ting additional men in the turrets to replace others who may fall out or to render assistance to some who require first aid.

Mr. WILLIAMS. What provision is made for those who are seriously injured?

Dr. STOKES. They are taught first aid, they are taught to apply the dressing to check hemorrhage, and they are also taught how to check hemorrhage by tourniquets or other means. They are also taught the resuscitation of the apparently drowned. Some years our casualties from drowning equaled the casualties from disease and injury. A midshipman is not given his diploma to-day unless he can swim, and they are taught to swim in rough or troubled water. On the hospital ship and at various stations we have apparatus, or motor devices, to resuscitate the apparently drowned. The men are taught simple methods, and they are taught to resuscitate men who become unconscious. This psychological feature of not demoralizing others by calling for assistance is of great importance.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. Is this also taught in the Army?

Dr. STOKES. I presume it is.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. Last October the War Department ordered a company of soldiers to come out to my town. Before they got there the train went through a trestle-perhaps you remember reading about that?

Dr. STOKES. Yes, sir; I do.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. And nearly every man on board was wounded and a great many of them killed. I did not see it myself, but I saw a number of parties who lived near the wreck and who went to it, and the thing that seemed to impress them more than anything else was that they never heard one single man among all that company moan or give any expression to his pain. Some of them were under the débris and it took hours to get them out and some of them died soon after they were taken out, but they never heard a groan.

Dr. STOKES. In an address on the psychology of naval warfare at the Naval War College, I strongly urged that every officer should become familiar with the sight of blood. Now, one may be as courageous as can be, but in the presence of bleeding or of mutilation may become faint. This can be in many instances overcome. This suggestion excited a great deal of discussion. One officer said that he had been squeamish in the presence of blood, while in actual battle, with men killed and wounded about him, he had no such feeling. In reply it was suggested that if he had been held in reserve and not actually fighting a ship, and yet was under fire, the thrill of battle would not have existed and he might have felt the same squeamishness in the presence of blood or mutilating wounds. I want to impress upon the committee the fact that we serve in the field just as the Ariny does. We have to be familiar with field sanitation and every man is under canvas for a period of two or three weeks or more each year. There has never been a war in which the Navy has not taken part on shore.

It is, perhaps, not necessary for me to emphasize the efficiency of the officers and men of the United States Marine Corps in the field. The results that have been accomplished by them in this situation have been marvelous. These ends have been consummated, in my opinion, by cooperation between the line officers and the medical officers and by the military efficiency with which sanitary measures

have been instituted. The Medical Department of the Navy furnishes the sanitary personnel of all marine expeditions.

The CHAIRMAN. I have heard recently that some smallpox broke out on one of the battleships, the Ohio?

Dr. STOKES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you know about that?

Dr. STOKES. It is probable that the exposure took place before the ship left the Mediterranean. The period of incubation is variable, anywhere from 9 to 14 days, and it may often be carried to 20 days, but the usual period is somewhere between 9 and 14 days. The first report was that two cases had developed and others had been exposed and were suspects. The ship went to Guantanamo, where we have an isolation camp well equipped and prepared for this sort of emergency. Other cases developed and were sent on shore there. It became apparent that there had been pretty universal exposure, and so it was recommended to the department that the ship be sent to Charleston, where the men could be taken out of the ship, the ship thoroughly fumigated, and all precautions taken. These men are all vaccinated on enlistment. An ample supply of vaccine was sent to them as soon as the report reached us and is in their possession now, and I have no doubt that the outbreak will be stamped out readily.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. Do you mean to say that all the men on board the ship had been vaccinated?

Dr. STOKES. Every man is vaccinated at the time of enlistment. Mr. WITHERSPOON. Vaccination did not prevent this?

Dr. STOKES. It is not an absolute preventative. We may have 3 or 4 per cent who are not protected.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. What proportion of the men on the Ohio did have the smallpox?

Dr. STOKES. The last report was that there were six cases, but we may have, although protected by vaccination, varioloid, which is mild and inconsequential. Some years ago in Japan, before vaccination was universally carried out, I had seven cases under my care and three of them had been protected by vaccination and four had not been protected. The four died loathsome deaths. They died with the eruption all over them, including even their mouths and eyes; there was no hope for these unprotected men from the start. Those protected by vaccination were scarcely ill beyond having a pustule here and there.

Mr. BROWNING. Was there not a death on the Ohio from smallpox ? Dr. STOKES. I have not had official notification of that. I heard, I think, last night, that there was one death.

As I say, they

Mr. BROWNING. I saw in the paper where there was one death. Mr. STEPHENS. You say that there were six cases of smallpox on the Ohio? How many men are there on the Ohio? Dr. STOKES. Roughly, a thousand, perhaps 900. rub elbows at mess and drills and all that sort of thing, and so it seemed desirable to get them out of the ship and to disinfect the ship, because the disease is communicable in the early stages.

Mr. STEPHENS. Only six cases have been reported out of the thousand?

Dr. STOKES. Yes, sir; there may be others develop later.

Mr. ROBERTS. I want to ask the admiral about the appropriation made last year of $70,000 for the new power plant for the naval hospital at Chelsea. Has that power plant been built?

Dr. STOKES. Plans have been made, as I recall it, and my impression is that it is under way.

Mr. ROBERTS. Can you tell from memory where that plant is located, with reference to the so-called magazine site?

Dr. STOKES. It is to be located southwest of the new hospital building. That is, down toward the old pest house. You will remember where that is.

Mr. ROBERTS. Not on what was called the magazine site?
Dr. STOKES. No, sir.

I want also to say that so far as our returns from the Treasury Department and from the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts go, we have wiped out our obligation against the hospital fund. I found when I came into office an obligation somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500,000. By the loyal support of my colleagues in the Medical Department we have been able to square this account up.

The CHAIRMAN. I believe last year we put in a provision prohibiting indebtedness hereafter?

Dr. STOKES. No new construction without consulting the committee, which I was enthusiastically in favor of.

The CHAIRMAN. I understand.

Mr. ROBERTS. Is that hospital at Chelsea built?

Dr. STOKES. It is practically completed.

Mr. ROBERTS. Is it ready to occupy?

Dr. STOKES. It will be within a very few months.

Mr. ROBERTS. Are the fittings all in?

Dr. STOKES. Practically everything. Of course, it depends upon the completion of the power plant.

Mr. ROBERTS. The power plant is the only thing holding it back from occupancy?

Dr. STOKES. That is practically all.

Mr. ROBERTS. Have you had any intimation from the Secretary that the hospital would not be opened?

Dr. STOKES. I have had none.

The CHAIRMAN. We are very much obliged to you, Dr. Stokes.

(Thereupon the committee adjourned to meet to-morrow, Friday, December 19, 1913, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.)

[No. 5.]

COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS, Monday, December 22, 1913. The committee this day met, Hon. Lemuel P. Padgett (chairman) presiding.

STATEMENT OF REAR ADMIRAL C. J. BADGER, UNITED STATES NAVY, COMMANDER IN CHIEF, ATLANTIC FLEET.

The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen of the committee, we have with us this morning Admiral Badger, who was speaking with me when we were at Guantanamo about the recreation building for the enlisted men at the naval station, Guantanamo, Cuba, and I suggested to the admiral that he should look into the matter and when he was here this winter give the committee his views as to the necessity, propriety, and reasons for that recommendation.

Admiral, the committee will be glad to hear such suggestions as you may be pleased to offer.

Admiral BADGER. At the naval station at Guantanamo, Cuba, the Government maintains a very large rifle range for the training of the men of the fleet, a range which has in the neighborhood of 250 targets on it, one of the largest in this country. Guantanamo is also used as the headquarters of the fleet during a certain portion of the year for the training of the ships and the men. Guantanamo Bay is far separated from any settled country and there are no means there for the recreation of the men except what can be provided for them on shore in the way of ball grounds and possibly a recreation place where they can go from the ships and amuse themselves with various games.

The CHAIRMAN. During the winter, when the fleet is there, what size of fleet do you have and what is the number of men in the fleet, embracing all?

Admiral BADGER. The number of men varies considerably; but there are during the winter rarely less than 10,000 men and sometimes as many as 20,000 men in Guantanamo Bay with the fleet.

Guantanamo is also generally used as the headquarters for expeditionary forces, and we have had as high as 2,000 marines encamped there awaiting any action that might be required of them by the Government. They remain at the place for several months at a time. The climate is such that it is not conducive to the good health or good efficiency to keep the men too much on board the ships-either the ships of the fleet or the expeditionary ships and for that reason it is believed to be very urgent that a proper building which will house a large number of men during the recreation hours or to which they can go when they are not actually needed on the range, to escape from the sun and the heat, should be provided. A suitable building, it is believed, can be put up for $30,000 which will answer the purpose;

and I think that the feeling is universal among the officers of the fleet, and it also had the strong support of the former commander in chief, Admiral Osterhaus, that such a building should be provided.

Mr. BROWNING. Of what material will the building be constructed? Admiral BADGER. It has to be a large building to accommodate the number of men needed, and it was to be built of light wood, with a corrugated roof; but I have seen since recommendations in regard to some other buildings in that neighborhood, and I think that if the sides were of very thin iron it would last longer.

Mr. BROWNING. I should think that would be preferable.

Admiral BADGER. But that does not really come under me. It would have to have an iron roof, and probably the sides should be iron, but not necessarily corrugated.

The CHAIRMAN. As the commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet, you have been to Guantanamo Bay and have made personal observations and a study of this matter, as I understand it?

Admiral BADGER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You have been there with the fleet in the practice seasons and know the conditions that exist?

Admiral BADGER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. I will ask if it is your mature judgment that it is for the efficiency of the fleet and the comfort of the men that such a building should be erected at Guantanamo?

Admiral BADGER. It is, sir, for the health, comfort, and efficiency. The CHAIRMAN. At Guantanamo is there any town or village or accommodations other than what is on the naval-station grounds, erected by the Government itself?

Admiral BADGER. No. There is a very small town named Camenera, about 5 or 6 miles away, and there is another still smaller town of a few hundred people, a shipping point for sugar from the interior, but our men are not allowed to go to those places.

The CHAIRMAN. And without a recreation building at the grounds, would not the fact of these towns being 5 or 6 miles away be a curse rather than a blessing to you; would it not be a temptation and an inducement to the men to stray over there?

Admiral BADGER. The inducement is greater when we have no recreation building.

The CHAIRMAN. If you had no building to keep them on the grounds, would not these places serve as a temptation to break up the discipline?

Admiral BADGER. Undoubtedly, sir; and the recreation building would lessen the desire of the men to go out of bounds.

The CHAIRMAN. As I understand you, Admiral, without this building you are out on this barren spot without any opportunity for the employment or recreation of the men indoors?

Admiral BADGER. Exactly; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And they are left to the exposure of the sun and weather, etc., without proper care?

Admiral BADGER. Yes, sir.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. What sort of recreation would this building be adapted to?

Admiral BADGER. The idea was to have one great room for a general meeting room of the men, for moving pictures, their entertainments, their minstrel shows, or whatever it is they want to do,