The Washington times., 1922-01-08
WAR GASSHOWN
MORE humane
THAN GUNF|RE
Records Of Evacuated Men Give
Less Than 2 Per Cent OF
Fatalities.


When the five powers yesterday
abolished the use Of poison gas on
the battlefelds in the future strug-
giles Of nations, the least terrible Of
all factors in killing human beings,
in the light of world war expert
ences, was thrown into the discard,
according to official figures.
Gas Death Rate Low. .. H.
Less than 2 per cent Of the soldiers
evacuated for gas poisoning In the
American Expeditionary Forces sui.
fered death from their experience.
reads the report Just made by the
chemical warfare section of the
United States army.
Twenty-four per cent OF the sold.
iers In these forces who were evac'
uated from shell or gunshot wounds
died of their wounds. the report
adds.
THE blame for every conceivable
sort Of illness has been laid at the
door of warfare gases" It declares
THE reason for this was due to the
fact that, little was known Of the
after effects. During the past eight
months. however. u careful study
entire subject, during which time
over $500 letters were mailed to
leading medical people OF the world
to obtain then views Of the subject
In addition, over 100 war risk
ella ms wert examined.
1.-THE result of the evidence OBJ
tanned through these sources prove
conclusively that gas. on the whole
causes no permanent disabilities"
| Concerning tuberculosis" the re
port goes on to say. "it may be sai1
that there Is no direct evidence tina
gas is responsible for this condition.
| Gun Fire Much Worse.
In its contention that gun fire Il
more horrible than fumes of chlorin,
and phosgine and all the other hell
winds" Of the trenches. the chemica
warfare service bulletin declared:
Nothing conceived by man Il
more horrible or more terrible thar
men disemboweied by high explo
sives. by bayonets and by bullets
than men with arms blown away
legs torn off. eyes gouged out an,
faces so torn is to no longer resem
BILE humanity. Gas does none o
these. Moreover, those who su-
vive the terrible mutilation from bull
lets and high explosives carry scar
4 with them to their graves, and, not
withstanding all the effects Of mod
| ern surgery, one can see on ever,
hand today the disfigured faces, tn
missing limbs and the closed eye
OF thousands of men all by bullet
\ and high explosives.
"The opponents of chemical warfa~
would have us believe that these lat
ter methods OF war are humane an,
should be, recognized as proper, Will
the use 81 gas, which killed but IN,
IT, twelve compared with bullets an,
ftsh explosives. and which left n,
MANNED or disfigIred for life. shoul'
be outlawed.
Twelve Chances to One.
There were assess men injure,
during the war. OF these 1929 die,
On the field of battle; 1891 other
died In hospitals. There were admit
ted to the hospitals (this does includ
marines) 224,0ss. or this number 10
$50, or 27.3 per cent, were sufferin
from gas alone. OF the 7o.652 ga
cases. only 1921 dieA OF the 1853, SO
admitted to the hospitals suffering
from bullets. high explosives an
other methods or war except gas. IL
470 died.
"If we assume that 200 died from
gas on the field Of battle, the tots
deaths from gas would be 1,44l out o
l70,752. or less than 2 per cent. L
like manner. Of the 1S7,5S6 injured b.
bullets. high explosives and simila
methods, 4s,44s, or more than "a pc
cent, died. Thus II is evident tina
the man who was injured by ga
alone on the field of battle had twelv
times as many chances for recover
as the man wounded with bullets an