Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-01-02
CHEMICALS IN WARFARE
by Frederic J. Haskin

Washington, Jan. 2.--The next war,
II II comes, will In all likelihood be
fought 20 large extent with chem
icals. The amazing development Of
this form Of warfare in the etc world
struggle coupled with the fact that
peace-time commercial chemical plants
can be transformed Immediately into
formidable munition plants, In suf-
fcient 10 guarantee this
Contrary 10 general popular opinion
fighting with gases is said 90 be far
more humane tban other forms Of war
fare. The measure OF humanity In
war is the number OF deaths and per-
manentiy injured In relation 10 the
total number injured. The Surgeon
General Of the Army. In his latest an
nual report, published interesting
figures to prove that chemical warfare
is more humane than conflict with
bullets and high explosives.
The blame for every conceivable
sort Of Illness has been laid at the
door OF war gases. including diseases
Of the central nervous system. heart
and blood vessels. the respiratory tract
and the digestive system. This was be-
cause chemical warfare on a large
scale was new. and little was known
Of the after effects. But a careful
study OF the subject has been made by
| the War Department during the past
eight months. during which time some
! $500 LISTERS were sent out 10 leading
medical people throughout the world
TO obtain their views Also, 200 claims
J rvf n
The result Of this thorough investi-
cation led to the inescapable conclu-
sion that gas, on the whole causes M
permanent disabilities. II was found bJ
iinvestiga ton not only here. but ir
Germany. Engla nd. France. and Swift
.zerland. that there Is no direct evidence
that tuberculosis is an aster-effec
affecting gas victims.
! In addition 20 this phase Of the in
vestigation. letters were sent 20 manu-
facturers Of chlorine. heavy chemicals
and other materials that produce case
similar 20 those used In the war Tn
lanswer 10 these letters in every cas-
was that they had never observed per
manent disabilities resulting from ex
posure 70 these gases, and that az
matter Of fact. during the many year
these chemicals had been 'manufactur
ed. the question had never come u
before.
Figures for the Army and Navy. ex
Guiding the Marine Corps. show that
the World war 25s. 1876 men were in
b iured OF this number. 32.24s died o
b the field Of hattie There were 1853
. who died in hospitals OF this numbe
70552 were suffering from gas a1oni
and only .22i died. Brlgadier Geners
, Amos \. Fries. Chief Of the Chemic;
{ Warfare Service Of the United stats
2 Army. estimates that less than q
men actually died on the field of bait
2 as a result Of gas attacks, since cor
, central tion Of gas sufficient 10 kill Will
= in 70 hours was seldom obtained. a.
! suming that 200 died on the battle
- field from chemical attacks. Gener
] Fries pointed out. the total death
from gas would be AL, lees than
= per cent Of the .752 gas cases.
3 OF che 1885 injured by bullets ar
p high explosives. 46. .449 died. or mo-
. than "a per cent. II is evident fro
D these figures that the man injured
] gas alone had more than y times
5 good a chance Of recovery as the ma
= injured by high explosive shells
>. bullets.
= Other comparisons are qIite
? striking. The official records show III
y So men were totally blinded in q
n war. ~ We're partially blinded il bo
9 eyes. and GA were blinded in one ey
Il These include eyes destroyed. 1r tho