Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1918-10-09
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
MAN IS CHOSEN FOR
MILITARY SERVICE
New Soldier Under Direction Of
Provost Marshal General
From Time Accepted
EVERY CAMP is 100
PER CENT SANITARY
No Army In World Has Ever At
tanned Health Record Of
The United States

When man is assigned for military
service the immediate anxiety, the inn
mediate concern, is his destination. his
physical welfare. his housing, feeding
clothing and health.
The new soldier is under the direction
of the Provost Marshal-Generars de-
partment from the time he is accepted
until he takes the train for the camp
+ he. is assigned to- At that moment
the transportation department takes
I him in charge II his journey is a
4 long one he travels by Pullman or
tourist sleeper Meals are provided
10 him along the way at a minimum
4 cost of sixty cents.
4 Under a recent ruling the selected
man is Immediately given an arm
/ and This takes the place of uni
form until the time when he is equip
ped with one at camp, and this arm
/ and carries the same authority, pro-
i lection and responsibility that the uni
form does The enemy would have a
right to fire upon him or take him
prisoner. and anyone selling him
liquor would be subject to prosecution
under Federal law.
Arriving at his cantonment he is as
signed to quarters, usually in a two
story wooden building, with plenty Of
air and sunlight, and with the cleanest
of fioors-foors that would meet the
old-time test clean enough to eat
from" He sleeps in a we'll ventilated
room with other soldiers, but not too
many, the number being regulated by
the climate; two blankets. khaki color
Sometimes he gets three and two thick
comforters more if the weather de-
mands.
laboratories are located at the rear
of these quarters, with water pressure
and fixtures of a design similar to
that used in the best hotels in the
country, and for every company unit
there are from four to six shower
haths. leanliness of person and sur
roundings are absolute requirements
of the United States army Every pos
sible precaution is taken by the sani-
;ary corps to insure that the camp
conditions are 100 per cent canitary
Drainage is installed along strictly
scientific lines, and the most scientific
disposition 81 made of all camp sew
age. During previous wars more men
have died from preventable' diseases
than from bullen wounds. During the
civil war soldiers perished by thous-
ands from typhoid, camp fever, dysen-
try and kindred diseases resulting
from insanitary conditions about the
camp. These days are gone. General
Gorgas, who made the building of the
Panama Canal possible by draining
the Canal Zone and fitting it for hui
man habitation, is in charge of army
sanitation.
AS soon as the soldier is assigned to
quarters he is given the most search
ing physical examination. All scien-
tific medical tests are applied to detect
disease. For instance, if there are in
dications of tubercular infection the
patient is put under observation that
there may be no mistake in the dag
nosis. If there is incipient trouble he
is sent to one of the army sanitoria
and restored to health. If his case is
advanced he is relieved from military
service or exempted until physically
fit
Besides the examining surgeon there
is the dentist Teeth are put in good
condition here, and there are dentists
overseas to keep them in good condi-
tion. Also there is an orthopedic sur
geon to examine the soldiers feet 1t
has been said that during past wars
there were more desertions from foot
trouble than all other causes combin-
ed. The attention given to the selec-
ton of shoes for the soldiers in the
American army is sidelight on the
care we give our men.
When a soldier gets his first pair of
shoes he gets a pair that fits his feet
No account is taken of the size he
wore before His feet are placed in
cunningly devised form where the
length and width are exactly determin-
ed. He bears his weight on this little
machine and an officer and non-com-
missioned officer take the size record
of both feet, his name, company and
regiment are reported and then he
puts on the pair of shoes of the size
called for. But that does not end it.
There is further device that checks
on the measuring machine and catches
any human error in recording. This
| is put in his shoe and he runs down an
incline of 0 degrees, striking his heels
on the felt and the shoe after exami-
nation by an officer is found to be sat
lisfactory, the man is fitted and his
size is added to his service record.
nr soldiers are provided with clean
socks. and at the end of long marches
the feet are carefully inspected by the
surgeon in charge.
No army in the world has ever at
tanned such a health record as ours,
the death rate being eight out of every
thousand. here and abroad This
would even be lower but for the large
number of men who come down with
diseases to which they were exposed
before leaving home.
The average gain in weight of the
American caldior since aufarinU tho