Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-03-08
Wounds and Disease in War.

The recent plea of President RoOse-
welt for constant preparedness for war
OH the part Of >ne army and navy,
since high degree of efficiency on
their part is the best guarantee of
peace, is strongly seconded by Dr.
Louis l.. Seaman whose articles on the
Russian-Japanese war aroused much
interest. DIR. Seaman, it will be re-
membered. had only the highest praise
for the efficiency Of the medical ana
sanitary officers Of the Japanese and
he drew some comparisons not at all
fiattering to our own army, and the
book i'm which lie has embodied his
observations and experiences Will at
tract much interest. He was i'll our
Spanish American war; served with
our army in the Philippines; was with
the allies at Pekin. and twice visited
the front in Manchuria during the
lRusso-Japanese war. He takes the
I.onymore tables as the basis of the
average mortality of an army during
war; these assign four men to death by
disease to one who perishes by the
enemy's bullets. He recalls that i'm the
Crirnea $4,000 persisted from disease and
:, 900 from bullets: in Madagascar the
killed in action. The English in the
Boer war surpassed our record in our
Civil War. But the growing piece
of inbecility was reserved for our war
with Spain, where. in 1898. ii We're
needlessly sacrificed to ignorance and
incompetence to one that was killed or
died as the result of wounds in battle"
In contrast the japanese lost 52.946
killed and 1892 by disease. Long
more's tables are four to one for disease
and battle loss. We had IA to one in
our Spanish war. while the Japs re-
verse the proportion and made it more
than four TO one the other way; that is.
they had more than four men killed in
battle To one whose life was lost by dis
ease. The authors conclusion Is that
the medical corps of our army needs
more authority-in fact. IL has none
now: II cannot enforce an order: IL
can only recommend More than this.
our medical conception is To cure the
disease that may afliict an army; the
Jap notion Is To prevent disease.
To tn, many unanswerable things
that DIR. seaman presents. the New
York Press adds others. among them
statements Of a recent article in the
North American Review, which calls
| attention to our enormous waste of
| everything for lack of readiness for
| war. A corollary to this is that if we
had all of the improvement i'm the
medical corps for which DR.. Seaman
pleads, the way in which our armies
are made up would nullify much. Our
soldiers. volunteers from civil life, have
not only not been taught to obey, but
Inherently are the least obedicnt OF
people. They think, naturally, there
fore. that they know as much as thci,
Officers. and many Of their officers
think they know as much as regular
Officers.
Observation during the Spanish wal
showed that a surgeon might recon-
mend to an officer of the line that hs
forbid his men to eat fcrmcnted
mansocs. TIL" officer would issue tho
order. But the men would pay II" more
attention to it than 50 many animals
turned loose in a field of edible stuff
and in half an hour practically every
one of them was stuffed with the for
hidden fruit'-at the cost of hundreds
of lives. But. as the Press asks. if the
men nave not discipline sufficient to
cause them to obey. what can be done:
What would happen if sOldicrS--vOluIl-
tecr soldcrs-were shot for eating
manEocs when commanded not to dc
80? Manifestly We have got to come 4
long way in discipline of character as
well as preparation for war before We
shall reach the level of other peoples
Confirming the above deductions, tn,
Press cites figures as follows: The
Cuban campaign was made almost en-
tirely by regulars. There was disorder
with confusion and the usual demon.
aliZation of unpreparedness: but il
Cuba the deaths from disease were 561
from battle casualties. 273-not four.
teen to one: not even Longinore's foul
to one; but about two to one. In tn,
Philippines. where the forces at frs
we're largely volunteers. the death:
were Il from battle casualties. 203 Fl on
disease! In Porto Rico. again volun
teers. the record was: Battle. 8: dis
ease. 90. In the camps at home, al
volunteers. very few ever reaching thu
firing line the record was: Battle, .