The Topeka state journal., 1898-05-25
A HORROR
Is Threatened in the Pacific
Troop Ships.
Serious Over ECrOWding Which
May Result
In a National Calamity Before
the Ships
REACH PHILIPPINES.
Men Crowded in Like Cattle i'm
Wooden BunkS
Where Disease or Fire May
Work Awful Havoc.

San Francisco May 25.-The Call
publishes a sensational article as fol-
lows:
A great barrier of secrecy has been
drawn around the Pacific Mail dock
where the troop ships have been load
| ing The curious sightseer and the
| eager newsgathers' have been alike ex-
cluded, and it requires boundless in
genuity to eIude the eagle eyes of the
watchers who guard the gate. There
| are dock officials and policemen and
| soldiers, and no kind of pass yet in
| vented Will satisfy their requirements.
| when once you get on board the
| snlpS you see how marVelOuSly little
| has been done toward making the SOL
| dlerS comfortable during the long and
| trying voyage to Manila. Take the
| city OF Pekin. She is a fine, big roomy
steamer, one of the most comforta bic
| passenger vessels of her class af1oat.
That is, for saloon people; the steerage
doesn't count for much in the eyes of
money making steamship companies.
Yet no corporation, however grasping,
would expect passengers to accept the
accommodation provided for the troops
Even cattle or horses would not be
shipped under such conditions. The
mortality would be too awful. Fortu-
nateIy, soldiers can go on deck, and it
IS there that they will have to live dur
ing the greater part of the voyage.
The steerage of the City of PeIin,
now TO become the troop deck is below
small ports These are so near the wa
ter that it will be impossible to keep
them open while the ship is at sea, and
what little ventilation is provided will
have to come through the hatchways
and windsails- Above is the saloon,
cheerful and airy, where the officers
Will have no reason to complain of their
quarters.
Even the steerage deck however
could have been made fairly habitable,
had not some amateur in office, who
e-cG
before. conceived the idea that stand
ing hunks were necessary for the SOL
dIers' existence at sea On board Eur
Opean troop-Ships such a thing is never
tfOnS which have long been in the habit
of conveying troops by sea that ham
mOckS are infinitely more convenient
and healthier.
The result of this mistake is that a
large force of carpenters have been at
work during the week filling up the
wooden framework. Anidships and on
each side the hunks are erected, leaving |
only two narrow passages for the cir
culation of light Ordinarily the steer
age deck is used for the conveyance of |
cargo, so it is very low, yet the carpen- |
teds, with an ingenuity worthy of a bet |
three tiers of hunks into this narrow |
space Each tier in the central row |
contains six berths. so that Is full |
grown men will be compelled to sleep |
billiard table. Unless a man is lucky |
enough to get an outside bunk he will |
have to climb over two or three of his |
comrades to reach his sleeping place.
AS an ingenious method of getting |
the greatest number of men into the |
least possible space this system may !
recommend itself but it has no other |
The condition of these |
troop decks when the vessel gets we'll |
into the tropics will be something too |
awful to contemplate. 1t must be re-
,-a1 fS dnoI-
no place where the men can sit ard |
eat their meals and enjoy their leisure.
The unlucky soldier who ships one |
of these steamers must either be in his
bunk or on deck: there is absolutely no |
other place for him. 1t does not seem
to have occurred to the officials who
planned the expedition that soldier |
requires at least some of the rud1mentS
of civilized life, a table to eat off and
bench to sit on. even if they be made
but of plain wood.
No doubt the soldiers will be fully
prepared to rough it. The discomfort
involved by these arrangements would
not be such serious question in time
of war, We're it not for the sanitary
danger involved. If an epidemic should
break out on these crowded troop decks
it might rapidly develop into national
calamity. Certainly there is a hOspi-
tai on board, but it can only accOmInO- |
date a limited number of patients. and
beyond a certain point would be quite
useless. There is no way by which the
decks can be cleared and fumiga ted.
t will be impossible to remove the bed
ling and air it. and disease, once it |
gains an entrance, Will have everything |
Is own way. The only redeenling fea-
lure about the whole affair is that the |
City of Pekin has a fine, roomy upper |
ieck, and most of the men VIII find it |
necessary to sleep up there during the
-oyage.
4 similar conditions of affairs exists
BOARD the City of Sydney.