Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-22
THE ARMY'fHEALTH
Annual Report II Medical
Department.
IMPROVEMENT g.NOTED
EFFECT OF CAMPAIGNING IN THE
TROPICS.
Fighting the Cholera in the Philip
pines-Prevalence of Alcohol
ism and Insanity.

The report of Brigadier General VIM H
Forwood, retired, as surgeon general of the
army of the operations of the medical de-
partment of the army for the past fiscal
wear was made public at the War Depart
ment today In chapter in regard to the
health of the army" he says:
1.-The rates of admission to sick report for
disease and injury, the rate of discharge
for disability and the mortality rate for the
calendar year 1901 all agree in being con-
sjderabIv less than the corresponding rates
of the year 1900. This shows the gradual
Improvement in the condition Of the troops
otwfthstanding the fact that many of them
were subject to the exposures Of tropical
service in the division of the Philippines.
That the rates continue to be higher than
the average rates of the previous decade,
1S9o-1S99 is to be expected, for during eight
of those ten years the army was on home
Service in time of profound peace, and owing
to the great attention paid to sanitary con-
ditons had lower rates than al any time
in its previous history. A gradual approach
to the lessened rates of the decade may be
seen in each of the items of the record of
morbidity. Thus the admissions to sick re-
port in 1901 constituted 1871 30 per thousand
of the strength as compared with 2311 81 in
1900 and with 1502.4, the mean annual rate
of the previous ten years The rate of dis
charge for disability was 1895 in 1901, as
compared with 90. 80 in 1900 and with 16 80
for the decade. and the death rate from all
causes was 1894 per thousand men, as COM
pared with 2274 and 11.91, respectively.
Deaths from disease constituted 95S per
thousand of mean strength, as compared
with 1879 in 1900 and with $40 during the
years of the decade, and deaths from in
jury 4.36, as compared, respectively, with
695 and 3.42.
During the year the mean strength of
no nnSic tod of ofx yhoy,
S1.SS5 were regulars and 1O606 volunteers.
THE admission rate for troops serving in
Porto Rico was "A per thousand OF
strength; in the United States 1850 %; in
Cuba, 1851. 40 and in the Pacific Islands and
China, 1924. The death rate from all
causes was go per thousand of strength in
Cuba, $50 in the United States. 7S1 in
Porto Rico, and 1876 in the Pacific Islands
only 321 per thousand in Cuba, 4.6S in the
United States and 1910 IN the Pacific
islands and China. The mean strength Of
the commands were: In Porto Rico, 1,153;
in Cuba, 5,291; in the United States, 25,5l5,
and in the Pacific islands and China, 3d.,
525.
During the fiscal year many changes
have taken place in the organic alton of the
Division of the Philippines, well as in
the number of troops and in the stations
occupied Both of these last have been
greatly reduced. Regiments, too, have been
greatly changed, nearly all those which
rived in 1899 having been transferred to the
United States. g.:
THE character of service in the different
parts of the archipelago has varied more
during the year than in any similar period
since American occupation. Although a
great deal of hard field service has been
done and much new country occupied, there
has been a decrease in sick and mortality
rates, for improved conditions In peaceful
provinces have more than counterbalanced
any local increase caused by arduouS field
services Campaigns carried on during the
year have not, however, been less trying
to the stamina of troops than former ones,
rather the reverse. as most of the more ac-
cessible points were already occupied by
our forces at the beginning of the year and
the necessity for following insurgents, hid
ing in the Businesses of inaccessible noun.
tains. added much to labors performed in
the sweltering heat of the tropics.