Honolulu star-bulletin., 1916-02-16
Prisoners Not Being Taken and
Few Wounded Saved in
Grim Campaigning

'lSllS mere, recently returned from tne
war-zone with one of the most re-
rlarkable statements the war has
brought forth. Mr.. White is a cousin
of f. o. White of Honolulu, and he
and his father own the famous Uni
Versity Press Of Cambridge.
Few If any prisoners are now being
taken on the west front, and no wound
ed saved, he says, the war being of
the grimmest sort. His story is given
in the Boston Sunday Globe as fol-
lows:
NEW YORK, n. Y, Jan. lon the
somewhat scanty list of passengers
brought to port this afternoon by the
White Star liner Baltic was the name
of Herbert H. White of Boston, bust,
ness manager of two successive Har-
abroad to serve at British base hos
pital in France.
Mr.. White went over November II
with the second contingent. -:
He came ashore with a brand-new
| salmon rod in his hand, duffle bag
| and KIT bag, suitcase or two and
two pasteboard boxes that looked as if
they might contain silk hats.
He also had, in an inside. pocket, a
beautiful travelling clock in a leather
case, on which was golden plate that
certified that il had been presented to
him by the grateful surgeons and
nurses of the Harvard unit. -
Il haven't heard gun nor seen a
submarine" said he. Il have seen
plenty of aeroplanes over Paris; they
are so common that one doesn't even
notice them. l have seen plenty OF
torpedo boats.
Il did see one English submarine,
to be sure, tied up in a dock. And l
did see trenches, though didn't go to
the 'front.' felt that it would hardly
be decent for a civilian, with no rea-
son but his curiosity, to ask so many
men to go to so much trouble as would
be necessary.
Not Even a Uniform. r..
For a similar reason, didn't get
into uniform. was not to serve with
the unit, and so was not member OF
the British forces, but Lieut.-co Sir
Allan Perry was courteously ready to
try at the war office to have uniform
issued to me and the war office grant
ed permission Without one, it was
very difficult to go anywhere at all.
But getting something to which
one is not entitled by his work is one
of the things of which Americans are
often accused, and felt that l should
be in false position. =
81 sailed with the 80 nurses and the
28 surgeons of the second contingent
on November II. We had a wonder
fully smooth passage, and were met at
Falmouth by Lieut.-col. Sir Allan Per-
ry, the commanding officer Of Hospi
tai % i - =.
1--WE were several days in England
outftting. The doctors got their uni
forms and the nurses of this second
contingent had their uniforms made in
London instead of here, as the first
lot did. Then we moved on to France.
There was no convoy; the English
are sending ships across the channel
now with absolute freedom. ! believe
there probably isn't German subma-
rine anywhere in the waters round
England. -. -
''As a matter of fact, was told, and
/ believe it, that the English have cap
tured or sunk 81 Of the German sub
marines, and this, according to their
roster, would leave them only three al.
together. These are thought to be in
the Mediterranean, where, of course,
Austria also has some.
sIn France we found that there had
been a number of changes in Hospital
%, the 1500-bed outfit of the Harvard
contingent.
"The first unit had gone home when
the plan for Johns Hopkins and Co
Iumbia unit to relieve it had fallen
through. But 80 of the nurses and the
matron, Miss Marion G. Parsons, vol
unteered for further service and were
accepted. .-~~.. ... . .=s.
"They were kept together at Hos
pital %, which they ran as GONZALES
cents hospital.
"As the cold weather came in the
field hospitals under canvas became
impracticable. -~ . ....
"They we're shifted into 'huts,' which
are really portable houses somewhat
like those we have in this country.
Hospital % somehow got very few
of these, and 1t was finally moved
bodily into the empty hotels of beach
resort just north of Boulogne. This
meant moving 70 tons of cot beds,
ffoorings, furnishings, equipment, sur
gical and commissary, and supplies.
The move had just been accomplished
when we got there.
Il stayed four days, watching the
outfit get on it's feet, SO to speak They
hadn't had a case up to the time |
left, and it wouldn't surprise me to
learn that they have not yet had a
wounded man ...s
II suggested that some of the medi-
cal cases be sent to our hospital.
There is a lot of rheumatism, and
colds, and chilblains, but no typhoid;
there is plenty of medical work to be
done. -.-. j. ...-. s
"The lack of wounded is explained
partly by the fact that there has not
been a great amount of fighting lately,
partly by the fact that no wounded
are being saved and no prisoners
taken. Men who fall outside the
trenches are promptly sprayed with
machine gun fire by the enemy until
a Ill