New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-09-13


Even more important than these invisible"
CHI argos is the difference, real and apparent, be-
tween the losses by wounds In 1861 and l3ol
In the dead there is no change" A bullet
through the heart at Gettysburg laid man
low even as it did at Worth or Plevna or
Mag ersfontein But in the wounded there has
been a great change. The tremendous advance
that has been made in aseptics and IN the
science Of operative surgery. especially in alb
dornnal and intestinal gerry, the greater skill
in medicine well as in surgery. the more care
full attention paid to hygienic surroundings, the
use of improved appliances and apparatus that
were unknown even ten years ago, the H-ray
for instance and the reduced calibre of the mod
ern rifle. the bullet Of which, unless it pierces
vital organ, is rarely fatal make warfare less
bloody than formerly, because the percentage Of
men wounded to those who recover Is much
higher to-day than it ever has been before
-Of the wounds inflicted by the modern bull
lets" Lieutenant Colonel Valery Hazard, U. S.
A recently stated in paper read before the
Association of Military Surgeons. 1.-The feature
of most i'm portance to the surgeon is that they
are aseptic and, If uncomplicated by bleeding
or fracture, almost always heal within a week
or ten days without suppuration. Hence the
rule that the great majority Of them not fatal
within a few hours are followed by rapid
recovery" This statement is not merely
theoretical dictum, but has been borne out by
experience in South Africa. the British official
return already quoted stating that of the men
invanded home many have recovered and
rejoined their regiments" Under military regu-
lations every man who comes into the hands Of
a surgeon appears on the returns as wounded"
and is an integer in making up the total calcu-
lation the surgeon not being required TO dis
crininate between the soldier with q
scratch and who has to submit to a capital
operation.
The reduction Of the percentage of mortality
IS best shown from the fact that although the
fetal British loss was 81 Az officers and men, Of
whom 21.042 died and 1892 We're so badly
wounded that they untitled for future mill
tary service. the remainder. 6S,0i3-roughly.
trife over 20 per cent-were so slightly wounded
that their military efficiency impaired.
and after certain time spent IN the military
hospitals-in some cases a few days. in others
a greater number Of weeks-they were able TO
rejoin the colors. Compare, again, the deaths
from disease in the British army with the deaths
from the same cause in the Northern armies in
our own war. In the British military operations
Is. $50 men out of 81 Az died from disease,
only 1880 per cent In the armies Of the North
of $50 52S dead, not less than 224, $50 died from
disease, or the enormous percentage of 60.21.
Not only have been told that the South
African was 'one Of the most expensive
wars of the century" but have also been
told that it of oppression-a war of
great power to crush smaller one-a in
spred by greed, its sole purpose being to enable
Great Britain to obtain possession of the gold
of the Rand. Not only did President KRUGER
! promise make his foe pay the price to stag
ger humanity, but he also pledged himself to
! meet his foe at Pretoria, rife in hand and
| Bible in the other. a simple picture Of simple
| and pious old man. who believed in God and
| kept his powder dry; a grand old man, whose
love for his country was great that If needs
| be, he would give up his life for the sake of mis-
country; stern, fanatical old man. perhaps. but
| honest oh. scrupulousiy honest! that all de-
ceit and lying and fraud were abhorrent to him.
| But Mr.. KRUGER more made his promise good
| to meet his foe in Pretoria than he did TO make
| his foe pay the price to stagger humanity, and
| the terms of peace show that his foe in
spired by higher motives than the mere posses
| sion of the gold mines.
The generous terms granted by the victor to
| the vanquished have staggered humanity far
| more than anything that Mr.. KRUGER has done.
When Grant at Appomattox told Lee to take his
| horses and mules that his people could do
their spring ploughing. the world applauded this
magnanimity, but the North did not make the
| South a present of So 100000 in money to re-
stock its farms and repair the ravages of war,
make loans extending over a series of years
at nominal rate of interest, as Great Britain
will do in the TransVaal. Mr.. KRUGER ran away,
taking with him the money which he had made
from the sale of dynamite and other concessions.
for the Transvaal Government. despite its piety
and its Biblical quotations. was as skiiful IN
grating as the most corrupt Tammany adj
ministration that ever cursed New-York.
And after having rung the changes on the
most expensive war of the century, and stlIl
cherishing the deluson that the war has ruined
England both morally and financially the enc
mics Of England have had much to say about
her loss Of prestige-''a loss so great that she
will never recover it," to quote one newspaper
That the war revealed the Grass ignorance and
stupidity of British military officers no one Will
deny 1t showed that British officers devote too
much of their time to sport and too little to mill
tary education; that they are brave, but I'M
scientific; that they plucky, but badly
trained And they and their country palc heaV-
lily for their inefficiency. Stupendous as were
the difficulties to be overcome, Impossible al
most. as it was to subdue their enemy except
by the slow, wearisome, grinding process OF
attrition wearing down man by man untl every
man was either killed or a prisoner. making all
due allowance for the difficulty inseparable from
guerilla warfare in a country admirably suit
ed by physical conditions for the carrying on OF
guerilla warfare and taking into consideration
the advantages which the Beers had and the
disadvantages with which the Brush hao 10
CONTEMPLATING all these things INTO account
it is still nevertheless fact that greater skill
on the part of the British officers, superlors as
well as subordinates would have terminated the
much earlier But, after that mas peeh
said after all the faults, many and grievous
ones have been admitted, there is the other side
to be looked at and that other side is not with
ont IFS nro6t Great Britain has paid heavily