The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-07-04
Precipitation for June.
clip Cloudy Part Rainy
inn DnyS CLOUDY naNS
Temperature. for June.
JAP SANITATION IN WAR.


More and more, as the final records
are made up, tabulated and analysed,
it appears that the latest of the
worlds great wars was in at least
one important respect its most re-
markable, and that the triumph of the
Japanese over disease was no less
noteworthy than that over the Rus
SLAMS. Much has been heard and read
about the sanitary features of the
campaign and about the excellent care
which was taken of the sick and
wounded in the Japanese hospitals,
and some of the stories of special cor
respondents and other observers have
been so striking as now and then to
provoke wonder whether they were
truth of fiction. Such wonder may
now be dismissed. The plain, matter
of fact official statistics tell story
more wonderful than any that has
hitherto been told. The results which
were actually attained, as reported
on indubitable authority, commend to
our credence all that has been told of
the means employed. And we must
remember that these reports are eX-
ceptionally complete and accurate, be-
cause in addition to ordinary military
and administrative reasons there are
the strongest religious reasons for
making them so.
Apart from about 5000 still unac-
counted for and recorded as missing"
the total number of killed and wound
ed in the Japanese army and navy
in the whole war was 220,S12. OF
these 47,3S7 were killed outright in
battle, record which tells how des-
perate and sanguinary were the en-
gagements and 800 died from
wounds received in battle. Thus the
total death roll from fighting was
$685. or about one-fourth of the en-
tire roll of casualties. The number of
wounded who recovered from their
wounds, or at least whose lives were
saved, was 161 1925, splendid tribute
to the efficiency of the Japanese hos
pital corps. Turing from these figures
to those of disease, it is to be noted
that the total number of cases of sick
ness in army and macy during the war
was only 236,223, or little more than
the number of casualties in battle.
OF these 27,158 ended in death and
209,O65, in recovery. That is to say,
the deaths from disease were consider
ably less than half as many as those
from actual fighting, and mott much
more than half as many as those oc-
curing outright on the field of battle.
That is most amazing record. For
the last two centuries in the wars of
Europe and America the rule has been
for deaths from disease to be from two
to ten times as many as those in bat
Il e. In the Crimean War, where $50
died of wounds on the field and in
hospital, 230 died of disease without
a wound. In the war of 1894-'95 be-
tween China and Japan the japanese
lost twelve from disease to every one
from wounds. If it be urged that these
wars antedated modern sanitation, it
is to be noted that in the Boer war the
British lost SO from disease to AZ from
wounds. In our own Spanish war, in
1898, with all our boosted progress and
enlightenment, we made the appalling
record of BOG deaths from actual fight
ing and 1904 from diseaes, or S51
from disease to 100 from wounds in
battle.
But in this last war the Japanese
lost only 81 from disease to 100 from
wounds in battle, or only One-twenty-
third as many as we did. That is a
record unmatched and aunapproached
in the history of wars. Perhaps we
NAV add that it is unmatched in the
history of peace, for it appears that
the health of the Japanese army was
materially better during the war than
it had been in time of peace. For in
1902, when peace prevailed, the aver
age monthly percentage of sickness
In the army was 1921, while during
the war it was only $50.
We need not again dwell upon the
means by which these amazing res
suits were attained. In brief, the
japanese, with their unsurpassed in
dustry, ingenuity, thoroughness and
attention to detail, set out to protect
their own men from disease and injury
as much as to inflict injury upon the
foe. The army consumed daily two
million little tables which were prac-
tically specific against many of the
common ills of camp life, every man
taking a tablet before each meal as
regularly as he ate his meals. DR..
Kitasato's water filters and simple but
effective devices for boiling water
were as much part of every camp
equipment as were guns and KNAPP
sacks, and no sOldler thoushI VI
drinking water that had not been
purified or pronounced pure after
scientific analysis any more than OF
wantonly exposing himself to Rus
sian bullet. Thorough disinfection of
camps, clothing an dali else, the use
of specially devised garments for pro-
lection from frostbites on the one
hand and from sunstrokes on the other
and innumerable other details. all con-
tributed effectively to making the
Japanese camps into sanatoriums
rather than into the lazarettos which
camps have too often been. 1t was an
object lesson which the world had
never before sen. and which the whole
world will do we'll diligently to heed.
DEVILS LAKE, N. D.-Popular excur-
sion and special train. Date, July
, 10, 1906. Rate for round trip $1.75.