The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1912-1984, 1918-04-02
FACTS ABOUT CAMP TAYLOR

FAIL ABDUL (AmT la LON
Camp Taylor, March 3d. wish
to state some of the facts of the
camp to my friends through the col
umns of your paper. At present we
are working very hard, as the late
quota from Illinois and Kentucky,
have come in, and the weather being
fine, so every one is busy especially
the old men. have visited and talk
ed with the Lincoln boys and they
are we'll satisfied or apparently so. |
would have been glad if they had
been sent to my company but they
were not. know the mothers are de-
batting in their minds what is going
to happen to their boys if they go to
France. Are they going to die, as
thousands of them did in 1898 of
disease? If they are shot, or gassed,
or burned, what show have they of
getting we'll? SO many wild stories
Of danger and death have been cir
culated that the folks at home are al
most forced to look on the dark side
of the picture, but remember every
cloud has a silver lining and the
bright side will turn when the proper
time comes.
Foreigners talk openly of "Ameri-
con luck" in war. They admit we
have never been beaten. But they
claim we have always had luck as our
Ally This time, they saw we are
91ckier than ever, lucky because the
other armies have learned a lot of
lessons from which we can profit;
lucky because we are safe from in
Tasion; lucky because we have not
only men and resources but time to
mobilize both. And every one of them
will congratulate US on our usual
American luck in having the man,
(they all envy us) in charge of the
physical well being of our soldiers.
There seems to be an impression
in this country that to fight in the
present war means almost sure death
to a soldier. AS matter of fact, both
in the danger from disease and in
the deadliness Of the actual fighting
there is no comparison between the
war in Europe today and our Civil
War. In the Civil War our mortality
was something over five per cent for
the four years. 1t is true that the
French armies suffered almost en-
actly the same death losses during |
the first five months of this war But |
you must not forget that those Iirst
five months were the most disas-
trous period, especially for the AL |
lies, who were unprepared in every |
way. By 1916, the French had re-
duced their mortality to only about |
two per cent. for twelve months, that
is a rate of only twenty per thous-
and. Even in civil life rate of thir-
teen to fifteen per thousand is usual. /
Therefore it is evident that the addi-
tional war risk is surprisingly low.
After three days battle in our Civ
il War, such battle as Gettysburg,
for instance, third of the men en-
gagged were left on the field. You
can not find in the present conflict
any three days battle as disastrous
as that. Yet will say that if you
take a period of several years, it
seems to nae that the chance of
man being killed in action is greater
now than it was during the Civil
War. This is because he fights now
almost continuously. He is in the
trenches most of the time instead of
going into an occasional big battle,
with weeks or months of inaction be-
tween. Death from disease was great
menace in the prehistoric wars, but
at present it has changed At this
stage of the war many commanders
report that their soldiers are in bet
ter health, even in the trenches. than
our civilian population back at home. |
I am sure the mothers who have re-
Gently given up their sons to be
trained for this great war, are won
dering what kind of society they
will associate with. There is. one
thing certain. your boy is coming |
home from this war better man