The Nome daily nugget., 1915-06-04
MORE MONEY WOULD HAVE SAVED
 MANY LIVES

and Pestilence have come to many un- fortunate countries. There has been incredible destruction of life and pro- perty. Rivers have been poisoned with blood There were forty miles of rotting corpes along the Marne- and pigs fed upon them. But the pco- pie without fuel cannot ,;oil water. Hunger overcame scruples about the swine. These things, shallow graves and exposure, have opened the door for the waiting forces of disease. The by civilians in numbers equaling, or superseding the soldiers. This pro- blem was difficult enough before No country could have been preya"ed to cope with the great hordes of wounded men--the hundreds of thousands that have fallen since the beginning of the plies are very Emitted. In many instan- ces men lie on p1@ets of straw, in sheds or public buildings.
 NOW the situation IS uouply serious l. spnua cases snUuiu not De placeu III proAlnilts to Mounueu soIuIers. DuI tie scourse oI lev CT spreaus uaIIy. IL Is ulIIcuIu to refuse aunlttunce lo those Who are sullerins rom any cause.
 lt4I- lers receiveu at the Alnerlcan helieI LIeaiIn5 Iluuse, wnIcn organization urslrIuules aIu from Auerlca lo France anu uer anIes, according to the best JuusmenL oI lts Committees working Mlln ,ne french gov ernment. These Iellers were wrItlen from hospitals near tne nrIns nne Ill Belgium ana rrance:
 "AIany wounded soIdIers are ln1ecteu by lne clNllans suffering from typholu wno must be cared tor. Many ot the ty pnolu patients are sent on to more Iney uIe on their arrival. out of seven brought III one day in that condition nve nave died. We hope to increase the number of beds in our hospital The doctors declare that if We had sufficient funds to continue the work the epidemic would be checked in two months.
 Most of the typhus cases are refu- gees who fled before the Germans. In ordinary times the population of this town is 5000. Now there are S0,O00 people living herein the most fright stables and sheds. l have seen a fam fly of twelve crowded together with the horses in the stable without air or light, and in dirt indescribable. Many are dying from hunger.
 "I cannot give you details as to the peculiar signs of the epidemic. Here it generally looks like typhoid fever, malignant and very catching Whole families are brought to us of ten per sons. The treatment is painful; Most patients are unconscious and weak. Often the sick people are concealed by their families because the disease is not understood. Much good could be done if We could go about among them and teach them simple hygiene. Two of our nurses have got the in -.,;t ,f n,tti
 Because of lack of space We refuse many patients every day, who come begging admittance. There would be two or three thousand in the immedi- ate neighborhood to be taken in if we could care for them.
 We must appeal to private charity. Our work is for civilians and soldiers alike. We care for the civilians and protect the soldiers as much as pos sible against infection. In the begin ming a little money would have saved so many lives-and always the lives of yonug men It is between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five that most of them die. The mortality is frighttul!
 "To continue our work We must have money, bedding, washing and disin- fecting apparatus, and food. Our need is most urgent"
 Another letter reads:
 There are eighty patients in all, and oh. what desperate state they are in, This is only a temporary hospital; it was formerly a school The patients are quartered in four rooms, and up to the time of our arrival there were but seven nurses. Two attended to the medicines, temperatures, hypodermics, cupping, etc; two gave the lotions-a
 
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