The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-21

lates mainly to the work of the medi-
cal corps during the war. The follow
ing are the more important features of
the report:
The number of medical officers Q92)
allowed by law to the army, is made
Quate in time of peace. The INSULT
cheney in time of war was met by the
assignment of over $50 contract sur
geens. The very small proportioa Of
medical officers having experience of a
military character impaired the et11-
cheney of the department at the out
set, but many OF the staff surgeons
from civil life showed great aptitude
for the service, and speedily became of
value as administrative sanitary Off
GERS.
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 en-
listed and transferred during the war
was approximately 5000.
The want of sufficient body of
trained corps men necessitated the.
detail of enlisted men from the regi--
ments for hospital duty in several of
the camps and the employment Of
trained nurses at the general hospital.
employed, at first at the general hos
pitfalls. and later at the field division
hospitals, when it 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 regimental camps.
Immediately upon the declaration of
war (Aprn 21), steps We're taken to OBJ
tain medical supplies for the new vol
unteer army. The manufacture was
expedited with the utmost dispatch.
On May 8, foreseeing that it would be
impossible to have ready for issue to
the volunteer regiments, as soon as
they We're mustered in, the necessary
articles of field equipment, I tele-
graphed the governors of the several
states for authority to use the medical
equipment of the national guard in the
service Of the state until our army
medical supplies were ready for issue.
Most of the governors who had field
equipment responded promptly and
satisfactorily, but, unfortunately, many
Of the state medical departments had
no such equipment Meanwhile the
officers in charge of the medical supply
depots were directed to make arrange
ments so that supplies could be imnne-
diately obtained for 100000 men for six
months
Whenever notice was received from
the adjutant generals office that COM
mands were to be moved, or camps
formed, I endeavored to anticipate the
wants of the troops by telegraphing to
the officer in charge OF the nearest sup
ply depot to forward supplies for the
stated number of men.
YOUNG MEN UNFIT.
In my opinion, the reduction of the
age limit from II to Is years, and the
haste with which the volunteer regi-
ments were organized and mustered
into the service, were responsible for
much of the sickness which was re-
ported in the early days of the camp
life. All military experience shows
that young men under q years break
down rapidly under the strain of war
service, and every regiment had many
of these youths in its ranks. Medical
examiners were appointed to testify to
the physical condition of each man be-
fore acceptance, but, notwithstanding
this, so many men We're afterwards
found on the sick lists OF the camps.
unit for service, from causes existing
prior to enlistment, that special ar
engagements had to be made for their
discharge.
Soon after the newly raised levies
were aggregated in large camps sick
from causes that We're so general in
their operation that scarcely a regiment
escaped from their harmful influence.
These causes may largely be referred
to ignorance on the part of officers of
the principles of camp sanitation and
their duties and responsibilities as re-
CARDS the welfare of The enlisted men
in their commands.
The sites of certain of the camps have
. IN, h.
the cause of the sickness which was
developed in them, but a review of the
whole situation shows that it was not
the site, but the manner of its occupa-
ton which must be held responsible for
the spread Of disease among the troops.
April 25, 1885, foreseeing- the likelihood
of inSanttary conditions in the canps.
issued circular No. l, impressing
upon medical officers their responsibili
ty in sanitary matters and the necessity
for a strict sanitary policy. particularly
in the case of sick and in the preserva
ton CT the camp area from contamina.
ton But the necessities Of the mill
tary population on the area of these
contracted camps prevented the possi-
bility of good sanitary conditions
Camps of this character may be occu-
pied for a week or two at a time with
out serious results, as in the case of
=
practice during the summer. but their
continued occupation will inevitably
result in the breaking down of the
command by diarrhoea, dysentery and
typhoid fever.
Practically nothing was done to make
the men comfortable or to remedy the
insanitary conditions until these were
brought to the attention of the score
tary of war by inspectors sent out from
1,r.r r-sa-~ n f-Hr,,
held for so long were abandoned. but
not 5efore the manifestations of tv-
phoid infection We're rife in them. New
sites were carefully selected, regimental
camps Were expanded, company tent-
age increased and board flooring pro-
vided. Then, for the first time. the
troops went into camps suitable for
continued occupation.
DISSIPATION CAUSED DISEASE.
One prominent cause of the increase
Of sickness in the early camps has been
commented upon by only a few of our
medical officers. These cite the nrev-
alence of drunkenness and of venereal
disease, due to the facilities and tempt-
ations afforded by the proximity of
cities to the larger camps. They hold
that if the systems Of the men had not
been weakened by dissipation they
NOulU HOe --ee W HuSSuiIlDeu SO readily
to the other influences which affected
them.
1t was typhoid fever which broke
down the strength of the commands
generally, the outbreak becoming dis
tinctly manifest in July Sporadic
cases appeared in most of the regi-
ments in May and June, these cases
having been brought in many in
stances from the state companies. In
fact, some regiments, as the Fifteenth
Minnesota. suffered more from this
disease at their state rendezvous than
any of the regiments in the large fed
eral canlnS Ii a1anea re frnra q sra,ac,ri