v, and Maj.
time in their Investigations here and have
personally examined every hospital, the
camp of every regiment, and with especial
care those from which the highest sick lists
have been reported. They have investigated
the camp at Pablo Beach and have held re-
peated and exhaustive consultations with
charged with the care of the fever patients
in all parts of the camp. They have col
lected mass of testimony from the sur
geons which will be used by the surgeon
general in compiling his conclusions as to
the marked prevalence OF typhoid fever in
many Of the camps of the country.
A Times Union and Citizen representative
called at the car last evening just beforo
the start was made for the West and Major
SnakeSper6 was asked by MAJOR fSelu,
chairman Of the board, to express the views
of the commission, so far as they might be
made public, of the camp and of the hos
pitfalls of the Seventh Army. Corps.
THE Seventh Corps has had the advan-
tage Of almost every other camp in having
an inexhaustible supply of water that is
absolutely unimpeachable,' he said There
have been no suspicious of its purity, ana
the medical corps has been aided by this
fact. There has been also the fact that
this water has been taken to the camps
of every regiment in advance of its coming,
so that when 1t has arrived at it's camp
grounds it has found water OF the pureSt
kind and in unlimited quantities. This is
to the great credit of your city authorities
and to Colonel Livermore, the chief en-
gineer of the corps.
I'VE have found that the officers of the
corps have been diligent In their orders that
only city water should be used, but when
we consider that the corps is made UP IN
large part of men who were practically raw
recruits, not quite as subservient to military
orders as would be the soldiers of the reSu-
lar army, it is not to be wondered at that
when these men have been out from the
immediate direction of their officers they
have violated this rule and nave drunk
water from surface wells and from running
streams 1t would not be strange that these
wells in your suburbs should be more or
might be a possible cause of some OF the
sickness.,It would be contrary TO expert
ence all over the world ii some OF these
wells were not contaminated and 1t is no
reflection on Jacksonville that 1t should be
So 1t is possible that germs might also
exist in the milk supply for so large BODY
of people as has been gathered IN the camp.