The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-21
GEN. STERNBERG'S REPORT
MEDICAL HEAD OF ARMY MAKES
 4 STRONG DEFENSE.

MEDICAL HEAD OF IRMY MAKES
 4 STRONG DEFENSE.
 Reduction of Age Limit and Haste in
 Organizing Volunteer Regiments Re-
 sponsible for Much sickness-Manner
 of Occupation of Some of the Camp
 Sites Caused the General Spread of
 Disease Among Troops.
 Washington, Nov. 2O.-Surgeon Gen eral George H. Sternberg has made his report to the secretary of war. It re- lates mainly to the work of the medical corps during the war. The following are the more important features of the report: The number of medical officers 192, allowed by law to the army, is in adequate in time of peace. The insuffi- ciency in time of war was met by the assignment of over $50 contract sur geons. The very small proportion of medical officers having experience of a military character impaired the eff ciency of the department at the outset, but many of the staff surgeons from civil life showed great aptitude for the service and speedily became of value as administrative and sanitary officers. Lack of Hospstal Corps Men.
 No provision was made for hospital corps men for the volunteer troops ex- cept that which empowered the secre- tary of war to enlist as many privates of the hospital corps as the service may require. The number of men enlisted and transferred during the war was ap- proximately 6.000.
 The want of sufficient body of train ed hospital corps men necessitated the detail of enlisted men from the regi-
 ments to hospital duty. Over 1.700 fe-
 male nurses have been employed, at first at the general hospitals and later became evident that the field service purposes for which the latter had been organized would have to give place to
 the imperative need of caring for the
 many sick men coming from the regi- mental camps
 Young Men Break Down.
 Immediately upon the declaration of war April q, steps were taken to ob- tain medical supplies for the new vol
 unteer army. The manufacture was expedited with the utmost dispatch. On
 May 3, foreseeing that it would be im- | possible to have ready for issue to the volunteer regiments as soon as they were mustered in, the necessary articles of field equipment, I telegraphed the governors of the several states for authority to use the medical equipment of the national guard in the service in
 the state until our army medical SUD- plies were ready for use. Most of the governors who had field equipments re- sponded promptly and satisfactorily, but unfortunately many of the state medical departments had no such equip ment Meanwhile the officers in charge of the medical supply depots were di- rected to make arrangements so that supplies could be immediately obtained for 100000 men for six months. When- ever notice was received from the adju- tant generals office that commands were to be moved or camps formed, 1 endeaVored to anticipate the wants of
 the troops by telegraphing the officer in charge of the nearest supply depot to forward supplies for the stated num-
 Der of men. In my opinion the reduc- ton of the age limit and the haste with which the volunteer regiments were or ganiZed and mustered into the service were responsible for much of the sick | ness which was reported in the early days of their camp life. All military experiences show that young men under
 twenty-one years break down readily
 under the strain of war service, and
 every regiment had many of these youths in it's ranks. Medical examin- CTS were appointed to testify to the phy-
 sical qualifications of each man before 1 acceptance, but notwithstanding this, 1 so many men were on the sick lists of the camp unfit for service from se- rious exhaustion that arrangements had | to be made for their discharge. As
 soon after the newly raised levees were
 aggregated in large camps sickness be- 1 gan to increase.
 The Camp Sites.
 The sites of certain of the camps 1 have been instanced in the newspapers 1 as to the cause of the sickness which was developed in them, but review
 of the whole situation shows that it
 was not the site but the manner of it's
 occupation which must be held respon- sible for the general spread of disease among the troops. April 25, 1898, fore
 seeing the likelihood of unsanitary con- | ditions in the camps, l issued circular l No. 1 impressing upon medical officers their responsibility in sanitary matters
 and the necessity for a strict sanitary l police, especially in the care of the sinks
 and in the preservation of the camp
 area from contamination. But the den- ! sity of the military population on the
 area of these contracted camps prevent
 ed the possibility of good sanitary cons
 dition. Camps of this character may be
 occupied for week or two at a time i without serious results ag in the case i of national guardsmen out for ten days ] field practice during the summer, but i their continued occupation will inevit-
 ably result in the breaking down of the
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