The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-07-26
MEN SLOWED IN
Dangerous Packing Of Soldiers On
the s. S. Peru.
ALL HEALTH LAWS DEFIED
Complaints That Should Have At
tention-Food-Cas of Trans
portatiOn of Sick.

From every transport that has
| touched here has come tire story Of
overcrowding. This complaint has had
precedence over even the ready
| grumbIing concerning food and ser
vice.
Any intelligent being knows that
there has, of necessity, been haste in
the shipment Of soldiers TO Manila.
Further, it has been conceded or ad-
mitted by the sharpest critics that
nothing like either shore room or shore
food was to be expected aboard the
ships. The greatest allowance has
been patiently and submissiveIy made
by the men. People here who have
had an interest in the comic ort of the
men in uniform have had the judg-
ment to discount heavily the state
mants of grievances.
About all of the accounts current In
the line of trouble telling have been
brought to this office. In each case
investigation has been made with the
assistance of capable judges. Prior to
this time there has been no occasion
for making publication of what was
CLEANED corrOborative of the charges,
or of the charges themselves. 1t may
be said now. as was without any ref
erence to requests for a hunting out,
that provision for the men might nave
been better, but was not so illy-man-
aged as to call for or plainly suggest
reform.
Affairs on the S. s. Peru are in a
rather bad way. There are more than
900 passenger There should not be
more than 800 A measurement has
been made of the air allowance on the
bunk deck below. Each man has about
seventy cubic feet, as against the ten
ement house minimum allowance of 200
and the garrison allowance of 800 to
1000 This is a frightful cOOping up of
men. The beds themselves are of WOW
en- wire. There are mattresses. The
mattresses are to be done away with !
here. This will help a little. The over |
crowding should be remedied. 1t is |
dangerous. 1t is shameful. The men |
can sleep very little. In the double |
hunks, and there are but few single !
ones, two men are simply packed to- |
gether. Some Of the soldiers get to |
the decks above at night, but there is
not room for many of them. Neither |
Asiatic coolies nor blackbirded Poly
nesians have been bedded in vessels |
on this ocean as are these men in the
service of the United States Govern
ment The men on the Peru have poor
food, carelessly cooked and there is not
enough of it. The galley for the 900
men it not the size of private board
ing house kitchen. 1t is close to the
living place of the Chinese crew. Din
ner for the men yesterday was coffee,
potatoes and beef and soft bread. This
is better than they had at sea. It is
told as a fact that for couple of days
after leaving San Francisco pork was
served when beef should have been and |
that fresh beef became spoiled and was
thrown overheard. Men tell of trying
to get onions. of stealing them, and
that later the vegetable was thrown
overheard by the bag because rotten.
Then there is no passing The plate"
The Peru has forty wash basins for
the whole of the men. This is all. The
men wash clothes as best they can.
The drinking water on the ship is bad,
in that it is tepid
Officers who are paving $50 per day
for subsistence on the Peru say they |
are getting half living. For them
selves the men would like to have !
cooks taken from their own ranks re-
place the negroes who run the galley. |
A very touching statement is out |
from the Red Cross hospital on Bere-
tania street This is that the two en- !
listed men who are in the place under |
treatment for typhoid fever walked |
from their ship to the street car, made |
the long trip with a load of passengers |
and at the end of the trying journey !
were walked from the car into the hos !
pitaI. Upon arrival they were delir- |
iOus and in the collapse stage. Ladies |
of the Red Cross speak sOrrOwfully of |
this incident An offer had been made |
by the Red Cross to furnish litters and |
to man them. This offer was declined. |
A lieutenant who is at the hospital had |
a chartered street car for his convey
ance was on stTetcher and had plen- |
" of attention all the way. He was |
handled as a very sick man should be |
but the privates were not so carried. |
All ere satisfied that the actual con- |
ditiOn Of the enlisted men was not
known.
The Peru went to the Irmgard from
tho Pacific Mail wharf late Yesterday
afternoon. As NIGHT came on il was
decided to allow about 600 Of the men