21 '2 WASHBURN. 



to tuberculosis. The relative death rate because of tuberculosis in the 

 Army serving in the United States was 0.78, as against 0.79 for American 

 troops in the Philippines. The mortality rates of native troops in the 

 Philippines were 2.58 per thousand from injuries and 8.93 from disease, 

 4.55 of which was due to beri-beri, Asiatic cholera, and malarial fever, 

 all preventable, and 4.37 to other diseases. 



For the year 1907 the mortality rate from all causes (diseases and 

 injuries) of American troops in the Philippines was 5.92. The death 

 rate among the native troops from disease was 5.06, while the rate 

 among American troops from disease was only 3.61. The deaths among 

 American troops in the Philippines from injuries were 39 per cent of 

 their total mortality (fourteen men having been drowned, the same 

 number as in the preceding year), the fatalities from disease being 

 onty 61 per cent of the total mortality. In 1906 over 50 per cent 

 of the deaths among troops serving in the Philippines were due to 

 injuries. Deaths from disease on account of service in the Philippines 

 therefore appear to be approaching the low mortality rate from disease 

 for the army in the United States. 



For 1906 the admission to sick report rate for the army in the United 

 States was 1,179.93 per thousand; in the Dutch army for 1903 the 

 admission rate was 1,321 per thousand. The admission rate in the 

 Philippines for the calendar year 1907 was 1,401. The average duration 

 of each case in the Philippines was twelve days. 



The following is an interesting comparative exhibit on the causes of 

 ill health of American troops serving in the United States and in the 

 Philippines: For 1906 in the Philippines the noneffective relative rates 

 were, respectively, for venereal diseases 22.04, malarial fevers 6.39, 

 diarrhceal diseases 5.49, and dengue 1.69 — the noneffectiveness on account 

 of venereal disease being nearly double the total of the other three named 

 and more than double that of the army in the United States from this 

 cause. 



"Of the 1,364 men discharged for disability in the United States, over 64 per 

 cent were for disabilities not incurred in the line of duty, and of these, 51 per 

 cent were contracted before enlistment. The principal causes of discharge, with 

 the number for each cause, were: tuberculosis 149; venereal diseases 165; defective 

 vision 141; defective hearing 90; and organic disease of the heart 71."° 



Of 181 discharges of American troops serving in the Philippines in 

 the year 1906, 38 were for causes existing previous to service in the 

 Philippines, 22 or 15.4 per cent for causes not originating in the line 

 of duty, 33 on account of injuries received in the line of duty, and 3 not 

 in the line of duty, and the remaining, only 85, or 47 per cent of the 

 total number discharged, from diseases incurred because of service in 

 the Philippines and in the line of duty. 



5 Report of the Surgeon-General, United States Army, for year ended June 30. 

 1907. 



