New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-09-29
THE SILENT FOE IN WAR.
Major Seaman Tells Hoo Japanese
Conquered Disease.

Conquered Disease.
Detroit, Sept. 2s-Ma1or Louis L Seaman, OF
New-York. was the central figure to-day at the
convention Of military surgeons Of the Unites
States. when he answered the criticisms OF his Ut
terances made last Tuesday by Surgeon Charles
F. Stokes. of the United States Navy, and followed
with a paper 1.-THE Real Triumph OF JAPAN or
the Conquest of the Silent Foe"
Answering DR.. stokes's figures to snow that his
statement before the House Military Affairs Com
mittee that beri-beri was almost unknown In the
Japanese army was incorrect DR.. Seaman said he
had been referring to the Japanese navy in the
sentence before and that this remark was also in
tended to apply 10 the navy He closed his an
swer in dramatic fashion. offering his resignation
if it was wished.
Dr. Seaman's paper was. in part follows:
The success of Japan in the recent conflict witt,
Russia was due prominently to three fundamental
causes-hrst thorough preparation ana organtt2Ed
ton for war; second, to the simple. non-irrltathg
and third to the brilliant part played by the mem
hers OF the medical profession IN the aPpI nc
ventable diseases in the army thereby saving us
units for the legitimate purposes OF war; the
smashing of the enemy in the field. -
In every great campaign an army faces two enc;
mies--the armed forces OF the opposing foe and
the far greater silent foe, disease OF these enc
proved that the first kills 20 per cent Of the total
mortality in the conflict, while the second kills 80
per cent.
Major Seaman cited tables Of statistics of battle
TeCOTuS years. SllO"llS AIio1I NSi'
has rarely been conflict in which at least four
men have not persisted Of disease for one from bull
lets. He continued:
But the browning piece OF imbecility was re-
than ten were needessly sacrificed to Ignorance
and incompetehcy for every one VINO died On the
firing line from bullets This too, in the short
campaign of six weeks.
The speaker then showed the actual figures of
killed. wounded and sick in the Japanese army
from February, 1904 to the end Of April, 1895, which
averaged nearly five deaths from bullets for one
from disease, zoe per cent better than the aver
age in history. He continued:
Every hospital throughout Japan and every base
and field hospital in Manchuria has its bacterioogi-
but whose blood goes under the microscope. Ma
laria is malaria, and typhoid is typhoid in the jap
We're in Cuba and the Philippines, where often for
fun week the physicians ATTEMPTED to fbIagn0se
A dispatch September 81 from Toxic, giving
Killed, $3.50; died of wounds, 1880; died from
sickness, 1890. This percentage Of death to sick
which is a record not parelleled in the annals OF
When contemplating these marvellous figures
with what CHASTITY smile the hero Of Manila must
the chief surgeon who had requested fifty addition
al medical officers and two hundred more nurses
cause such dispatch you'd p54Xe the Jeff falSy OF s
Months afterward the surgeons and nurses were
provided but not until the horrible condition was
intensified, and taps had sounded the requiem Tor
many poor boy who had joined the great ma
Perhaps the same delight may solace the com
mander of the Cuban campaign, when he recalls
his famous order at Tampa, directing the unload
ing of a ship filed with medical and hospital sup
plies for Santiago and the substitution OF a LOAD
Of mules instead
1t may interest another major general during that
war, who. on being waited upon by certain medical
officers with protest AGAINST the use OF CERTAIN
business"
Or even it may amuse the then Secretary of War,
with the President of the United States said, on
looking at glass of the furnished the troops
of this infected camp. and which certain medical
men had pronounced to contain germs OF disease
''Why, 1t looks all right to me"
Until the line and staff officer of the American
is taught the necessity Of sanitation and the
medical officer is given rank and authority to en-
humiiating failure. It's continuance under present
conditions is less than evidence of national
imbecility.
DR.. Searnan's paper was enthusiastically received.
A resolution offered by General ]. D. Griffith OF
Missouri, requesting the Secretary Of War to use
every effort for the re-establishment Of the can
teen. ana declaring that It's abolition had resulted
in marked increase of disease among the soldiers
unanimously adopted.
AT the final session the following officers were
elected:
President Lieutenant Colonel Albert H Briggs,
RSey %ashngto99 and A Assstant sur
eary Major J. E. Foaer O. Of caIase Pe S9e
treasurer. Major H. A. Arnold. National Guard Of
Pennsylvania, Ardmore, Penn.
1t voted to hold the next meeting OF the
convention in Buffalo.
two hours. Dr. Seaman declared in the discussion
that the surgeon general of the army and his two
principal assistants had told him within the last
year that there have not been enough imnroveS
ments made in the system of the medical DEPART
renee Of the sanitary and hygienfc failures of the
Spanish war.