Show cariap abr wounded from overseas great ahmu hos in new york already filling with the soldiers u from battle front 4 closest link with the battlefields of europe Is llie united states army hospital iso 1 situated at gun hill road and bainbridge avenue the bronx new york down the path from the hospital to the gun hlll station of the subway limp wound ed soldiers who are entitled to be ranked alth veterans of the west front they ore in the minority as yet because not more than three quarters of the patients 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 service rathar than for treatment of wounds nevertheless this country comes more closely into touch with the actualities of war on tills lit tie stretch of road where the men sun themselves on pleasant dais than anywhere else on this aldo 0 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 cp 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 less than a year ago there was nothing but vacant ground used as an athletic field by columbia university and known as columbia oval where the hospital now stands says a writer in the new york world today a en city occupies this ground in part this city testifies to the ready patriotism of columbia university and in part it ts a monument to the efel clency of the war department part ment A modest distaste for publicity Is characteristic of the hospital its growth ans eo quatt 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 paci fists cherish a patriotic interest in all such institutions are residing just to the loyth of it it attained completion without the general public bang 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 continued t regard it as merely in course of construction every afternoon from two until four the high tide of sympathy sets in vom alie outside word toward the hospital ft was at ams time that armed with a letter from the war de I 1 approached the entrance it was necessary to fall la with a long procession of women moat of them burdened with ampy which contained oranges apples bananas homo apple pies cream other articles of food suitable lo 10 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 elgh and admit that men even keep house better than women do it was due to the initiative of columbia university that hospital was so soon established the university idea was to organize and thoroughly equip n hospital for the use of american troops which construction and all should be put up in abw york and afterward carried across the ocean the hospital was to be officered bv physicians from the colage of physicians and surgeons the medical school of columbia university ground for the hospital was broken may 18 little more than n month after the declaration of aar the first building was finished in june but when the hospital was offered to the government in july it was decided that the project of transporting the plant buildings and all to france was impractical and that the hospital would serve a very useful purpose it it remained on columbia oval thirty nine buildings were included in the original plan as presented by the university the government has since increased the number to CO but the type of buildings has remained the came each building la 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 other Is of the simplest possible construction st unpainted without and within the buildings are lined with heavy paper with the object of making them warmer otherwise they are as simple as the wooden sheds which served ft headquarters for the first boffl cers training camps the entire group of buildings if somewhat in the form of the letter n the executive building serving as the crosa piece of the n 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 dean F glnn fitted oat mostly with un furniture constructed by the enlisted men ip at one bide and next are the of col ayo ZW douglas F dennl 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 he army in round numbers the hospital Is now able to afford 1100 beds tor patients it it Is enlarged as Is contemplated there will be provision for caring for men these bep mep come from all the camps from long island to norfolk va a well as from overseas they suffer from a great variety of illnesses which are discovered during a last examination in camp before they are sent to the other 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 embarkation bar kation 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 bouse 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 fron the other side are too few to constitute an important feature of the surgical work more than halt 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 la camp during the very cold winter there Is a psychopathic ward and a ne ward sometimes 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 somo heart affection before entering the army this has been augmented un der the strain of army training they have slipped in through a dozen different channels explained the officer of the day who accompanied me upon the rounds of the hospital for instance a boy has got in through the good offices of the village doctor whom he has known all his life the physician wanted to do the boy a good turn and has been about bis holding up under the in creased strain of army life A boy who really wants to go to war Is sometimes able to a who really mean to fall in conscientiousness then too there are many cases which would get along well enough in civil life and a physician may be honestly convinced that the trouble Is unimportant but somewhere along the line the boy breaks down it may not be until he gets to camp merritt and Is about to be shipped out in a day or two perhaps it will not be until he gets over on the other side there Is a grant effort on the part of the army to weed them out before they get across but it always been accomplished ahen we stepped into a typical ward and looked around us I 1 wished that it might be possible 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 1 Is one of the most places in new york city perhaps it Is because the buildings are new wooden ones so much less ponderous than those of other hos that hospital no 1 to bid one to take courage and look on the brighter side of life only youth and hope have been sheltered T w ithan these fresh 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 flowers perhaps or some fruit in onet of the wards a group of patients wrapped in their dressing gowns had gathered around a low table at one end 0 the room they sat in the very comfortable rocking chairs which are provided there was a large bouquet of daffodils in a vase on the table As they sat and rocked peaceful talking as it all time were before them they presented a picture of extreme comfort these boys are rather petted arent they I 1 suggested to the officer of the day theres noth ing too good tor them oh no they re not petted at all said the boffl of he day firmly but it Is true that theres nothing too good tor them at one end of each ward building there Is a sun parlor and at the other end there are the bathrooms the ward masters 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 for some of the men in her ward the members of the butchen police who were convalescents and nell 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 mind it in fact they found the work quite pleasant and were here to do whatever Is needed said one of these khaki clad youths that s what the army means the other bouth said that he had only one regret in the matter As he looked very noble when he said athla I 1 thought he was about to add that his only regret was that he had but one life to ghe for his country 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 ases in the wards most of these young men will soon get well and be fit for return to duty the camp conditions of this very bad winter are responsible for their contracting the disease in most cases the hospital has two operating rooms both ex arranged and the larger so well lighted from the top as well as the sides that surgeons regard it ae unexcelled lu this particular by any operating room in new york convalescent patients as well as the soldiers who have been assigned to the work of the hospital take their meals in the mess ball 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 mesa officer and sergt lem cain menu maker have achieved wonderful results in setting savory dishes before the patients without exceeding the CO tents n day allowed by the government for the purchase of food for each man physicians from civil life as well as those who have awen in the service for many years constitute the staff of the hospital many of them are noted surgeons or practitioners who have given up large to take up the army work every man on the staff has n 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 pieces of laundry a week Is managed entirely by the army it Is a matter of pride with some of the hospital enthusiasts that the only person not in khaki or in war nurse uniform who helps to make the wheels go around in any of alo Is the laundry seam stress |