Omaha daily bee., 1898-12-31
INQUIRY INTO BEEF SUPPLY
@ overnment Wants to Know Who Is Respon-
ibls for Loss Of 300, 900 Pounds Meat.
WAS FOR USE OF THE MILES EXPEDITION
Board Directed to Assemble in wash
ington Next Tuesday-ArmOur Il
Company Defend Them.
selves.

the issue between General Miles and General
Eagan concerning the quality of the beef
supplied the army, and on the written re-
quest OF General Eagan. the War depart
ment tonight issued a special order for the
assembling Of a board Of officers in Wash
ington on next Tuesday at 10 a. IN. to in
quire into the general subject OF the quality
of the beef supplies and particularly as to
the responsibility for the loss OF 100000
pounds OF refrigerated beef sent to Porto
Rico, when the expedition under General
Miles was there.
The special order is as follows:
BY direction Of the secretary of war q
Board of Survey Is hereby ordered to con-
vene at the War department at Washington,
d. c.. at 10 a. m, January 8, 1899, to ex-
anime into and report upon the responsible
ity for the loss Of about 300, 600 pounds OF
refrigerated beef, the property OF Swift and
Company Of Chicago, to ascertain and re-
port II due and proper effort was made to
and to fix the responsibility II due and
proper effort was not made; to ascertain
and report the character and quality Of the
refrigerated beef herein referred to; to as
certain and report II 1t was good and fit
meet for use and II 1t had been subjected
to any chemical processes whatever; to re-
port whether or not the United States Is
responsible for the loss OF the beef or who.
II anyone Is responsible for Its loss, and
whether In its opinion Swift and Company
should or should not be reimbursed for the
beef. Detail for the board: Colonel Charles
L. Alden. assistant surgeon general; Colonel
James NJ. Moore. assistant Quartermuster
general; Colonel Francis L. Gunther. Fourth
United States artillery; Captain l.. G.
Scherer. assistant adiutant general recorder.
The 100000 pounds of beef referred to
was shipped from Newport News to Porto
toN hnt, :, ttvx,a hat Nva fro,,
General Miles that he had supplied himself
with fresh beef, taken on the island. The
refrigerated beef made the trip to Porto
Rico and back, but by the time 1t reached
Montauk Point 1t is understood to have
spoiled, owing to the delay and consequent
lack Of refrigerating material.
Armour COmpnny's Letter.
General Eagan received today from Lieu
tenant Colonel Smith, the commissary officer
at Chicago, a report made by Armour &
Co., who furnished the army large part
Of Its timed roast beef. The report was
in response to specific interrogatories from
General Eagan. 1t is as follows:
CHICAGO. ILL.,. Dec. 80. M. Smith,
Lieutenant Colonel United States Army
Dear Sir We are In receipt of your favor OF
recent date and are very glad to answer
the inquiry made with reference to canned
and refrigerated meats.
Before answering our specific inquiry we
beg to inform you that our system Of pre-
pairing and putting up our roast and corned
beef is by the Appert process, which was
invented in 1909. This is a process that
has been we'll known to scientific inquiry
for the entire period since the date Of its
invention but dts commercial use may be
all manufacturers and dealers in canned
meats. Nothing has beeu discovered that
produces superior results, and 1t would be
dihlcult for any invention to supersede that
Of Appert, inasmuch as there never has been
any complaint Of deterioration Of the con-
eehts!of the cans put up by this process.
v We beg to reply to your specific inqiries
as follows: --:.tt
First-As to the extent Of the timed
roast beef output" We beg to state that we
have no statistics with reference to the en-
tire output Of timed roast beef, nor have
we any respecting the timed roast beef
industry as whole. We ourselves have
been putting up and selling timed roast
and corned beef for the past twenty five
years and have been supplying consumers Of
food products for this entire period. All
grocers and meat markets have these goods
and have had them on sale during this
entire length Of time and no objection has
been raised to their use by consumers, nor
has there been any detrimental results fol-
lowing their consumption. On the contrary
the use Of this description of goods Is an
uually increasing. 1t may be said that they
are used by all classes Of people and are
considered a strictly staple article Of food
and handled as such by the trade. We
ourselves have put up during the last twenty
or twenty five years in the neighborhood OF
200. 900. 900 pounds. or, say an average Of
about 100000 pounds per annum.
Secoud-Replyiug to your question as to
'how long this article has been In use, where
used and bv whom and whether 1t is largely
used In this country and II 80, by whom
sold. and as to the class of people who
generally purchase It," we beg to reply that
this is. we think. sufficiently answered in
the foregoing reply to your first question.
Sold to British Army.
Third-Replying to your question, III 1t
has been sold to foreign countries, about
how much and who uses II in foreign coun-
tries?" we beg to state that during the last
five years we have sold to the British gov
eminent for army and navy use, largely in
India and Egypt, nearly 25,0OO,000 pounds
and to the French government within the
last six or seven years about an equal guam
tity. To the republic OF Brazil and to South
Africa we are now annually shipping thou
sands of tons Of these goods In the manner
alluded to, namely. In tins
Fourth-Replying to your inquiry as to
whether all the packers make soup from
the water after cooking the timed roast
beef, or not?" we will say that We are not
sufflciently familiar with the manufacture
Of this article by other packers to state
definitely respecting the manner In which 1t
Is manufactured by them, but for ourselves
will answer that We have not at any time
since we commenced the putting up Of timed
roast beef used the water to manufacture
soup OF any kind
Fifth-Replying to your question as to
whether or not timed roast beef Is cooked
as much as timed corned beef?" We would
state that the roast beef does not undergo
the same amount OF cooking as corned beef,
the length Of time required for the latter,
owing to It's being previously picked. being
much greater than that required for the
former
sixth-Replying to your question as to
whether any chemicals are used In the
process of the timed roast beef or any
foreign ingredient Of any kind whatsoever
enters into the composition Of the timed
roast beef?" we would say that no chemical
OF any description is used by us in the man
ufacture Of either Of the articles mentioned.
No Scraps Used.
Seventh-Replying to your question as to
whether or not any of the packers ever
have used scraps in putting up this meat,
and II So why and where did they get the
scraps and why are there scraps, II scraps
are used?" we beg to state that no scraps
are used by us. Our timed roast and
corned beef are made from what are called
"chucks" and "plates," being portions Of the
animal that are regarded as first class In
every particular and no scraps Of any de-
scription are prepared or used In the man
l,,Soo - 7 riacea