New-York tribune., 1906-06-18
centage Of efficiency and the smallest percentage
of waste. That is lesson which American IN
dustry has not yet adequately learned
JAPANESE MILITARY SANITATION.

JAPANESE MILITARY SANITATION.
] More and more, the final records are made
up, tabulated and analyzed, it appears that the
latest of the worlds great wars was in at least
one important respect It's most remarkable, 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 correspondents
and other observers have been striking as
now and then to provoke wonder whether they
were truth or 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 indubi-
table authority commend to our credence all that
has been told Of the means employed. And we
must remember that these reports are excep-
tionally complete and accurate because in addi-
tion TO ordinary military and administrative
reasons there are the strongest religious reasons
for making them so.
Apart from about 5000 still unaccounted for
and recorded as missing" the total number of
killed and wounded in the japanese army and
navy in the whole war was 220S12 OF these
1887 killed outright in battle, a record
which tells how desperate and sanguinary were
the engagements, and II 500 died from wounds
received in battle. Thus the total death roll
from fighting was 5S,SS7, or about one-fourth
of the entire roll of casualties The number of
wounded who recovered from their wounds, or at
least whose lives were saved, 161,925, a
splendid tribute to the efficiency of the Japan
ese hospital corps. Turning from these figures
TO those of disease 1t is to be noted that the
total number of cases of sickness in army and
navy during the war was only 236,223, or little
more than the number of casualties in battle.
OF these 27,15S ended in death and 209065 in
recovery. That is to say the deaths from
disease were considerably less than half as many
as those from actual fighting. and not much
more than half as many as those occurring out
right on the field of battle That is a 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 battle In the
Crimean War, where $50 died of wounds on the
field and In hospital, go died of disease with
out a wound. In the war of 1S94-95 between
China and Japan the japanese lost twelve from
disease to every one froneWounds. If 1t be urged
that these wars antedated modern sanitation it
is to be noted that in the Boer war the British
lost 90 from disease to 40 from wounds. In our
own Spanish war, in 1898, with all our boasted
progress and enlightenment we made the appal
and 1904 from disease, 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 unapproached
in the history of wars. Perhaps may add
that it is unmatched in the history of peace,
for II 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 average monthly percentage
of sickness in the army was 1921, while during
the war it was only 500.
We need not again dwell upon the means by
which these amazing results 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 infiict injury
upon the foe. The army consumed daily two
million little tablets which were practically
specific against many of the common ills of
camp life, every man taking tablet before each
meal as regularly he ate his meals. DR..
K1tasato'S water filters and simple but effective
devices for boiling water were as much a part
of every camp equipment as were guns and
knapsacks and soldier thought of drinking
water that had not been purified or pronounced
pure after scientific analysis any more than of
wantonly exposing himself to a Russian bullet
Thorough disinfectiOn of camps, clothing and all
else, the use of specially devised garments for
protection from frostbites on the one hand and
from sunstrokes on the other and innumerable
other Details all contributed effectively TO max
ing the Japanese camps into sanatorums rather
than into the lazarettos which camps have too
often been 1t was an object lesson which the
world had never before seen, and which the
whole world will do well diligently TO heed