Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-03
fhe corps. under existing law, consists Of
the following. - ~
St,013, 900. 90
Proposed Medical Reserve

The bill also provides for the organization
OF a medical reserve corps so that the rege-
lar service may be promptly expanded at
snort notice to meet the demands of war.
The President Is authorized to issue com
missions as first lieutenant to such grad
yates of reputable schools of medicine as
are found qualified to do duty, with the
understanding that they may be called upon
IN any emergency for active service
Ihis bill increases the regular perma-
nent strength of the medical corps about
80 per cent, and the cost Of supporting
Congress for more than year. 1t passed
the Senate January 8, 1O5. and was re-
ported favorabiy from the House commit
zee on military affairs, which. however,
amended 1t by reducing the number of
colonels proposed from sixteen to twelve,
the lieutenant colonies from twenty-four to
sixteen and the majors from 10 to eighty
hve. This deprives the bill of one of its
most important features, the incentive of
promotion to induce competent young men
to offer themselves for appointment.
All OF the military observers during the
recent war In Asia have been enthusiastic
in their praise of the efficiency of the medi-
cal corps of the japanese army, in which
the number of sick and deaths from dis
ease have been so small as to as
constituent. 1t is freely asserted that there
never was such record in any army in any
country before; that never before in the
history of warfare was there a sick rate
army. This has been attributed to the
splendid organiza ton of the sanitary sys-
tenn, which embraces both hygienic proven
tatfves, medical care of the sick and to the
disciplinary measures enforced among the
enlisted men. All of these results, how
ever. can be traced directly to the pre-
lminary organization, TO the fact that the
Japanese medical corps was ready when
war was declared; that it was thoroughly
trained, and that it had had a sufficient
numerical strength to perform the duties
required of 1t.
One of the surgeons who followed the
Japanese army described to me the differ
ence between its medical corps and that
of our own army follows:
The Japanese Service
'"The Japanese medical service is modelled
upon that of the German army. There is
no reason to think that the japanese sur
geons are superior In ability or training
TO those OF our army, nor are the medical
officers invested by law with special or ex-'
traordinary powers not possessed by our
medical service or that of other nations
1t nevertheless has a prestige and a potent
influence for good which is in marked con-
trast with the rather contemptuous toler-
alton which has been the characteristic at
titude of the English and American line Of
ficers In the past toward the medical
service.
The difference in standing and prestige
between the japanese service and our own
is best illustrated by the rank of the chief
surgeons of the several japanese armies
operating under Field Marshal Oyama
These armies. NUMBERING from $1,000 to
looUOO men each, We're each commanded
by a full general, whose administrative
staff consisted of a chief of staff, a chief
of artillery and a chief surgeon Each of
these had the rank of major general The
chief surgeon of an American army of this
size would have the rank of a colonel or
lieutenant colonel. The chief surgeon of a
Japanese division of 10000 men has the
rank OF colonel, while the chief surgeon of
an American division of the same size has
the same rank as that held by his sub
ordinate, the brigade surgeon and the bril-
gade surgeons subordinate, the regimental
surgeon of major. AS rank In the army is
the index of responsibility and authority
no better gauge of the standing and infu-
ence of the medical department of an army
can be found than the military rank given
to its representatives. 1t can, therefore
be seen how obsolete is our service in this
respect. In the japanese service medical
inspections are made frequently, and the
advice of the sanitary expert Is promptly
followed, whereas In our service medical
inspections are discouraged and cannot be
ordered where travel Is required by any
less authority than the Secretary of War.
In the Japanese service all the details
of medical administration are carefully
worked out in time of peace. whereas in
our service the people and their representa-
tives in Congress cannot be Induced to take
any interest In the medical service except
in time of war, or to authorize any prep
aration in the way of trained personnel or
accumulation of medical supplies equip
ment. Then, when war comes, and eonfu-
sion and trouble occurs in this department
our people go from Indifference to the other
extreme of hysterical clamor and extrava-
gance."