Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-14

can army in the last fiscal year, the
rate was 1887, the lowest ever record
ed for the army.
soldier who mashed his thumb in
lacking up a picture in the post ex-
change figures in the ''non-effective
rate" for the time being; so does the
soldier who irritates temperamental
mule and gets kicked in the abdomen,
SO does the soldier who shocks his well
regulated stomach into revolt by TAX
ing into it. on days leave. substances
in character and quantity never In
tended for human digestion.
Still, the days average of soldiers
figuring in the on-effective rate last
year was less than twenty-four out of
every thousand. Some things, like
the mules kick, perhaps cannot be pre-
vented. What can be prevented the
medical department of the army pre-
vents, and that is disease.
Suggest to Gen. Gorgas. that modest,
white-haired. gentle, self-effacing but
world famous officer, sitting at his
desk in the War Department, that he
and the medical department he COM
mands are solely responsible for the
extraordinary advances the American
army has made in recent years in the
job of keeping well, and he Is shocked.
He insists that full credit shall be CIV
to the line officers for what they
have done.
They" he insists, Impressed with
value of the lessons of camp sanitation
and preventive precautions, have be-
come enthusiastic supporters of these
advances. and are hardly second to
medical officers In their knowledge and
experience in such matters"
And right there, as he explains, is the
secret of the whole thing. spirit has
been infused into the American soldier.
be he officer or private. that makes
him Just as proud of his ability to keep
well as to perform some strictly mill
tary duty In perfect form. That makes
for efficiency.
No longer is camp fever, otherwise
typhus. looked upon as something in
evitable in the scheme of military life
in the open. Every American soldier
now knows that typhus, which in wars
past has killed far more troops than
human enemies ever did, is commune
Gated by the body louise. Soldiers in
the civil war did not know. that. They
regarded the army grayback" as some
thing inevitable; annoying, true, but
not serious menace. Today the
soldier from the day he enters the serv-
ice is taught to make war on this
parasite.
Modern military training in the
American army. in other words, spells
training in personal hygiene. Teach
ing men to take care of themselves" is
the way the soldier expresses IT.
Teaching men to take care of them
selves occupies larger place today
in military training in America than
teaching them to march in perfect
alignment did in an earlier day. Keep
clean, keep your feet in good condi-
ton, keep your stomach and digestive
apparatus functioning properly, aVolo
suspicious drinking water. do not let
litter and filth and garbage accumulate
about your camp. but destroy them IN
stantly. These are few OF the pre-
cepts of the modern military command
err They are regarded. strictly from
military point of view, of higher con-
sequence than any other. save the car
dinal ones of shoot straight" and obey
orders"
OF course, it would be absurd to say
that American soldiers are in advance
of all of the rest of the world In this
respect. Gen. Gorgas makes no such
claim. Japan. with thoroughly well
organized medical department. in the
Manchurian campaign demonstrated the