ARMY SUICIDES IN 1927.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17605, 9 January 1929, Page 8

ARMY SUICIDES IN 1927.

HIGHEST IN DECADE. RETURNS IN AMERICA. (From a Correspondent.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 27. Suicide was the cause of a greater number of deaths in the army in the calendar year 1927 than balloon or airplane accidents, according to the annual report of Major-General M. W. Ireland, Surgeon-General of the army, which was made public to-day. The report also disclosed an increase in the number of cases of alcoholism. General Ireland found the health of the army was satisfactory, as evidenced by the number of admissions to the sick report for the year. The admission rate per 1000 from all causes was 654.64 as compared with 687.22 in 1926. The 1927 rate of admissions was slightly greater than in 1925 and 1922, but with these exceptions it was the smallest ever recorded for the army. Deaths aggregated 531, or a rate of 4 per 1000. Deaths from suicide in 1927 numbered 52, the highest in a decade from this cause and the highest from any single cause during the year. Deaths from balloon and airplane accidents totalled 31. Drowning caused 28 deaths. Deaths from suicide in 1926 were 44. .In 1925 they numbered 4 2 and in 1924 they totalled 46. Eleven of the suicides in 1927 occurred among officers, 40 among white enlisted men, and one among the Porto Ricans.

The death rale from causes other than suicides, however, was highest in, the Air Corps, being more than twice as high as that for any other branch of the service. There were 1147 sick admissions for the army in 1927 on account of alcoholism. The rate per 1000 was 8.63 as compared with 3.01 in 192 S and 7.98 in 1925. Seven deaths resulted from alcoholism during the year, all among the white enlisted men.

The rate of admission from diseases was highest for troops serving in the Philippine Islands and lowest from external cause for those Servian* .in China. - -