The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, June 16, 1917, Image 5
CONDITIONS IN TRENCHES.
Dr. Herman Biggs of New York Shows In Vivid Recital Tc
New York World, Vital Need of Red Cross Aid.
In a masterly article in the New
York World Dr. Herman M. Biggs,
Health Commissioner of the State of
New York, who has just returned
from France, where he spent nearly
three months, tells the story of con
ditions as they are today, and condi?
tions which1 make it imperative that
America extend such financial aid to
our own lied Cross divisions that our
men In the training camps, and after
they reach JFrancs, will not become
the prey of every lurking disease. No
better argument for aiding the Red
Cross can be advanced than that put
forth by Dr. Biggs in his description
of life among the French troops now
massed on the western front. Dr.
?lggs says, in part:
"The troops, instead of living In
tents and in the open air when they
go to the front, live in trenches, often
wet and ..lways damp and cold, of
they are in dug-outs under ground,
still more damp and colder. Then,
relieved from duty in the front fight?
ing lines they are billeted in peasant
houses in towns and villages, or in
farm houses and outbuildings near the
front, in very mueh overcrowded
rooms without ventilation or fresh air
or sunlight and even with very little j
diffuse daylight. These peasant nous
es in France are provided with few
windows and doors, and these are
rarely open, owing to the strong nat?
ional aversion of the French people
to fresh air.
Unfavorable Conditions.
"Ir other words, the French troops
are at all times, excepting when on
the march, living under unfavorable
hygienic conditions?indeed, livinc un?
der conditions which make tuberculo?
sis especially likely to be transmitted.
"Generally speaking, the French
agricultural classes, from whom so
many of the soldiers are drawn, are
not cleanly. The results, as I said,
were exactly what one would have
anticipated?the development of tens
of thousands of cases of tuberculosis
among the troops. By the end of De?
cember, 1116, 86,000 soldiers had been
returned to their homes with active
tuberculosis disease. In February of
tftb year it was estimated that about
150,000 had thus been returned and
more are constantly being discharged j
for this cause. .
"Yet this only deals with the spread
of the disease in the army. In order
to get an idea of the terrible nature of
France's plight, it is necessary to at?
tempt to estimate as nearly as may be
the number of foci of infection exist?
ing in her civil population.
"Before the war, the total popula?
tion of France was less than 40,000,000
and the number of deaths from tu?
berculosis was more than 100,000 a
year. If we estimate the number of
cases in the civil population on the
basis of deaths occurring annually and
allow, in order to be altogether con
aervative, only two cases lor each
death from tuberculosis In all forms,
there would have been 200,(?00 cases
in France before the war.
In Tubercular drip.
"Now, if we admit?and I am
afraid we must?that so far in this
war, adding up the men now actually
under arms, the civilians still living in
territory occupied by the enemy or
deported into Germany, the prisoners
of war in Germany, the refugees, and
those who have died of wounds, or
been mercifully slain outright in bat?
tle^?one-fourth of the total popula?
tion of France is accounted for, and
if we further accept the same con?
servative ratio of tuberculosis among
the remaining 30,000,000 people, we
should have 150,000 cases to add tc
the 150,000 discharged from the
f.rmy.
"To these 300,000 cases in France's
present civil population, which are
continually being increased by the re?
turn of new cases from detention
(amps, at least 200,000 will be added
s.s soon as the war is over.
"Remember, in the departments of
France which are occupied by the
Germans or were until the reoent re?
treat, there were before the war
about 4,250,000 people and after
what they have gone through in the
last two and n-half years it is con?
servative to estimate that 5 or 6 per
*ent. of them are suffering from tu?
berculosis. That would give more
than 200,000 additional cases.
Scattered Refugees.
"About half of these 4,250,000 In?
habitants, or say about 2,000,000 peo?
ple, fled from their homes before the
first German invasion and after the
Rattle of the Marne and the estab
1 shment of the lines which have been
so long held. These refugees were
scattered along the front and in the
villages and towns nearest their pre?
vious homes, and a good many of them
remained in Paris, which was not far
from the front. At one time the Ger?
man army was only fourteen miles
from Paris, and even during the past
winter the nearest point of the lines
was only about forty miles from
Paris.
"These 2,000,000 people hav3 been
1 ving in the villages and towns near
the lines under the most unfavorable
conditions. They are homeless, ab?
solutely without resources and depend?
ent entirely upon charity organisations
for their living, and there has been
en enormous amount of tuberculosis
among them?how much, of course, it
is impossible to determine accurate?
ly.
Jivillan Prisoners.
"Aside from these there are about
2,250,000 people back of the German
lines, civilian prisoners in Gci-..uiy,
who are living partly in their homes,
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DuRant Hardware Company,
Phone 62. Sumter, S. C.
partly In concentration camp? and
partly deported Into Germany. All
of those In the middle age of life,
both men and women, practically all
of them between the ages of fifteen
and forty-five, have been deported
into Germany, und the rest, young
> men or old, were either in concentra?
tion camps or in their homes.
"Of these, large numbers were be?
ing returned from time to time to
France, either as they became ill and
In bad physical condition and were
a serious burden upon their captors,
or when some military operations
which were being contemplated had
rendered it desirable to evacuate th?
portion of the territory they occupied, i
Refugees' Deplorable Plight.
"When we were there, about 1,000 a
day were being returned through
'Switzerland by Avion and Geneva, and
these people came back in the most
deplorable condition. Of the first
20,000 of these civilian prisoners re?
turned, it was said that 5,000 were
suffering from tuberculosis. They re?
turned in the middle of the year 1915,
in July and August. They had beer
back of the German lines for about
eight months and the majority of
them had never had their clothes off
from the time they had been taken
from their homes. They had been
kept in Germany and had been re?
turned to France wearing the same i
clothes which they wore when they
left France seven or eight months be?
fore. You can readily imagine the
condition of these people, so the esti?
mate that 5 or 6 per cent were suf?
fering from tuberculosis is probably I
very conservative.
"There are now between .150,000
and 400,000 French prisoners of war
in Germany. Again it seems wholly
conservative to estimate that at least |
5 or 6 per cent, of these are suffering L
from tuberculosis?the French esti- ]
mates run as high as 30 or 40 per .
cent. Tdiis would give over 20,000 U
more cases, and we may safely add '
another 20,000 cases actually now in
the active armies of France. That
would be only one-half of 1 per cent,
of the 4,000,000 men France still has
in the ranks. I
Few Physicians Available. I
"In France there arc no trained |
nurses, and people do not 'employ I
trained nurses in their homes. They I
nurse their own sick, or have untrain- '
ed people less efficient generally than 1
what we call a practical nurse. There '
are one or two small training schools '
in France, but their graduates Are
kept in the hospitals and so there are
really no competent nurses, none that !
we would call trained nurses r* all,
and that complicates matters fry 1
much, because there are no social ser?
vice workers, and, in fact, the French j
people have no conception of what so- I
cial service or public health service II
is.
"The number of physicians in I
France was always small and now I
smaller than ever. There never was II
more than one physician to every 2.- II
000 inhabitants in France. In the j
United States the proportion Is one II
physician to every 700 people. At I
the time we were at Havre, there were I
only seventeen doctors available for I
the needs of the civilian population, I
or about one doctor to every 8,000 II
men, women and children. I
Dealing With the Problem.
"Now, to deal with the problem 11
have attempted to outline, there are j
available in France at the present time II
only about 11,000 beds In the so-call- II
ed sanitary stations which have been I
created since the war began and in II
the special hospitals and sanatarla for II
tuberculosis. It is pathetically inade- II
quate. The best the French hope to I
do is to increase the number of beds I
to 15,000 or 16,000 before the end of II
this year Then there are a few dls-II
pensaries; well organized, well equip- j
ped and administered?but only about II
a dozen in all?and a few other dis-11
pensaries which have done and can II
do comparatively little \^ork. I
One striking lesson may be brought j
home by a comparison between the I
experience of France with that of II
England in this matter of tuberculos?
is. The English Public Health Ser?
vice la the best in the world, it is
even more progressive 4hnn our own
and far better than Germany's ever
was. As a result, England was able
to raise an army of 5,000,000 men and
1 doubt very much if they have had
5,000 cases of tuberculosis among the]
troops since the war began. The
slightest suspicion of it caused the j]
rejection of a recruit. At the first
suspicion of tuberc ulosis a man was!
returned home for Isolation and obser?
vation, and the result is that England
has no tuberculosis problem at u?>
while Franco has a problem of such
magnitude that it threatens the future
vitality of her race and the economic
development of her people.
A Striking Contrast.
"The contrast between England and
France is all the more striking and
instructive in that it proves conclu?
sively that it is not because measures
for the prevention of tuberculosis are
wanting or Inefficient that tuberculo?
sis has become such a serious prob?
lem In Prance; it is simply bemuse the
well tried measures base not been
1
KrysteJ Optical Go.^j
Eyes Tested. J
Frames Fitted. v j
Lenses Duplicated. J
Work Guaranteed. <
HANNA KR.ISTIANSON, j
OPTOMETRIST. <
[SUMTER, S. C. <
Phone 270. No. 35 S. Main. J
ipplied both before and since the out
break of the war in an efficient man?
ner. In England the tuberculoses
problem had been met efficiently be?
fore the war; in France, on the other
hand virtually nothing had been
lone."
?I-1
Once Wat Enough.
"What do you think of the bnrly
imte who would go away, on a bitter
:old morning, and leave his wife to
build a fire in the furnace?" asked
Mrs. Lerret. "That li something I've
lever told anybody but my husband,"
laughed Mrs. Yadilloh. "And I had to
tell him only once."?Pock.
Education.
It Is, no doubt, n very laudable ef
ort, in modern teaching, to render as
nuch as possible of what the young
ire required to learn easy and interesti?
ng. But when this principle If pushed
o the length of not requiring them to
earn anything but what has been made
?asy and interesting, one of the chief
>bjecls of education is sacrificed.?
fohu Stuart Mill.
Improves With Age.
The older a good resolution gets
the stronger It holds.?Florida Times
Onion._
What We Live For.
There is always something Vilich wo
are living for, some prospedt which
sings and flutters in the cage of our
spirit. The secret thing for which we
are living might seem to others, If they
knew of It, to be a trifling and ridicu?
lous thing, like the joys of the poor.
But the heart which kuoweth its own
i sorrows, knows also its own hn^ppfness?
and, in .this life of. ours that isla light,
which enables us to see our way.?Rev.
J. A. Hutton, M. A*, D. D. |
-j
Treating Tuberculosis.
Pulmonary tuberculosis is being
treated by.a Danish physician with air
that lias been subjected to th** action
of ultraviolet rays, which seems to
have a healing effect when Inhaled
through the mouth.
? "*
t I
The Modern Baby.
Now an oculist has discovered that
bpby's white raiment injures his vi?
sion. They've taken nway his cradle
I and his old-time remedies and his
fairy stories, and now they want to
pinch his snowy pinafore.?Cleveland
I Plain Dealer. ,
\
To Clean Brass.
Wet a cloth with ammonia and
sprinkle cleaning powder or. the am
I monia and rub the brass with it. It
I will clean beautifully.
Had Modern Idea.
^rom many years' observation on
m.jrself and others, 1 am persuaded wa
aije on a wrong scent in supposing:
nA>isr or cold air the cause of that
riisorder we call a "cold." Somo un?
known quality in the air may somes
times produce colds, as In "lnfiuen*
za," but generally, I apprehend, they;
are the effects of too full living In pro-?
portion to our exercise?Letter Fcori*
Ben Fraoklla,
Mental Anguish.
Railroad Attorney?"You want dam?
ages?what? Why, there Isn't a scratch
on you I" Van Hardup?"But think of
the mental shock and depression at not
finding a scratch on me after such a
wreck."?Port Jervis Gazette.
Quite a Shock.
""You say that Miss Oldstyle Is suf
fering from severe mental shock 1
What caused it?" "Why, she's been
claiming that she*s only twenty-eight
years old and then somebody found her
name in one of those 430-Years Ago'
columns in the newspapers."
Didn't Know St. Louis.
Jack, four, was taught to call hi*
parent "father." One evening father
was away from home and Jack started
his evening prayerj in this fashion J
"Our father, who afrt in St. Louis." 1
? '1
"A Conservative With a Move On."
Over $50,000,000.00 life insurance in force.
Over $7,000,000.00 assets.
Over $1,100,000.00 surplus to policyholders.
Loaos money in those sections from which it collects its premiums.
Outstanding Insurance End of Each Year,
1907
ft.OM.700
190S
$2,266,2 5
1909
$7,020,162
1910
$8/705,139
1911
$11,115,942
1912
$38,039,302
1913
$41,120,177
$43,458,384
$45,520,870
$50,726,743
TALK IT OVER WITH ANY AGENT OF THE
Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Co.,
AND GET THE BEST.
U. B. UPSHUR, General Agent, Sumter, S. C.