Evening star., 1905-10-06
Over 400 Deaths in the Army
in the Past Year.
FORTY FIVE DROWNED
IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTH OF
THE TROOPS.
Comparison With Conditions Of For
eign Military Forces Apparently
Unfavorable to Our Troops.

vi the tWeHty-One men OF the UnlteQ
States army killed in action in the past year
only two were by gunshot. according to the
annual report of Surgeon General O'Reilly.
Twenty-seven soldiers committed suicide.
Ten deaths were due to homicide. Forty
five soldiers were drowned. II per cent of
the total deaths from all causes, indi-
eating that the soldiers should be taught
to swim. There was decided increase in
insanity. but this increase was not incl
dent to the service. OF the eighty-eight
soldiers discharged for insanity the disease
was noted as having been contracted before
enlistment in twenty-five cases. and prob
ably so contracted in eleven more. Eight
soldiers were discharged as insane within
three months of enlistment
An Unfavorable Showing.
An unfavorable showing is made for the
American army in comparison with other
armies in the statement of diseases in the
army. This is more apparent than real.
In the American army the soldiers are ad-
mitted to sick reports and treated. In
other armies they are promptly discharged.
Gen. O'Reiliy says:
The comparatively high American death
rate Tor tuberculosis is explained by the
fact that in the United States army tuber-
cuiosis patients are sent to a sanatorium
and retained in service for long periods,
while In other armies they are promptly
discharged; the high admission rate Is no
doubt due to the present defective system
OF medical examination of recruits.
The undue prevalence of typhoid fever in
the army Is partly explained by its undue
prevalence In the civil communities where
the troops are stationed, as result of the
general failure to purify waite rand sewage
In American municipalities
Admission to Sick Report.
There were 1856 admissions to sick re-
port during the year, 406 deaths from all
causes and 1877 discharges for disability,
The figures, the surgeon general says, are
very satisfactory and show a steady and
progressive Improvement in the health of
the army. The general says:
by far the most important diseases af-
fecting the efficiency of the army during the
year have been the yenereal, which were
nrst In admissions, n-effectiveness and
discharges, causing 16 per cent of all ad-
missions ~ per cent of all non-effectiveness
and Is per cent of all discharges for disease
There We're constantly on sick report for
this class of diseases 715 men, equal to the
loss for the entire year of the services of
eleven full companies of infantry. The
admission rate was considerably higher
than for last year, venereal diseases hay-
ing advanced from third place to first.
Compared With Foreign Armies.
Comparisons with foreign armies show
that the highest rate of admissions was
1354.S9 IN the American army and the
lowest 351.30 in the Russian; the highest
death ratio was 6.75 in the American army,
and the lowest, 210. in the Prussian; the
highest non-effectiye rate was 40 SO Ameri-
can, and the lowest, 21.65 Prussian.
Regarding these figures, Gen. O'Reilly
says:
"Of the thirty-five diseases considered
the only ones in which the admission fig
ures for American troops are better than
those of most other countries are bronchitis
tacute), dfphtheria and Group, erysipelas,
pleuritts, scarlatina and diseases of the ear
'The very high proportion for alcoholism
in the American army as compared with
that OF the British is partly due to the fact
that in the latter service only admissions
to hospital are counted. 1t Is notable that
while the British have less than half the
American admission rate for dysentery
their death rate is practically the same
and that while their ratio of admission for
malaria Is about the same, their death rate
Is nearly three times as great; the Ameri-
can admission rate for malaria is nearly
eighty times that of the French, while the
death rate is only five times as great; these
facts point to difference in the method Of
computing admissions. The figures for
measles and mumps compare very unfavor-
ably with other armies except the French"