The National tribune., 1902-04-03

regiment. cNtIN iulIE SOto ny cNii4NAi'J 80
the army, and as Col. Smith, of the Cali
fornians, ranked Col Summers, of the
Oregons, his regiment was assigned TO the
good barracks. In the navy yard was an
other good building, dry and comfortable,
into which the single battalion Of the 14th
was put Next to the navy yard IS the
stone fortress of San Felipe. within which
are barracks building and one for off
GERS and administration, and to this was
assigned the battery of artillery. Outside
the navy yard, and extending along the
parade ground lying between Fort San
Feline and the town, are some Old stone
barracks, formerly used by the Spaniards.
hut not occupied by them for many years.
They were built on the low ground, only
about a foot above the level of the bay
at high tide, and were extremely damp
and musty, so bad that shoes taken off at
night were covered with green mold IN
the morning. Into one Of these buildings
/ conducted my company after dark, ana
by the light of piece of candle assigned
the squads TO quarters, the men rGllne
themselves up in their blankets on the
damp floor. The next morning they Skir-
mished for bamboo cots, and soon found
enough for the entire company by the men
sleeping double on cots intended for but
one This enabled them TO keep OFT the
floor but nothing could be done to take
the dampnesS out of the quarters. few
months later, when a battalion Of Regu-
lars was assigned to these quarters, the
commander protested that they were not
fit for occupancy, and he was assigned
quarters in the upper story of large wood
en- buildings in the town, which is what
should have been done for us in the first
place, since Cavite had been captured by
the navy and was entirely at our disposal.
and the insurrectOs were using large
portion of it upon sufferance of Admiral
Dewey.
My experience is, however. that a Reg
ular may protest and have attention paid
to him, but that a volunteer who dares
to do such a thing is at once declared to
be insubordinate and in need of discipline
The next morning a large fatigue de-
tail was called for to unload transports
and carry baggage to regimental quarters
and Commissary and Quartermaster stores
to the depots selected for them, and the
men were kept working at this task all
day long for quite a number of days. This
was in violation of all we had read about
health conditions III the tropics for white
men. We learned that the Spanish SOL
diers were never required to work in this
way, and that from 10 o'clock in the morn
ing until 8 In the afternoon they were
not even permitted to go out of quarters
There were any quantity of natives eager
to do this work for 80 cents n day, and
later, when it was learned by sad eN-
perience that the lives of soldiers were
being sacrificed. these natives or China
men were hired and soldiers were no
longer required to labor in the tropical sun.
This is a slow and costly way of acquir-
ing knowledge, but it seems to be the only
way in the army, where commanding Off
GERS and heads of departments give too
little thought to environment 2nd actual
conditions, and are too much governed by
customs and theories founded upon eX-
perience under conditions radically differ
ing from those existing at the time and
place of their application.
As result of this fatigue work, too
much drill in the hot sun, unsanitary
quarters, too frequent Indulgence in trOp-
ical fruits, and not enough observance of
orders in regard to drinking only boiled
water, the sick-list of the regiment, which
had not a sick man when it landed, went
up to over 200 inside of two weeks. The
regimental hospital was established in one
of these same damp buildings, and the
Surgeons did the best they could with the
quarters they had and the limited supply
of medicines, and no supply at all Of hos
pital foods, that had been given them by
the Department in San Francisco.
BANEFUL BUREAUCRATIC TRADITIONS.
Here was another example of custom
and theory followed blindly, contrary TO
common sense and what should have been
common knowledge, and without investi-
CATION or the exercise of ordinary pru-
dence. Before sailing our Regimcntal Sur
geon, not being hampered by custom, gave
the subject Of medicines and supplies the
thought a physician would be expected to
give, and made out list of such as he
thought would be required in the tropics
This he took to the headquarters of the
Chief Surgeon of the Department, to con-
suit with him about it.
He learned that such intelligent fore
thought was at discount in the Medical
Department, as other officers learned in
other Departments. He was told that he
was only a Volunteer Surgeon, and could
not be expected to know what was Gus
tOmary and proper in this matter; that
he had no experience in making out med
ical acquisitions; that the matter would
be turned over to an expert, and the neces-
sary supplies would be sent down to the
transport.
The expert proved to be a clerk who
could not even spell correctly the names
Of some Of the medicines. His cXpcrtneSs
consisted in knowing how TO make out Of
fetal papers and do routine Office work,
and not in knowing what medicines were
the most likely TO be needed under certain
conditions.
The result was that he made out a re-
QUESTION for just the supply the rrgua-
tiOns Of the Department specified for 4
regiment in time of peace quartercd at an
army post in the United States No al
lowance was made for the fact that the
regiment was going into the tropics and
would have an excess of fever cases; that
II was composed of men just taken from
civil life, and not yet accustomed to army
diet, and would consequently have an ex-
cess Of bowel troubles aside from those
certain to develop in the tropics; nor that
II was going thousands of miles into for
eign country, and would be beyond reach
of a new supply for an indefinite time.
The medical supplies selected by this ex-
pert, probably without supervision by those
who should have given the matter their
own careful personal attention and study
reached the transport few hours before
it sailed, too late for the Surgeon to dc
anything but note its wretched insufiicien.
cy and make a protest, which was never
heard from again.
There were but 10 ounces of quininC
as a months supply for 1000 men going
into the tropics, only 200 compound ca
thartic pills, and other essentials in like
proportion. As for bandages for q regi
ment going to war. and likely 10 get int
hostilities Immediately, the supply was 81
small that it was exhausted in two sur
gical cases during the voyage, and the reg
iment arrived at Cavite without Il foot O
bandages for wounded men.
Fortunately nobody cut his finger o.
stubbed his toe, and thus the Medical De
partmeut escaped a well-deServed scandal
There may have been some stores in ia,
holds of the ships but l think not. Ger
tainy nothing mateTialiZed. though badll
needed until after the arrival of other pT