Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-05-10
ii. S. SOLDIERS
ARE NO LONGER
HARD DRINKERS
REVIEWING HEALTH CONDITIONS Or
NEW YORK GUARD ON BORDER
Or. STEERS SAYS THEY OBEY
ED ORDERS OF COMMANDER
HEALTH OF TROOPS WAS GOOD AND
FEW CASES OF TYPHOID WE'RE
CONFINED TO MEN WHO HAD
EvAOED VACCINATION
New York Times)

In a review of health conditions in the
New York National Guard. based ON inveS-
LEGATIONS made during service on the Mexi-
can border, DIR. William Steers Of Brook
lyn, major in the medical department Of
the militia. urges Young physicians Ia be
gin M once the study of military medicine.
Then he goes on To tell of his experiences
in active service IN an article published in
the Medical Journal.
at l. a common error to suppose that
soldiers are heavy drinkers" DIR. Steers
says. 'Po~~ibly they may have been so
in the past. However. in our army alchol-
ism has been diminishing for the last ten
years. la the Mexican border service Of
the Sixth division, which was composed
of the New York National Guard ana in
Guided for part of the time the Third
Tennessee infantry. the use of alcoholic
drinks was prohibited by the commanding
general. | do not pretend that there was
no drinking. II was not war time. - that
the selling of liquor in towns could not he
stopped. Therefore. some men did obtain
liquor. However. the great majority Of the
troops lived up to the order. They PLAYED
the game honestly and were the better for
il morally and physically. With more than
1880 men of all classes in camp. one
would naturally expect considerable row
ism, fighting and drunkenness. This.
however. was not the ease: Il drunken
soldier was inirequeni. Also the number Of
offenders against order brought to trial
were few
There were Very few eases of typhoid
fever" he continued. These occurred IN
men who had not received the tyuhoid
vaccine. Some men dodge the admins
~tration of this treatment. IL j. not too
much 10 say that antityphoid vaccination,
which it has been shown can be- relied on
absolutely Ia prevent fever. IL 4 prere-
quiSite 10 military success.
POSSIBLY the occurance most interest
ing IN a medical way was the epidemic of
p~aratyphoid fever. 1t was found that a
few cases of this disease had existed in
the town of Mission before the advent Of
the troops. Clinically the disease IN midi
yidual eases can not he distinguished from
typhoid fever. Preventive consisted. first,
In removing all eases and carriers To the
hospital; second. in isolating all eases of
rise in temperature; third. in di~infecting
clothing, tentage and equipment: fourth.
M removal of al troops from Mission. and
fifth, in antiparatyphoid vaccination.
perhaps the most curious thing med
ically was the occurancc Of Il few eases Of
larvae migranS. This minute larva. from n
fly, whose name | nave seen but will not
venture To spell, burrows in the skin, pro-
ducing a narrow, raised serpiginous ridge.
The LESSONS seen were from three inches to
y foot or more in length and very tortuous.
drinking wafer WAS obtained from the
towns OF Pharr. McAllen and Mission. In
the own Of Plarr i WAS pumped from the
irrigation canals which drew ii from the
Rio Grandc. The water from Allen
was from three arte~ian wells. These
wells passed through a%lluvial soil To u
depth Of about sixty feet, where u layer
OF salt watcr was found. Continuing, the