The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-28

been referred to me- I shall refer ii to
the chief surgeon at Jacksonville.
The closing paragraph of Mr.. Kents
letter. to which you call special atten-
tion, is as follows:
a" Reports this morning reveal start
ling mortality among the typhoids. thir-
teen in the last twenty-four hours in the
Second Division alone. Most OF these, in
my judgment, are due to the want of
proper nursing. In the first place, the
number of nurses is insufficient and their
hours are too long. In the second place,
most of them are not skilled nurses. They
are having their first experience in the
care of typhoids. Effort has been made
TO remedy this. but the only way it can
be remedied is one contrary to the view
OF the surgeon general, and one, there
fore. which his subordinates do not feel
at liberty TO take. The Red Cross has on
several occasions offered to furnish skill
ed nurses at its own expense. but has met
uniformly with the reply, I'VE are abun-
dainty supplied with such nurses now"
Since that reply was made to Mr.. Cobb.
however, the surge6n-in-chief has dis
patched a gentleman to New York to Sc
cure $50 nurses but the opposition to fe-
male nurses continues, as no adequate
supply of trained male nurses can be
our boys must 10 ulS lOT
want of intelligent. slSillful nursing
Mr.. Kent is laboring under a misap-
prehension with reference TO my views.
7 have never objected to sending trained
female nurses TO our general hospitals, or
to field hospitals in which the typhoid
fever cases are treated. We have now
more than 500 trained female nurses The
! health of the command at JacksNiville
has been reported to me as excellent un-
til very recently, when, as I understood,
considerable number of typhoid fever
cases have developed"
Fighting Joe is Delighted
Gen. Joe Wheeler has written a letter to
the President. 1t is dated at Camp WI
koff, Montauk Point. and the general ex-
presses his delight at the prospective visit
of President Mckinley TO that camp. Gen.
Wheeler says:
''The visit of the Secretary of War has
accomplished more than / can express.
He has promptly corrected evils, made
valuable suggestions. given directions re-
garding administration. In addition, his
personal visit to Loo sick soldiers in the
hospitals has cheered them up. and 1t is
difficult to adequately convey to you the
change for the better since the Secre-
tarys arrival
THE announcement that you will visit
the soldiers has already added TO this i'm
proVement, and your presence here for
even single day win accomplish good.
the great extent of which you can only
realize after you have made your visit
DR.. Max Meyer bacteriologist of theh
New York board of health. has made an
investigation of the water supply and SAN
itary conditions at Montauk Point. After
the investigation he spoke IN this plain
and pointed manner:
Even if the water supply at Montauk
Point were pure, the surrounding condi-
tions are such that it would surely become
contaminated.
Il find there an utter lack of such sani-
tary precautions as would be necessary to
insure the purity of a water supply amid
such conditions as prevail at Montauk
Point"
Z The papers and public have taken up
/ the matter of the awful conditions exist
ing at the hospitals and in the camp
proper at Montauk, and boiling hot con-
demnation is being poured upon the
heads Of Secretary Alger and the other re-
! sponsIble ones. This condemnation is none
the less severe in Washington. where
Camp Alger has so long furnished an OBJ
| ject lesson The fact that condensed milk
diluted with water has been furnished TO
| the sick in certain Southern hospitals in
lieu OF fresh crows milk leaked out last
| night and led to the suspicion that some
1 of the many manufacturers of that arti-
! Gle had been tugging. with the other war
! time contractors, al Uncle Sans purse
| strings.
Did Meritorious Work
| It is a notorious fact that had it not
been for the Y. NJ C. A, Red Cross and
kindred associations the soldiers in the
Southern camps would have been without
ice with which TO cool the heated water
! they were compelled to drink
President Mckinley was made aware
of this fact. and has written the following
| letter of congratula ton:
Executive Mansion, Aug. 26. 1898.
John ]. McCook, Esq, Chairman Execu-
tive Committee, Army and Navy Com
mission, New York City:
My Dear Sir: have noted with much
pleasure the admiral BILE work that the Ar
my and Navy Commission, organized by
the International committee of the Young
Mems Christian Association, has been ac-
complishing for the physical and social
welfare of our soldiers and sailors. Hop
ing that the good work may be continued,
/ am. faithfully yours,
WILLIAM MCKINLEY"
Aellow feVef is increasing at Key West.
Surgeon Gen. Wyman, of the Marine
Hospital Service. has received word that
two new cases have developed there
Five physicians have agreed with the
diagnosis of the local marine hospital
surgeon.
Secretary Alger returned from Montauk
Point yesterday. He spent two days in
specting the sanitary and general condi-
tions of the camp there. The Secretary
was not in good health last night.