New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-07-06
u. S. Soldiers Thrive
in City of Vera Cruz
All Mistake About Disease, Heat and Mosquitoes
and Even the Rainy Season Is Maligned by
Those Who Do Not Know, Says Ruhl.
By ARTHUR RUHL.

] A.
a hotel "a would be built in New York
with winter billiards. TO prepare for
although Pensacola a. this time OF the
year is fully as hot as Vera Cruz.
The room was heavily carpeted. Il
had a heavy upholstered lounge and
chairs. two beds. with thick. soft mat
tresses. The sun, uahindered By shut
tiers or awnings, had been beating on
the heavy plate glass windows all day.
The place fairly oozed heat. IL was q
freless cooker. with enough calories
slowed away in walls and furnishings
20 cook dinner for a harvest gang on
Northwestern wheat ranch.
1t is differences like this that people
forget when they talk about suffer
ing" from heat in the tropics.
The people in this little Vera Cruz
hotel lived as naturally and simply as
birds. They were astlr at daylight
Before o'clock most of the men VINO
boarded there had had their morning
coffee. and after a leisurely cigarette
or two we're in their shady places Of
business. At 1880 o'clock they had a
hearty 'unch. and after that generally
a siesta.
They did some more work later IN
the afternoon, had An early dinner, and
BIZ 10 o'clock nearly everybody was
asleep. or reclining IN his paJamas, az
any rate. IN the evening breeze.
Scarcely once during the day had any
OF them hurried or worried or sub
jccted themselves unnecessarily 70 the
heat around them.
The Maligned Rainy Season.
The rainy season" is another thing
very generally misunderstood. Il rains
every day during the wet season, and
the torrentisl rains Of the lowlands
are equalled BY nothing except cloud
bursts IN the North, yet in many ways
living and travel are plesssnter in the
rainy season than in the dry. In the
highlands the daily rains are light
showers. which fall with almost clock
like regularity every afternoon or eve
ming; the mornings are as clear as
bell. generally, cooler than the dry
season. and the whole countryside, IN
stead Of being covered with dust, IS
unbroken green velvet. Throughout
the Central American highlands you
can arrange, during the late afternoon
shower. for something the next morn
ing with almost complete certainty that
it win be dry.
OF course if our army had to cam
paign up through the hot country now,
or push the lines far out into the
bush" the rainy season would De
serious consideration. Making camp
in wet ground. marching through mud.
living in the water-soaked country
with it's inevitable mosquitoes the
army would be facing many OF the
same dangers into which the volun-
tcers plunged so thoughtlessly IN Cuba.
Situated as they are in Vera Cruz,
however. many IN barracks IN the cen
ire Of the town, and most OF the rest
In permanent camps with mosquito
nets, boiled water and all modern sani-
tary precautions, the rainy season
may mean little more than cleaner
pavements and cooler air.
All our soldiers take quinins regu
larry, sleep under mosquito nets
whether there are mosquitoes about
or not In the hotel 10 which ! have
referred there were neither screens
nor mosquito nets, and there were no
mosquitoes. As a matter OF fact, with
our sanitary officers on the watch.
there is not much more chance for
mosquitoes 70 breed in the heart OF
a paved city like Vera Cruz than in the
average New York apartment.
Mosquitoes Not Everywhere.
Mosquitoes do not necessarily attack
the stranger the instant he sets foot
in & tropical town any more than
grizzlies used 20 come down 20 the
dock 10 greet the proyerbisl English
man Of a generation or so ago. | have
t. lie ~ a
in the rainy season without using mos
quito nets or seeing mosquitoes.
There may have been plenty n the
bush" a few rods Off the trail or out
side Of the towns, but there were none
in sight.
Nearly all the correspondents IN
Vera Cruz found themselves under the
weather after staying a week or so.
They LETT the North with overcOats and
iuqpod INTO climate in which evapO-
reran IS so great and continuous that
even the eScrtion Of writing in a shady
room causes the sweat 10 run oil the
backs Of ones hands. For the first
week or 50 in Vera Cruz they were
rushing all over the place. with little
thought OF rest or regular meals and
little likelihood Of getting suitable
food. After a time they began 10 show
the cffects.
The army. on the other hand. al
ready trained for its work. comfort 70
ably dressed. housed. well fed ard with
plenty Of exercise, scarcely noticed the
change. Those who came from Guam
tanamo and Panama we're. Of course,
acclmated Their blood is thin al
ready." as a captain Of marines SAID
10 ne one day in speaking Of his men.
Gwen the ticks won't bite EN-.
These men have good food and plenty
OF it-s soup, beans, roast beef and po-
tatoes, even buildings and pie good,
solid. filing. white mans food. And
through their work they get what IA
almost rs important plenty of eyer-
else Hard exercise is one of the best
tonics in the tropics, the tendency be-
ing 10 slump more and more until one
has no get-up-and-get at all. Many a
man Who has thought himself i'll has
found himself cured after being forced
for some reason or other 10 take a
lorg hike" or all-day ride.
II the army should go into the in
terror and their advance be seriously
opposed there might be cause fer wor-
rvirC about the effects OF climate. SO
long az they remain in Vera Cruz most
of them ought 10 keep as ft as If they
we're still in Galveston.
n.