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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



deed, the haste with which conveniences 

 were arranged indicated that no planning 

 had been given from the standpoint of 

 comfort. Certainly a woman would not 

 have arranged the rooms and furniture 

 and conveniences as they are now ar- 

 ranged at headquarters. 



Nothing in the construction, however, 

 has affected detrimentally the health of 

 the soldiers. Very little of the illness can 

 fairly be attributed to insufficient cloth- 

 ing, because while overcoats may have 

 been lacking, they had sweaters and un- 

 dercoats that kept the men generally 

 warm. 



THE HEALTH OF THE ARMY 



Another error probably made in the 

 construction of the camps was the failure 

 to build the hospitals first; but in every 

 cantonment, when I visited it, was a large 

 base hospital, admirably equipped and 

 amply able to take care of all who were 

 likely to be ill in a full division, except 

 under most extraordinary circumstances. 

 The truth is that on the whole, consider- 

 ing the very great severity of the winter, 

 which could not have been anticipated, 

 the health of the troops in the canton- 

 ments has been excellent. 



I wrote to General Gorgas, the Surgeon 

 General, and asked him to send me the 

 health statistics concerning the army. I 

 received from, him the following letter 

 and table : 



War Department, 

 Office of the Surgeon General, 

 Washington, February 20, 1918. 

 Hon. William Howard Taft, New Haven, 

 Connecticut. 

 Dear Mr. Taft: Yours of February 15 is 

 acknowledged. The data which you request 

 concerning health statistics are inclosed. I am 

 very glad to furnish them. As you go around 

 to the various camps I would like to have you, 

 where you have time, to take a look into the 

 hospitals. The picture that the country has in 

 general now with regard to all hospitals is un- 

 favorable, and I am very desirous of having 

 the people know the true picture, and particu- 

 larly I would like to have you get the true 

 picture. Such a picture can best be acquired 

 by your seeing the hospitals in their actual 

 forking condition. 



With kindest regards and best wishes, I re- 

 main, 



Yours very sincerely, 



W. C. Gorgas, 

 Surgeon General, U. S. Army. 



What strikes me most about these sta- 

 tistics is that we have done better in death 

 rate than did the Japanese, who hereto- 

 fore have been looked upon as the most 

 successful military sanitarians. 



Annual Death Rate per 1,000, Regular Troops 



in the United States 



1898 1899 1900 1901 



All causes 20.14 7.89 7.78 6.90 



Diseases only 17-45 6.56 4.83 4.68 



Troops in the United States September 21, 

 1017, to February 8, IOl8 



All National National 



troops Regulars Guard Army 



511 causes 8.7 6.1 9.9 9.1 



Diseases only. 8.1 5.2 9.4 8.7 



Average strength, Regular Army, 

 September 21, 1917, to February 8, 

 1918 244,833 



Number of deaths, Regular Army, 

 same period — all causes. 610 



Number of deaths, Regular Army, 



same period — disease only 520 



Average strength, National Army, 

 September 21, 1917, to February 8, 

 1918 422,039 



Number of deaths, National Army, 



same period — all causes 1,561 



Number of deaths, National Army, 

 same period — disease only 1,496 



Average strength, National Guard, 

 September 21, 1917, to February 8, 

 1918 375,427 



Number of deaths, National Guard, 



same period — all causes 1,515 



Number of deaths, National Guard, 

 same period — disease only 1,430 



Average strength, all troops, Septem- 

 ber 21, 1917, to February 8, 1918. . . 1,042,299 



Total number of deaths, same period- 

 all causes 3,686 



Total number of deaths, same period — 



disease only 3,446 



Mortality from disease per 1,000 

 strength for all troops en- 

 gaged : 



Chino-Japanese War 148 (Japan) 



Spanish-American War 25.0 (U.S.) 



Russo-Japanese War 20.2 (Japan) 



THE) COST OF THE cantonments 



The cost of the cantonments has been 

 very great, but the hugeness of the task, 

 the quickness with which it had to be 

 done, the exorbitant prices which had to 

 be paid under the circumstances doubtless 

 explain the large expenditure and the 

 great excess over the estimates. The esti- 

 mates were $3,500,000 for each camp. 

 As a matter of fact, the cost of the camps 



