The Republican journal., 1898-09-15
The Truth as to Army Mortality

What the people desire in regard to the
condition OF troops is exact information.
They are well aware that sensational
stories are contrived to int2me public
sentiment. The basis of these eXaggera-
tions is partisan. 1t is impossible to dis
pute the results OF the war, since they
amount to a brilliant success. President
Mckinley stands too well to be selected as
a target The Democratic policy is to
attack the administration somewhere.
After the point is chosen the game is to
concentrate the venom and make a great
noise in directing it ut the mark. 1t is
charged by the Democratic press that the
sick in the army have been systematica lily
neglected and the soldiers On duty de
prived of a proper supply of food. These
statements, be it remembered, follow a
war Of completed and extraor linary vcto-
~. Since this is beyond denial, the Demo-
cratic scheme is to besmirch the means by
which it was won. Two months hence a
new Congress is to be elected, and the
Democrats must discredt the administra-
trion, no matter how, or they are lost.
They have always voted against dom g
anything to improve the regular troops,
but insist that nothing short of perfection
must happen in an army Of 225, 900 sud
denly called to the field
4 report like that from Gen. Boynton
on the condition of the camps at Chcka-
manga is especially welcome TO the people.
1t deals with exact details and figures.
Since the first occupation of the Chcka-
manga site by the volunteers about 10, 600
men have been stationed there. The
total death list in camp of this immense
force up to August % was 1913. These
figures are official. The death rate per
annum at Camp Thomas has been 1872
per /, 600 The death rate at St. Louis in
1896, the date of the last official report,
was 1876 per 1000. According to
Phisterer's statistical record of the civil
war the aggregate number of men enlist
ed, reduced to a three years standard,
was ?, $40, PIP. During the war, by the
same authority, there were 1S3, 2S7 deaths
in the union army from disease, an aver
age of 70 per 900 for the three years, or
of 26.3 per 1000 per annum. At Camp
Thomas the soldiers have been more than
twice as safe from disease as is the popu-
lation of large city. The average loss
for each reg ment is lower than is usual in
such host of men. Gen. Boynton makes
favorable showing as to the condition of
the hospitals. Every hospital there is
civil war. There were a few filthy regi-
mental camps, whose colonies ought to
be called to account. These officers seem
to have been too incompetent to know how
a camp should be kept or too lazy to see
that they were properly cleaned up daily.
Every soldiers history in the service is
carefully preserved, and there is no diff
Guilty in ascertaining the mortality in each
camp. From vague stories the public has
been led to believe that thousands at
Chickamauga had died or were in a dying
condition. But the official figures do not
differ from those Of the best kept camps,
where 1000 men assembled and where
the most of them remained for months.
The mortality lists of the various corps
are published daily. There the truth will
be found. Something quite different is
spread abroad in the pages of Democratic
papers. They deal in CHASTITY rhetoric
for political effect. They minimize or
omit favorable news from the army and
catch at every exaggeration that drifts
about. Their purpose is not to benefit
the soldiers, but to tear down a cabinet
and blacken an administration. st.
Louis Globe Democrat.