El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-28
ARMIES FIGHT
GERMS Of
DISEASE
Army Surgeons Campaign
Successfully Against Many
Epidemics.
YELLOW FEVER AND
TYPHOID CONQUERED

Washington, D. c., Sept 2S.-This old
world is much indebted to its armies
and navies for the state OF its health
Able to enforce rules and regulations
upon large bodies of men, the medical
officers OF the armies and navies OF
the civilized world have been IN posi-
ton first to work out their theories
and thea to apply them The results
have proved of incalculable value in
the fight Of humanity against disease
and for a longer lease of life. The
sanitary results of the war with Cuba
have been worth more to humanity
than il is possible to estimate. 1t d.
rectly banished- from the category Of
uncomfortable diseases one Of the
worst Of all the ills 10 which one half
of the human race was heir 1ndlrect-
" it made possible the digging Of the
Panama canal and the, Mobilization
Of half the earth's surface.
Likewise, the protection of the Brit
ish soldier demanded that he should be
released from the constant warfare OF
malaria, and that called upon the Brit
ish army surgeon to determine the
cause Of the disease and he did not
fail TO meet the demand. The result is
that the world now has il within its
power to put an end to one of the most
widespread and enervating ailments in
the catalOg.
Typhoid Is Conquered.
Then came typhoid fever. Armies in
the past have lest more good men from
the ranks from intestinal diseases in
general and typhoid fever in particular,
than they have lost from all the can
mons, and guns and bayonetS- Our own
record in Cuba and afterward was ap-
palling, and other armies have suffered
no less. Then came the English and
the -;German army surgeons in South
Africa, and the vaccination treatment
for the prevention of typhoid was the
Tesult-a treatment that, coupled with
4nA r. nd he r-aTc on
Of typhoid il temperate climes, as that
Of yellow jack has Teen ended in tor
rid regions The phenomenal record OF
the United States army during the past
fiscal year when TYPHOID was as rare
as leprosy, tells the story of its mas
terry by medical science.
Napoleon once remarked that the
first. quality of soldier is the power
10 endure fatigue and priFatlon, and
that courage is only secondary. Act
ing on that principle the military and
naval men Of the world have been try
ing TO surround the soldiery with those
conditions that would put them a1d
Keep them i'll the pink of physical
shape. L was this same great author
jty who remarked that he wanted men,
since boys only served to fill the hos
pitfalls and cucumber the roadsides. In
the camraigp leading to Austeclitz he
would take none under p and there
never has been a campaign freer from
stragglers or sick soldiers. During the
AEArleEn WslIs the EDIllllGlQGT II GAlNA-
lord Raglan. though in need of re-
cruits, said he preferred to wait rath-
er thar TO have @rO9 boys sent him
Disease Worse THIN BattIe.
It is said that the only exception to
the general rule of military life, that
an army loses more men from disease
than from wounds, either in war or in
peace, was that Of the German army
in the war of 1870 with France. Dur
ing the American Civil war there were
NJ rH1 4rr~Tp G nv
from disease as from wounds. There
were nearly five times as many deaths
from disease in our war with Mexico
as there were from wounds. During
the war with Spain and in the Phil
ippines from May ], 1895, to May l,
1899 there were nearly three times as
many deaths from typhoid fever alone
as there were from wounds, and more
than five times as many from diseases
in general
The restriction of malaria has come
to be an important problem in the pro-
motion Of military health 1t has been
asserted shat this disease was resDOn-
sible for the enervation of the armies
of Greece and Rome and the consequent
decline of those two great nations. In
point Of fatality malaria is not such a
serious afflictiOn, but 1t so lowers the
resistance to other diseases which are
highly fatal, that it is being fought
strenuously in the armies of the lead
ing nations A striking illustration of
WILL may ne 0Ole III lLdl ulEECllOn Is
afforded by an experience of the naval
station at Olongapo, Philippine islands
1t was decided that the sWampy land
around the station should be filled in
and that the ground should be cleared
so that the mosquitoes could find not
where to set the soles of their feet
within zoo yards Of the station. a sec
ond line of precautionary measures
came in the shape Of thoroughly
screeI ed quarters. The result was that
instead of 2214 days. of sickness from
malaria during the first quarter of one
year, there were less than 200 during
the corresponding quarter of the fol-
lowing year.
Army Health Is Best.
With the improved apparatus for
sanitation III the field such as incin-
orators, where all human and organic
wastes are burned; with protected wa
ter supplies. and with carefully in
spected food supplies, the health of
men III the armies today is better than
that of similar individuals outside the
service The regulation of the diet of
the soldier and the sailor has now Civ
en- them 4 balanced ration, and one that
tends to keep their bodies in physical
trim.
The armies of the world have not
only made themselves freer from dis
ease than they were before, but they
have cleaned Up civilian pest holes of
disease What Our own troops have
done IN Porto Rico furnishes a nOta-
BILE instance OF what has been done and
can be done. Under the direction CT
DR. Bailey X. Ashford, an unrelenting
campaign against hcokworm disease
has been waged there, and more than
100000 souls have been released from a
living death. With the power there to
say to the people that they must do
certain things for the protection of the
health Of themselves and of their
neighbors, the island has been practi- /
cally freed from smallpox, the sick i
rate from al disease has been cut /
down to a remarkable extent, and the !
death rate mas fallen of sc rapidly as
to put TO shame many aggressive com !
munities al home.
Gui'a Cleaned Up.
The American army cleaned up Cuba 1
IN way that probably rendered the /
Cubans 2 greater service than.the free !
dom it secured for them. The English. /
the German end the French armies {
have done much for disease ridden !
communities in Africa Perhaps the +
hardest problem any nation has in the I
way Of military sanitation is that con- &
fronting England in India Although I
there has been established in Liver
pool school for the study OF tropical /