Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1917-10-17


trusted with command over his COM
rades.
Every man can by self control re-
strain the indulgence of those impru-
dent and reckless impulses that so
ofetn lead men astray, and he who
thus resists better soldier and bet
ter man than the man of weaker will
who allows his bodily appetites to rule
him and who lacks the strength Of
character to resist temptation, and 20
refuse to follow any bad example he
may see before him.
Remember Mother and Sister.
Remember the better influences of
life. What would your mother, your
sisetrs and your friends at home think
of you if they saw you in hospital, de-
graded by this disease? And later on
in life, when you may rightly hope to
marry and settle down, it will make
difference to your own happiness
and that of your family which no
words can eXpress-if you can do so
with a body clean of those loathsome
diseases which, if once contracted,
may be passed on to your children.
Syphilis.
Syphilis assumes a horrible, loath-
some anC often fatal form through
which in time, as years pass on, the
sufferer finds his hair falling out, his
skin. and the flesh of his body rot, and
are eaten away by slow, cankerous
and sinking alterations; his nose first
falls in at the bridge, and then rots
and falls off; his sight gradually fails
and he eventually becomes blind; his
voice first becomes husky and then
fades to hoarse whisper as his throat
is eaten away by fetid alterations
which cause his breath to stink. In
the hospitals, and among the suicides,
many such examples are to be found.
Gonorrhoea.
Gonorrhoea, again, although it be-
gins as merely a scalding local inflam-
| nation, slowly spreads and infects
other parts of the body and the blood,
giving rise to other diseases, such as
sticture (Which causes excruciating
pain), bladder troubles, and rheuma-
tism of the joints. Though these dis
eases do not appear at once, they all
follow n time and increase as the suf-
ferer crows older.
"Patent" Medicines and Quack
Doctors.
The only hope for those who have
the misfortune to contract such dis
eases is to submit to the earliest pos
sible treatment by a qualified med
zeal officer for delay is most danger
Gus. Nor can any permanent good
result from resorting for aid to bazaar
quacks or patent medicines, for the
disease will not be eradicated but will
break out again and again in the years
to come, SO that the sufferer will in
feet his wife, and their children (if
any will be diseased and weakly Grip
pies.
inefficient Forfeit First Class Pay.
Lord Kitchener would further point
out that although the military penalties
| IN hzr
eral diseases can oily be considered as
Of minor Importance when compared to
the more dreadful and far-reaching
consequences above referred to, yet
men should remember that they exist
and should know what they are. Pro-
motion may be affected first-class
service pay is forfeited, for it is given
for efficiency, and men who have suf-
fered from these diseases remain in
efficient for long periods: guards and
duties missed while in hospital have
to be made good, so that the self-in-
diligence of those who contract disease
may not throw extra work on their
! comrades; on their return to duty they
may find all indulgences, passes, etc,
withheld and the canteen may be clos
| ed against them. Should men be in
| valided for veneral diseases, gratuities
and pensoins are liable to be affected.
Further, it must be remembered that
| it is impossible for long to conceal the
existence of disease, and that the at
tempt to do so is an offense which is
| very severely punished.
| Soldiers Requested to Read These
Instructions.
Lord Kitchener asks all the men who
/ compose the British army in India,
| which he is proud to command, to
read this memorandum very carefully
and think over these matters; let each
then consider for himself whether in
dulgense is worth the price which has
to be paid for it in disease, in punish
ment, in injury to the man himself,
his wife and his children, in destruc-
ton of the efficiency of his corps and
in degradation of his own body and
mind,