The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-28
OUR SOLDIERS in CHINA
REPORT THAT THEY ARE HEALTHY,
HAPPY AMI RESPECTED BY ALI.
The Army Ration, While UNIT for Use
I'm the Philippines, Is Said to BE
All Right for Peking.


New York Times.
DR.. l.. l.. Seaman has just returned from
China. whittier he went via the Philippine
islands last NfalL He was during the Span
ish war the major surgeon in the First
Regiment OF engineers. and afterward he
was attached to the Seventeenth Infantry
in the Philippines. He has spent most OF
the last three years in the colonies of the
United States.
The army ration is a subject concerning
which there has been a great deal of con-
troversy. and DR.. Seaman has been an Inn
portant factor in the debate. His testi-
mony before the army Investigations com
mission after the Spanish war attracted
widespread attention.
DR.. Seaman's position has all along been
that the rations of the army should be ad-
justed TO climatic conditions. This, he
maintains. has not been done by our gov
eminent, and TO this error he ascribes most
Of the sickness that has attended the troops
of the United States in Cuba, Porto Rico
and the Philippines.
IF our soldiers were to eat the rations
that are supplied them by the commissary
department In the Philippines" he said
yesterday. their condition would be de-
plorable. 1t was. so long as they did eat
this heavy ration. Bitter experience taught
them, however. TO exchange the heavy
meats for lighter food, and the troops do
this now of their own accord. Under the
old conditions the hospitals were crowded
with men sick with preventable diseases;
that is. troubles of the digestive and other
organs, due to eglect or ignorance of cor
rect dietary.
RATIONS IN II TROPICS.
According 10 the regulations of the
army, our men i'm the tropics are fed just
as are the soldiers at home or in China.
The law gives them the same rations,
whether they are at the poles or on the
equator. A large quantity of meat is sup
piled to them, while there is but little light
food. 1t is an unwise way to treat them.
Nature herself supplies in the tropics u
vast amount of heat, and the men should
be fed on light foods. When nature has
enough heat for the body in the climate
she rebels against too much heat being sup
pied to the body through foods. The only
device by which she can protect herself is
through some form of diarrhoea, catarrh o.
something similar. And it is In this way
that our soldiers suffer and have suffered.
Conclusive proof of the correctness Of
this position is afforded by the condition
of our soldiers in China. They are given
the same rations as the men at Manila. but
in China these rations are suited to the eli
mate. China Is a much colder country,
around Peking, than are the Philippines,
the temperature for the month of February
ranging from 80 degrees Fahrenheit to s de-
grees below zero. 1t is a perfect joy TO see
the condition OF our men in China. They
are all ciear-eyed and jovial. happy just 10
be alive.
The vital statistics for our troops at
Picking on Feb. 10 showed that ON OF l55l
s%Otufers, officers ana men, but eighty were
IN the hospital, and of these only three we;e
suffering. ana they only slightly, from di-
testlve troubles. This is a remarkable show
ing. The men also have good water ANA
everything possible Is done 10 preserve their
health. We have six distilling plants in
Peklng, although there is scarcely use for
more than one OF them. TO this pure water
also can be ascribed in part the health and
happiness our men are enjoying, and their
Ireeuom from typhoid fever. which has
seriously afected others of the allied army.
The troops have gained weight and are
very much healthier in every way in China
than they were in the philippines. one
company that may be taken as a type,
weighed ON Feb. 10 thirteen pounds TO the
man more than 1t did when il left Manila
just a few weeks since decided not to
change the army %rations in any particular.
1T is radically wrong to give our men
such food as we do in Cuba, Porto Rico,
and the Philippines. Nearly all the sick
ness that exists among the troops is due
to preventable diseases. and nearly all the
fatalities in the Spanish war were due TO
the neglect or ignorance of the person who
had TO do the matter of army rations.
OUR SOLDIERS IN CHINA.
Our troops in China are the only SOL
diers there not quartered in houses. hut
our men seem to enjoy the tents. The
weather has been very cold there lately
but the United States soldiers have lined
their tents with felt. They keep them
closely covered around the bottom. and in
side they have little Sibley stoves. The
men are happy and seem the most con-
tented troops in China.
General Chanee is the idol of his men
and is probably the most influential and
popular soldier i'm Peking. He is a strict
disciplinarian, but is a man of honor In
every sense. The men of all the allied
armies, and particularly the Chinese them
| selves, look up to him. | was present at
the reception given him when he was
| made a major general, and l know the
intelligent people in China congratulate
us most heartily upon having such a rep
resentative in Picking. General Chaffee
has been very careful to see to II that
our men were not concerned in the loot
ing that has been going on at such a fear
full rate in China. and "court-martial would
be instituted at once II the general were
TO find any United States soldier implicated
i'm any outrages upon Chinese property or
81
persons.
ut is SUCCESSFULLY interesting to see the
difference in the way the Chinese regard
our troops as compared with their actions
toward those of other nations. On a GER
tain important street in Picking you may
walk along and see on one side throngs OF
Chinese, trading and talking TO one another
and TO the soldiers; on the other side all
will Re quiet and deserted. with scarcely a
pedestrian appearing. On one side or this
street floats the American flag: on the
other. the pennant of another nation
waves.
ut is an outrage upon humanity and
upon civilization that the Chinese have
been treated as they have by the foreign
troops who have gone there since Peking
fell. China has suffered a thousand times
more than she ever deserved. Her homes.
her cities. her sacred places have been
looted and devastated, her women have
been outraged. and her defenselesS citizens
have been murdered
The German troops have for months
been engaged in what they term punitive
expeditions. Money is demanded of viii
lagos. and proceedings go on which are
not warranted. The war has been pro-
longed months beyond what it ever should
have been. When Peking fell the spirit of
China dropped. The war was over. Peace
could have been made then and there.
The moral effect of the war on China has
been rendered nil by the conduct OF the
aIleS since Picking was taken. BY this
ccnduct the Chinese hatred of the for
eigner will be very justly intensified. and
the Chinaman now hates the foreigner a
thousand times more than he aid when the