The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-06-01

the hospital. Its growth was so quiet as to seem
magical. Although more than five million persons,
oil OF whom, with the possible exception of a few
of the most militant pacifsts, cherish a patriotic
interest in all such institutions, are residing Just
to the south of it, 1t attained completion without
the general, public being aware of it's existence
and was taking care of men who had been across
and been wounded in battle while most of the
residents of New York continued to regard 1t as
merely in course of construction.
Every afternoon from two o'clock until four
the high tide of sympathy sets in from the out
side world toward the hospital. 1t was at this
time that armed with a letter from the war de-
partment 1 approached the entrance. 1t was nee
essary to fall in with a long procession of women,
most of them burdened with bunny packages
which contained oranges, apples, bananas, home
made chocolate cakes, apple pies, cream pufs and
other articles of food suitable to the dietary of
an invalid and calculated to relieve the tedium
of hospital life.
The wooden city which constitutes the hospital
is set upon a hill. Fresh winds sweep over 1t and
1t is flooded with sunshine. Spotless cleanliness
and perfect order prevail from end to end Of
the plant and the most meticulous housekeeper
at the end of a prying visit might very well sigh
and admit that men even keep house better than
women do.
1t was due to the initiative of Columbia univer-
sity that this large hospital was so soon estab-
lished. The university idea was to organize and
thoroughly equip a hospital for the use of Amer
lean troops, which hospital, construction and all
should be put up in New York and afterward
carried across the ocean. The hospital was to
be differed by physicians from the College Of
Physicians and Surgeons, the medical school of
Columbia university.
Ground for the hospital was broken May 10,
little more than a month after the declaration of
war. The first building was finished in June.
But when the hospital was offered to the govern
ment in July it was decided that the project of
transporting the plant, buildings and all to France
was impractical and that the hospital would
serve a very useful purpose If it remained on
Columbia Oval.
Thirty-nine buildings were included In the orig
inal plan as presented by the university. The
government has since increased the number to
60, but the type of buildings has remained the
same. Each building is a long, low rectangle, one
story high and with the sides made up so largely
of glass that all the wards resemble sun parlors.
The executive building is two stories high, but
It, like the others, is of the simplest possible con-
struction, implanted without and upholstered with
in. The buildings are lined with heavy paper,
with the object of making them warmer. Other
wise they are as simple as the wooden sheds
which served as headquarters for the first Off
GERS training camps.
The entire group of buildings is somewhat in
the form of the letter H, the executive building
serving as the cross piece of the II.
on the second floor of this building are the
executive offices of the hospital, as simple as the
other parts of the institution. The office OF Adj
iutant Dean f. VIM, fitted out mostly with I'M
painted furniture constructed by the enlisted men,
is ut one side ond next are the offices Of Col