The Twin City star. [volume], June 01, 1918, Image 6

About The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
Caring Jon Wounded
From Overseas j
Great Armu Hos- ljl &&
pital in New York
Already Filling
With the Soldiers
From Battle Front .
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p. ■ \
{.
Less than a year
ago there was noth
ing but vacant ground,
used as an athletic
field by Columbia uni
versity and known as
Columbia Oval, where
the hospital now
stands, says a writer
in the New York
World. Today a wood
en city occupies this
ground. In part this
city testifies to the
ready patriotism of
Columbia university
and in part it Is a
monument to the effi
ciency of the war de
partment. A modest
distaste for publicity
Is characteristic of
the hospital. Its growth was so tpiiet as to seem
magical. Although more than five million persons,
all of whom, with the possible exception of a few
of the most militant pacifists, cherish a patriotic
interest In all such Institutions, are residing Just
to the south of It, It attained completion without
the general public being aware of its existence
and was taking care of men who had been across
and, been wounded In battle while most of the
residents of New York continued to regard it as
merely in course of construction.
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Thirty-nine buildings were included in the orig
inal plan as presented by the university. The
government has since Increased the number to
60, but the type of buildings has remained the
same. Each building is a long, low rectangle, one
story high and with the sides made up so largely
of glass that all the wards resemble sun parlors.
The executive building is two stories high, but
it, like the others, is of the simplest possible con
struction, unpainted without and unplastered with
in. The buildings are lined with heavy paper,
with the object of making them whrmer. Other
wise they are as simple as the wooden sheds
which served as headquarters for the first offi
cers' training camps.
A MEftICA’S closest link with the
y% battlefields of Europe is the
/ % United States army hospital No.
J Bainbridge avenue, the Bronx,
| JL. I JL» New York. Down the path from
> I V the hospital to the Gun Hill sta
i w I mi tlon tbe subWQ y lIm P woun(i '
/M e< * •oilers who are entitled to
ffrcks be ranked with veterans of the
(T~ 3 west front * They are In the
minority as yet because not more
than three-quarters of the pa
tients of this hospital have been members of the
American expeditionary force, and of those who
have been on overseas duty many have returned to
this side because they were found unfit for active
servk*e rather than for treatment of wounds.
Nevertheless this country comes more closely
Into touch with the actualities of war on this lit
tle stretch of road where the men sun themselves
on peasant days than anywhere else on this side
of the Atlantic.
Sometimes a man with one leg makes his way
along the road adroitly balancing himself on
crutches; sometimes It is a sturdy lad with his
arm in a sling or his head bound up. There are
eye cases and men otherwise wounded, and here
and there in the procession a soldier comes along
•In a wheeled chair
propelled by a khaki
clad comrade.
Every afternoon from two o’clock until four
the high tide of sympathy sets In from the out
side world toward the hospital. It was at this
time that armed with a letter from the war de
partment I approached the entrance. It was nec
essary to fall in with a long procession of women,
most of them burdened with bumpy packages
which contained oranges, apples, bananas, home
made chocolate cakes, apple pies, cream puffs and
other urticles of food suitable to the dietary of
an Invalid and calculated to relieve the tedium
of hospital life.
The wooden city which constitutes the hospital
Is set upon a hill. Fresh winds sweep Over It and
It is flooded with sunshine. Spotless cleanliness
and perfect order prevail from end to end of
the plant and the most meticulous housekeeper
at the end of a prying visit might very well sigh
and admit that men even keep house better than
women do.
It was due to the initiative of Columbia univer
sity that this large hospital was so soon estab
lished. The university idea was to organize and
thoroughly equip a hospital for the use of Amer
ican troops, which hospital, construction and all
should be put up in New York and afterward
carried across the ocean. The hospital was to
be officered by physicians from the Collegb of
Physicians and Surgeons, the medical school of
Columbia university.
Ground for the hospital was broken May 18,
little more than a month after the declaration of
war. The first building was finished in June.
But when the hospital was offered to the.govern
ment in July it was decided that the project of
transporting the plant, buildings and all to France
was Impractical and that) the hospital would
Rerve a very useful purpose if it remained on
Columbia Oval.
The entire group of buildings is somewhat In
the form of the letter H, the executive building
serving as the cross piece of the H.
On the second floor of this building are the
executive offices of the hospital, as simple as the
other parts of the Institution. The office of Ad
jutant Dean F. Winn, fitted out mostly with un
painted furniture constructed by the enlisted men,
la at one side and next are the offices of Cot
Douglas F. Duval, In command of the hospital.
Colonel Duval has as members of his staff many
physicians from private life who have given up
their practices to take service with the army.
In round numbers the hospital is now able to
afford 1,100 beds for patients. If it is enlarged,
as Is contemplated, there will be provision for
caring for 5,000 men. These men come from all
the camps from Long Island to Norfolk, Va., as
well ns from overseas.
They suffer from a great variety of illnesses
w|ilch are discovered during a last examination In
camp before they are sent to the other side.
Then they are transferred to the Gun Hill Road
hospital either for treatment or for examination
for discharge. The hospital is fully equipped and
can give definitive treatment of every sort if
necessary. But as it stands at the point of em
barkation, and at the point of debarkation as
well, as the war progresses it is supposed that it
will more and more be used as a clearing house.
There are 42 wards in the hospital altogether.
The number devoted to surgical uses Is usually
so far nine or ten, including nose and throat
cases. The wounded men from the other side are
still too few to constitute an important feature
of the surgical work. More than half of the
surgical cases up to the present are due to nose
and throat troubles, many of which have existed
for a long time and have been exaggerated by life
in camp during the very cold winter. There is
a psychopathic ward and a neurologic ward, some
times more than one of each of these. The rest
of the wards are for medical cases. The variety
of these is as great as In civil life. There are
many “heart cases.” These include men who
have of course had some heart affection before
entering the army. This has been augmented un
der the strain of army training.
“They have slipped in through a dozen differ
ent channels,” explained the officer of the day
who accompanied me upon the rounds of the
hospital. “Sometimes, for instance, a boy has got
in through the good offices of the village doctor
whom be has known all his life. The physician
wanted to do the boy a good turn and has £een
oversanguine about his holding up under the in
creased strain of army life. A boy who really
wants to go to war is sometimes able to over
persuade a physician who really doesn’t mean to
fail In conscientiousness. ’ Then, too, there are
many cases which would get along well enough
in civil life, and a physician may be honestly con
vinced that the trouble is unimportant. But some
where along the line the boy breaks down, it
may not be until he gets tq Camp Merritt and is
about to be shipped out in a day or two. Per
haps it will not be until he gets over on the other
side. There is a great efTort on the part of the
army to weed them out before they get across,
but it hasn’t always been accomplished.”
’ When we stepped into a typical ward and
looked around us I wished that it might be possi
ble for the army to give a public demonstration
of a United States military hospital. One usual
ly thinks of such a place as rather dolorous, but
United States Army Hospital No. . is one of the
most cheerful pfaces in New York city. Perhaps
it is because the buildings are new wooden ones,
so much less ponderous than those of other hos
pitals, that Hospital No. 1 seems to bid one to
take courage and look on the brighter side of
life. Only youth and hope have been sheltered
within these fresh walls and have looked through
these long rows of windows.
There are 24 beds to a ward, ranged opposite
to each other. Beside each bed is a little table
on which there are usually disposed entertaining
magazines and- books, a vase of flow’ers, perhaps,
or some fruit.
In one of the w’ards a group of patients wrapped
in their dressing gowns had gathered around a
low table at one end of the room. They sat in
the very comfortable rocking chairs which are
provided. There was a large bouquet of daffo
dils in a vase on the table. As they sat and
rocked, peacefully talking as if all time were be
fore them, they presented a picture of extreme
comfort
“These boys are rather petted, aren’t they?” I
suggested to the officer of the day. “There’s noth
ing too good for them.”
“Oh, no, they’re not petted at all,” said the offi
cer of the day firmly. “But it is true that there’s
nothing too good for then*.”
At one end of each ward building there is a
sun parlor and at the other end there are the
bathrooms, the ward master’s room and the
kitchen and the serving room. The food is brought
from a general kitchen and kept hot on steam
tables in the ward kitchen, which is also used for
making the special dishes which are prepared for
men who are on individual diets.
We found two members of the kitchen police
force examining a large bread pudding which one
of the nurses had Just concocted for som? of the
men in her ward.
The members of the kitchen police, who were
convalescents and well enough to help out with
the work, said that although they had never
meant to take up dish washing and food serving
as a career they didn’t mind it In fact, they
found the work quite pleasant.
“And we’re here to do whatever Is needed,”
said one of these khaki-clad youths. “That’s
what the army means.”
The other youth said that he had only one re
gret in the matter.
As he looked very noble when he said this, I
thought he was about to add that his only regret
was that he had but one life to give for his coun
try, dish washing, kitchen detail or whatever It
was. But Instead of this he added that the only
trouble was he was too well to get any of the
bread pudding.
There were many rheumatism cases in the
wards. Most of these young men will soon get
well and be fit for return to duty. The camp con
ditions of this very bad winter are responsible for
their contracting the disease in most cases.
The hospital has tw’o operating rooms, both ex-
cellently arranged, and the larger so well lighted
'•from the top as well as the sides that surgeons re
gard it as unexcelled in this particular by any
operating room in New York.
Convalescent patients ns well as the soldiers
who have been assigned to the work of the hos
pital take their meals in the mess hall, and the
call to mess made it quite evident that a large
proportion of the patients of this hospital will
soon be returned to active duty as well as even
a soldier need be. Capt. James W. Decker, mess
officer, and Sergt. Lem Cain, menu maker, have
achieved wonderful results in setting savory
dishes before the patients without exceeding the
60 cents a day allowed by the government for the
purchase of food for each man.
Physicians from civil life, as well as those who
have been in the service for #nany years, consti
tute the staff of the hospital. Many of them are
noted surgeons or medical practitioners who have
given up large practices to take up the array
work. Every man on the staff has a specialty, so
that while he regularly performs routine ward
duties he can be called upon to treat any patient
requiring his specialized skill.
All this enormous hospital, even to the laundry
which turns out 12,000 pieces of laundry a wet k,
is managed entirely by the army. It Is a matter
vJ pride with some of the hospital enthuslaiits
that the only person not In khaki or in war nu» se
uniform who helps to make the wheels go arouiid
in any of the departments Is the laundry seats*
stress.
WHAT THE GERMAN
DOCTRINE MEANS
Dangerous Element Carrying On
Campaign oil This Side
of the Ocean.
KULTUR BOOSTERS HUE BUSY
United States Is Honeycombed with
Kaiser's Spies Who Are Respon*
sible for the Many Crimes
Committed.
BY EMERSON HOUQH.
(From the Committee on Public In*
formation, Washington, D. C.)
At the time ol the civil war I was
a very young boy, but I still retain a
few memories of those days. I can
recall the figure of a major, later my
Sabbath school teacher. He wore a
black hat with a gold cord, and car
ried a very large and heavy sw’ord. I
can recall some of the old fife-and
drum music. I remember seeing the
railway engine come in covered with
crepe—the train which bore the news
of the assassination of President Lin
coln. I can remember the fall of
Richmond; my mother was ill in bed
at that time, and I remember that she
sat up and pounded against the foot
board of the bed with her tw r o hands,
she was so glad to believe that the
end of the war w r as now at hand.
I recall other and yet more somber
scenes. My father was in the recruit
ing service under Gen. James B. Fry.
I remember that during one of his
visits home I saw him melting lead in
the old bullet ladle in the kjtchen
stove —he was running bullets for his
rifle. Two men of the recruiting serv
ice had been waylaid and killed by
spies within the past week. It was
thought that this next party from the
department would also be waylaid. I
can still remember the grim look on
my father’s face as he cleaned his
rifle and ran the bullets for it.
I believe I got them my first t9uch
of real hatred for an enemy. I learned
then that a spy was about as bad as
any creature in the world ever could
be. He had killed without mercy. He
was himself to be killed without mercy
if need came for that.
This country is honeycombed with
German spies today. They are worse
than any spies that ever nested on
this soil before. They do not lie low.
They are a trifle exultant, a trifle con
fident. They always have been bla
tant, qlumsy, awkward, from Bern
storff and his crew on down.
Time for Drastic Action.
What are we doing to take care of
this dangerous element w'hich is carry
ing on the German war campaign on
this side of the ocean? For a long
time we have remained as awkward,
as clumsy, and as blatant as tlley
themselves. We have had before our
eyes always the somewhat sacred
Image of the American melting pot—
God save the mark l We have retained
the belief that any man who kneeled
down and sobbed on shipboard when
he first saw the Statue of Liberty—l
believe that is the correct description
of it —was by some miraculous process
at once made into an American.
There has been a certain pacifist
sentiment, made the stronger by a cer
tain political feeling, which has been
afraid to antagonize the German ele
ment in America, spies or not spies.
A great many peaceful gentlemen have
thought that we ought not to declare
war on a country in part owned by
some of our citizenry—it might hurt
the feelings of such men. And has the
alien not sobbed before the Justly cel
ebrated Statue of Liberty in the nar
rows below Manhattan? And is he
not, therefore, an American?
On the day when the Lusitania was
sank I went home with a newspaper
in my hand, pretty much a-tremble my
own self at the thought of all those
women and babies—it is a hard thing
to talk of even yet We ought not, I
suppose, to call to mind that Lusi
tania medal struck In-Germany—ought
not to recall Germany's exaltation over
the foul murder of those little ones.
I suppose it sounds vengeful to say
that we ought to that out deep
and deep, so long as there is any Ger
man of this generation left alive.
But do you really think that Ger
many did not Indorse that deed? Do
you really think the Germans on this
side of the water —a great many of
them I—did 1 —did not sympathize with Ger
many in that act? Let me mention
one little fact:
When I stepped Into the elevator
with my newspaper in hand I showed
the great black headlines to the man
who was running the elevatoiv—he is
a good German-American, has been
naturalized as an American citizen,
has lived in this country for a great
many years, speaks very good English,
and has always been held a quiet and
useful sort of man.
“Yell," he said, looking at the head
lines, “Dey vos varned, vosn’t dey?
Yot made dem sail?”
Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing.
Now the point is that this German-
American actually thought that the
Kaiser of Germany had the right to
print a demand in a New York daily
on the morning that ship sailed, warn
ing our people not to take to the high
seas about their business. He really
thought that Germany was right In
killing those wo»;n and *hildren.
This man was a servant. I could
not abuse him ntr argue with him. I
simply said—and choked somewhat as
I said It—'This win cost Germany tbs
war!” He shook his head. I did not
argue with him.
Tou cannot tell what man is a spy
today. You cannot tell the sort of
clothes he will wear, what may be
his rank or station in life, what may
be his real ambition, his real aim in
life. He may speak German alone, or
broken English, or many tongues flu
ently. But —if any assurance be
needed after the long list of incen
diary fires, of incendiary explosions,
of losses of ships, of buildings, of
manufacturing plants through the
treachery of “Gerraan-Americans” Hy
ing this side the water —you may be
sure of one thing: That same secret
diplomacy, that same treachery, that
same faithlessness, which broke open
Russia for Germany and took Russia
off the firing line for us; that same
treachery which broke down the first
Italian army at the Isonzo; that same
German treacherous diplomacy which
was undertaken at Washington; that
same treachery of the German guest
at the American table which has
marked that faithless nation all these
years—that same unvarying principle,
in the form of a practical German
propaganda for the German cause,
exists all through the United States
today. The country is honeycombed
with German spies. It is time wasted
to have too much sympathy with them
or those who back them and inspire
them.
Washington sent 1,200 alien enemies
out of the city limits not long ago.
In a Chicago court recently there were
more than 100 alien enemies on trial
at one time. These are men whom we
may call bolshevikl in America. They
are doing all they can to undermine
this government. They are doing all
they can here, there, and everywhere,
in countless ways, in countless places,
to kill the American enthusiasm for
this war and the American confidence
in our ability to win this war.
Those Worse Than Traitors.
This propaganda is an enormous
thing and a tremendously dangerous
thing. Any man who countenances it,
any man who apologizes for these trai
tors, is himself worse than a traitor
to his country today. He sides with,
the murderers of innocent women and
children. He indorses the German sub
marine, the German bombing of non
combatant towns, the use of liquid fire
in war, and gas in war all those
abominable contrivances of cowardice
with which Germany has attempted to
impose her will upon the civilized por
tion of the world.
We Americans don’t know how
many American troops there are on
French soil today but Germany
knows; be sure of that. There is no
great move made here, nor any small
move of military preparation, which
Germany does not know as well as we
do, or better. There has never been
in the history of the world so com
plete a campaign of perfidy and
treachery and underhanded faithless
ness as Germany has shown to the
civilized world in this war. Why be
patient with it? Why not root It out?
Why not call a spade a spade, a spy
a spy? And why not give to the spies
the things that we owe to spies?
I have heard the mayor of a very
big city—and a mayor for more than
one term, too—sit laughing at table
and say, Just before one of his cam
paigns, “What do I care for the Amer
ican vote? To with it! I want
the German vote!”
Well, he got the German vote. He
was elected. He could be elected again
by the German vote. But I fancy that
by and by It is going to be the ques
tion of a good many of our Knownottf
ings. What is the American vote?
Does that really need to Include the
spy vote?
Depredations of Bpies;
America Is being stabbed in the
back all the time by traitors and by
spies. It is not only the sort of rough
neck spy who blows up a munition
plant or wrecks a railroad train. It is
the shrewder and more Machiavellian
spy who attempts to wreak yet greater
ruin on us by undermining our own
national spirit, by instilling a feeling
of distrust of the government, of the
administration, of our army, of our
country, of our aims and purposes in
this war.
Our alms and purposes in this war
are ratified by practically the entire
world outside of the central powers of
Europe. If we had no other reason
in the world to go to war except the
sinking of the Lusitania, that reason
alone were reason enough.
The horrors of the German practiced
in France and Belgium are now being
placed gingerly before our American
readers. A few of the writing men of .
this country have had these facts in
Incontestable form, illustrated, proved,
attested by chapter and verse and line
and word any time these months and
years. So far as these awful things
can be put In print, and, so far aa the
American people shall realize them,
there will be enough even then to
prove beyond a peradventure that
never was any barbarity of the worst
of savages committed in their intens
est frenzy of war, which paralleled
for one moment the cold-blooded, de
liberate campaign of barbarity prac
ticed by the higher authorities of Ger
many in this war. They parallel that
by their practice in our own country.
The campaign against spies impends.
It will have to be started and finished
some time in our history. I presume,
perhaps, we may wait—perhaps, we
may better wait a little while—until
there has come our first terrible re
verse across the sea. Then, methinks,*
the slow, white heat of anger—of Just
and unappeasable wrath —may arise
against the Copperheads of these
years as it did against the Copper
heads who fought behind the lines lu
our last other war for freedom.
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