Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-06-23
DEATHS FROM DISEASE IN THE ARMY
ny ALFRED WILLIAMS
Official figures, worked GU. especial

Official figures, worked out especial
iy for The Times Dispatch from the
records Of the office Of the surgeon
general OF the army and brought TO
light last month, show that the death
rate from disease In the American
army. on this side and abroad. is $50
per 1000 per year. This includes all
diseases, and the period covers the
winter months and the epidemics OF
pneumonia which swept through some
environments.
The rate is in sharp contrast with
that of the Spanish war. which was
25.13, more than three times that Of
direful defects and deficiencies In the
army organization and the medical
stan OF 1S3S-99. or vast Improvement
since then, or combination Of both. 1t
IS TO be remembered that the number
OF Americans exposed TO the trials OF
tropical climates was small The great
majority OF deaths and the largely ex-
ccSSiVe proportion OF the mortality
were In this country. Detailed exam
nation of the returns VIII demonstrate
INA, me worst showings were in the
Northern camps.
At hrst glance the death rate from
disease in our army seems wonderfully
small when we see that the rate in
New York city, ono of the healthicst
cities in the world In 1916 was 1883
1913. The deaths in the civilian popu :
laiiOn, however include those OF in
f"iis and Old people. In New York.
"fich furnishes the most complete and
carefully prepared and analysed sta-
tstlcS The deaths between twenty-iye
aud forty-Hve years Of age, which Is
~ near To the army ages as can be
got at were three the the 1000, Un-
Guiding women at the most dangerous
rcriod Of their lives. The mortality
i"e4;i disease among soldiers In service
may be taken fairly to have been about
;hrac times that Of civilians OF approxi-
mattel: the same ages
it' 1t is TO be kept in mind that the
hrSt year Of waT is the most trying and
fatal. An issue OF Frank Leslic's
WeeKiS OF is02 states as fact. pre-
suinab!y from official sources, that OF
100000 Union soldiers then enrolled,
soocpO. or nearly 80 per cent. were on
the sick list. This Mas while Me
Cieilan was operating in the Chica-
hominy Swamps. Everybody who has
CELL can understand that, while IL
rarely kills. it unquestlonably dcprives
the victim both of the desire and the
caIacity to shoot anybody but himself
a. will take the life out of the most
intense human dynamo more com
p!ctely than anythinli known. except
ing. perhaps. sen sickness. The same
malaria that Killed Off John Smiths
co!onists on jamestown Island in 1909
ana icit the survivors without interest
in their undertaking or SURROUNDINGS
sent McClellan's Northern troops 10 the
hospitals in droves. but did not Kill
them. The final Official reports al the
end OF the Civil War showed that the
deaths from disease In all tho Union
armies were la3.72o OF Il total enroll
;n"nt of 2.320.O00 men. a rate OF sc
per 1000. which Is less than the rate
Ger the army now Comparison Of the
rates would not be fair To tho present
medical stan, because tho Civil war
hSures include the entire four years
and also ali the nincty-day and other
shoIt-time men. many of whom saw no
service. Close analysis from the
records is not obtainablc, but all the
facts and figures indicate that those Of
weak constitutions or prcdisposed 10
disease We're weedcd out by death in