The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-22
War department, Washington IS. t89S

war department,
 Washington 13, 1898
 My dear MT. Depew: The great pressure of business has up to now pre- vented me from sending to you the statement you were kind enough to ask for as to what had been accomplished in the way of outftting the army for the field, the conduct of campaign, etc. Also, the chiefs of divisions have been too much driven with work to compile the data required. One not in the midst of the work. can hardly realize what an undertaking 1t is to call 12B,OOO men into the field at one time, coming from all the states, and to have them mustered and gathered in camps on so short notice and this, too, when we had scarce any camp outfit for their accom- modation, all having to be provided for by the war department. As you know when war was declared, there was no equipment whatever for the volunteers in store. That this was successfully accomplished with very few accidents is a matter of record. Subsequent calls, including the regular army (which num- bered about 27,000 men when war was declared made a total of 26S,500. To accomplish all in so short time has been a great work. Of course gather ing this vast number of men together in a large measure under untrained regimental and company commanders I mean in actual feld duty-the lack of knowledge as to sanitary conditions to be observed, the carelessness in not ob- serving instructions which were furn- ished as to proper care of the men, has added greatly to the work of the medi- cal department.
 Thus in the homes of 216, 900 volun- teers has been constant and great anx- iety as to what might happen to the soldiers and hundreds of inquiries made by letters and telegranls have been received every day concerning individ- ual soldiers. The feeling on the part of these individuals that the war depart ment is responsible for the care of the men individually has naturally aroused sympathy in case of sickness and death and has created much sorrow. There Is nothing young men in robust health are so prodigal of as their health until it is gone Men go into camp feeling that they can stand anything and cannot be | made to believe to the contrary until stricken with disease. Every effort has been made from the beginning to . furnish every camp with all appliances | asked for, but of course the command | ing officers in the field are the ones who have the direct charge of these men. For instance, one army corps con- | mander having given orders and en- l forced them, respecting sanitary af- | fairs, has to-day but a fraction of over | 2 per cent. on the sick list. Others have been lessA successful and the conse- quence is typhoid and other levers have been bred and spread to a considerable | extent. One regiment in the Chicka- mauga camp has a colonel who enforces sanitary rules in his regiment, obliging | the men to boil all the water they i drink, keeping the camp cleanly and | the result. less than twenty-five sick l and his camp, too, in as unfavorable a | place as any in the command. Others | more favorably situated have ten times ! that number on the sick list. One of the regiments of the last call not yet removed from it's state, sends bitter 1 complaints of typhoid fever.
 Continued on Sixth Page)