Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-17
SICK
He is In the Hospital at Manila
lis Recovering.
MALARIA DOING ITS WORK
One Thousand Men on Their BACKS
and Others Unfit For
Duty.
MALARIA DOING ITS WORK

Ernest HardcaStle received a letter to-
day from his soldier brother William. who
is stationed at Manila. In the epistle the
writer states that he is with 900 others a
guest in one of the wards of the hospital.
The letter is dated December 6, 1898,
In it the writer says: Since my last note
my condition has materially changed for
; the better. l am in a fair way to recover.
Life in a hospital ward is so strange that
l could not fully appreciate its advan-
taSes or disadvantages. l am given a
light diet consisting of a spoonful of oat-
meal for breakfast and a small piece of
bread. For dinner the same quantity of
soup, and for supper the backbone Of a
chicken. The chicken here weigh about
a pound each. SO you can imagine what a
substantial meal the backbone affords.
However, l am so well pleased with the
work of Doctor Richardson that l am
willing to do anything towards assisting
him in his efforts in my behalf. Many of
the doctors in the army here will give
you their panacea for all evils, %quinine. If
you have a toothache, a broken back or
the principal malady, Inconsistencies, quiz
nine is what you get. But l was fortunate
enough to fall into the hands of one of the
good Samaritans, a physician worthy of
his hire.
1T is q pitiful sight to look around and
gee the emaclated faces of men who have
laid on their back for one and two months
unable to move a hand or foot and as
many more sick in their quarters. One
tenth of the soldiers are unfit and unable
of even lifting a hand in self defense; and
when the hot weather arrives l dread to
imagine what our death rate will be. The
government has decided that it can save
more none by burying its dead here than
in transporting them back to civilization.
After Mckinley and his cabinet are
Wondering in their graves and the dark
leaf Of history is read. by future genera
tons; when it is remembered that 100, 900
soldiers. all true Americans at that, left
their bodies in the Philippines because
Wall street saw a few more pieces of gold
in sight; and when even the living a year
from now deplore the loss of their kins-
folk who We're either eaten up by malarial
fever on something worse or were Slam IN
an attempt to civilize these half-civiliZed
niggers; indeed when the debit and credit
columns are compared, posterity will
brand the foreign policy of Mckinley as
unAmerican, unpatriot!c; and if my Wis
ion is correct. criminal. Where is our
boosted Monroe doctrine? From the
graves Of the heroes of the Spanish-Amer-
lean war will be heard a voice: Sold for
80 pieces of silver
1T is winter here now. but it is as warm
as Montana's Warmest period of the year,
the time whcG sickness ls supposed to
be comparatively unknown. and yet out
of the army of occupation we ave 1000
soldiers grooming in the hospitals and
whose faces bear the marks of untold suf-
fering, AS the ships arrive from the states
the wards are taxed to their fullest capac-
ity and many who are unfit for duty are
| SEM: to their commands to make room
for the new arrivals. One day last week
there were 1880 men in the hospitals, but
that is not the customary number
sThere are from LOCO to 1,50O on the list
all the time and when the hot weather ar
rives this number will be greatly increas-
ed