The sun., 1919-03-30
None Remains at
This Port More
Than Eight Days
Care Never
Ceases Until Men
Reach Home y

are just cross section Of the country,
men such as you and I have passed
every day on the street before the war
without a glance, but when the time
came they showed the qualities of real
courage that only men can show.
They are Americans"
The saddest cases which the port
authorities have to deal with are those
Of shell shock and insanity. These,
fortunately, are not numerous and a
study of the port figures for the year
of 1918 nails two canards that have
been going about with regard to our
soldiers. OF course, the figures have
been jumping this year. and from jan
uary l to March "a, 1926 cases HAD
been received. as compared with 25,104
for all of 1918. The increase began
soon after the armistice. In December
Of 1918, the number received here was
1868, while in November only 1914
were received.
The insane patients are sent on spe-
cial cars, the windows OF which are
barred, to army hospitals and the best
State hospitals. a.
There have been three big problems,
outside of the initial problem Of or
ganization, which Col. Kennedy and
his stan have had to buck against
since the war started. The first was
! influenza, the second the wreck OF the
Northern Pacific and the third ire
spohsible gossip about the treatment
Of wounded men which has led 70 q
flood of complaints. .,
Hard Hit by Influenza.
Influenza hit the embarkation port,
as it was then. pretty hard, They had
to send men. Pershing was pleading
for them, and to send men without
enuanger!ng their lives or causing
wholesale epidemics on board trans
ports was problem that caused many
sleepless nights in Hoboken.
Men of Col. Kennedy's staff say that
II any one less gifted with common
sense had been in charge, the whole
organization would have collapsed
from sheer panic. AS II was, troop
movements went on, slower than ut
first. but still in material volume.
Quarantine was observed to the ut.
, most compatible with military neces-
sity. and it was the nice combinat
Of medical preCaution and military
driving force which made It possible
to get over large numbers of troops in
that trying time without more fatsli-
| ties.
The next bad nick in the machine
came from the wreck OF the Northern
Pacific, when the tide had turned and
men were coming home. Every man
| came Off the ship safely. but even yet
the ColoneIs staff is convinced that
there was little cherub up aIoft
| looking after that particular cargo
and seeing to it that n bad onshore
wind did not come up.
The Colonel, by the way, is a lover
! OF the sea. He knows every boat with
which he has dealings from truck to
! ketlson and is sailor OF no mean pre-
tensions. They say that occasionally
the "old man" looks out the window,
sees puff of smoke in the distance
down the bay. shifts and says. Wei.
there's the Antigone." And IL that
isn't nautical prescience, what is?
The gossips and slanderers havo
! been the worst bane Of the port au-
thorities recently. Every one ftmemS
bers the lies which were spread about
in the early days OF the war about men
SplllS INSANE at tldtlSDuTS 1TOln Ddy-
onet practice and Red Cross nurses
who came home with their hands cut
off. These stories have been surpassed
when the wounded are spoken Of.
II there could be anything moro
comfortable or cleaner than one of the
| hospital trains sent out Of New York
by the port medical authorities ii has
| Yet to be devised. on the trips from
! the city TO soma of the nearby camp
! hospitals, however, occasional disa-
: gIeeable conditions like cold cars have
been encountered, something which
thy department could not prevent.
, one OF the most senseless stories start
ed from a cold car yarn.
! A complaint came in that wounded
men. some of them without arms or
! legs, had been sent to Camp Mills in
GCndoa coal cars on the Long Island
railroad. The writer pointed out that
there was no cover over the cars, no
protection from the weather, no heat,
and no doors, SO that the men could
not get out except by climbing. There
were even no ladders provided.
This story was traced to a car that
was not well heated because of engine
trouble on the way TO the camp.
Goal" evolved from colo" and caused
all sorts of trouble. 1t has been found
that 9S per cent of the complaints are
baseless and the debarkation office
keeps one officer constantly employed
| running them down.