New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-08-17
BY THE BACK DOOR
MR. KIPLrNGs STORY ABOUT STRUGGLED
STORES.
From The London Mail.

From The London Mail
gust Of a South African vindstorr, nsra-
trated the room OF the Hospital Comrnission in
Burlington Gardens yesterday
sweeping up the wide staircase II tore past
the nveried attendant at the head Of the stairs
rushed into the lofty chamber played havoc p,itb
an accumulation OF official cobwebs and naII,,
settled down In q clear ATMOSPHERE I'm urbicS
facts, bare and naked doomed d!stinct az
kopjes on the horizon Of the veldt
Rudyard Kiplng in the witness chair vas
the occasion Of the breezy interlude Of tha
drowsy proceedings Of the commission.
An hour before Mr. Kpling put In an aprear-
anoe the chairman, Lord Justice Romer had
occasion 70 complain of the lack OF public in
terest in the investigation.
There appears to exist in some quarters an
Idea that this Commission has pursued IT'S IN
Vestigatious In private" said his IordshIn
Ihat was a complete Misrepresentation Every
thing was public. and the evidence was taken
down by shorthand writer's
There a visible Frightening IN ~ tho
members OF the Commission when the autbor
OF The Absent Minded Beggar' presented him
sen as target Tor questions. That he knew
all about it, and. moreover, could tell ALI about
IT, ana. better still, tell II in q way that every
body would hear and understand was a fore
gone conclusion. Just where to begin however
another matter.
Lord Justice Romer solved the difficulty by
inviting Mr.. Kipling to make a statement And
While the gentlemen around the table leaned
forward so as not to miss a single word Mr.
hlphns, without even a preliminary cough. be-
gan TO tell his story.
From the day OF his arrival in Cape Town. on
February ., until the end Of that month he
was in and out Of the hospitals He discussed
matters generally with the doctors and nurses
asked if they wanted anything. and told
they did not
81 did not go to Woodstock he continued
with a peculiar pause which seemed to imply
the familiar. but that is another story"
The first request he received came from the
nurses. Ihey wanted pajamas. Not only did
they want pajamas. but they wanted the paja-
mas so badly that they asked him to smuggle
them into the hospital by the back door
From The Absent Minded Beggar" stores Mr..
Kipltng procured ninety eight pairs Of patamas,
loaded them into a Cape cart and in due course
delivered them to the nurses by the back door
Of the hospital News of this easy method OF
lodging official red tape travelled quickly be-
tween hospitals.
More requests for pajamas met him at the
next hospital he visited requests coupled with
the Injunction about delivering the much needed
clothlng by the back door route. Then followed
acquisitions for drugs, pillow slips and sundry
other articles These drugs were sent pri-
Vately," added Mr.. Kipng because the gen
eral impression that that was the better
and more expeditions way to get them in
IF you had given these things openly. what
them" asked Professor Cunningham.
Il imagine should have got the people into
trouble who complained that they wanted
them" replied Mr.. Kipling. dryly.
But how could q medical man who wanted
drugs object to that courseT' persisted DR..
Church.
LAS they say at the Cape" began Mr.. Kipling.
you would never get them. 1t all done to
save time. When a man is Ill you cannot wait
for routine. He wants the drugs I do not say
there were not drugs there They could not be
got at. AS a matter OF fact I was expressly
told that they had drugs at the hospital"
Clear and incisive came the sentences, de-
livered in the tones of a of few words, but
every word to the point
There doubt as to the minds Of the
Commission as Mr.. Kipling finished speaking.
Almost unconsciously Lord Romer voiced the
absolute concurrence of himself and his
ciates with Mr. Kipling's views by his next
question, which rather q suggestion to fill
IN an omission
You sent the pajamas for the same reason?
His Lordship said.
Absolutely. Simply that they should get
them more quickly.
Having settled the efficiency Of the back door
method of circumventing official red tape, tho
Commission did not pursue the matter further.
OF his experiences in BlOemfontein Mr.. Kip
ling had little to say. He there before the
outbreak of an epidemic, but he saw enough to
show how sick patients might expect to fare.
The hospitals preferred wounded TO sick, he
said They did not want dysenteTy enteric
patients. They were long and troublesome cases,
and not go interesting as wounded.
In reply to the president. Mr.. Kipling candidly
admitted that he found the hospitals at Bloem-
fontein perfectly clean. Everybody worked very
hard and the only complaint was the slowness
in getting anything that was necessary.
The curious reference to Woodstock In the be-
ginning of Mr.. Kipling's evidence had not
escaped Dr. Church. Seeing the possibility OF
eliciting something which might offset the dam
aging reply to his former question about drugs
DR.. Church asked
You did not go to Woodstock"
no" replied Mr.. Kiyling. -The+ hospital there