Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 83, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1899 — BEST SOLDIERS PHYSICALLY. [ARTICLE]

BEST SOLDIERS PHYSICALLY.

City-Raised Men* of Medinas Heixht and Weight, Stand War Beet. “The medical and surgical history of the Spanish war, when it is fully written,” observed an army surgeon, “will again demonstrate the experience of other wars, that the medium sized makes the best soldier; that is, the soldier who is best suited for the hardships of a campaign. The tall, long-jointed man proved to be the worst soldier, for he played out long before even the short, slight man. The medium-sized man, by this I mean in height and weight as well, who was short coupled, wore better, taking all things into consideration, than all others. What are known as big men, heavyweights, as well as extremely large in every other way, proved to be, as in the civil war, the poorest soldiers. They were the men who first needed the attention of the surgeons and began to fall with disease almost before they got fairly into the campaign. “Another thing was pretty well proven, I think, and that was that cityraised men made better sb|dlers than the country-raised men, though the latter were better workers, as far as hard, manual labor, was concerned. Contrary to my previously formed opinion on this subject, light-haired men proved to be less susceptible to camp diseases. Heavy meat eaters did not stand it as well as those who ate of meat sparingly. There Is no doubt in my opinion that pork meat is not proper food for soldiers in a campaign, it ma'tters not in what form it is furnished nor in what manner it is cooked. “The soldiers who sickened themselves in the early part of the war, when the men were congregated in large camps, by indiscriminate eating of pies, cakes, ice cream and the like, were, as a rule, country-raised men, who seemed ready to eat at all times, and who displayed no sense nor discretion whatever as to what or how often they ate. The city-raised men offended in this respect much less than their country-raised associates. In previous campaigns it was proven that black-haired men were the stronger, but in the Spanish war the scales tipped in favor of the blondes, redhaired men standing the war climates exceedingly well.”