Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-12-22
GENERAL MILES TALKS.
4. aoucar Before The War Investigation
Committee at Washington.
EXPERIMENTS IN "laBAlstO Bttf."


uies. commanding the linked states
army. and ucn. wcsley Merritt COM
.,,nder OF the American forces NJ the
-,ott,re OF Manila, were the principal
egures before the war investigation
,',rmlsslon today. Gen. Mliea reapond-
"A to the summons Of the committee
oniy after several days consideration.
its was accompanied by HIS own stem
orrapher. His examination was CONE
,',r,tively brief and not Sensational
II. smoke with some bitterness as TO
,,, aemiaimcd beer and the canned
t,,f furnished the army In the Held.
s-nis n. characterized as an experiment
80 which some one In Washington
80. responsible. lie said thai the land
d. facilities of the Santiago expedition
80 inadequate. and that the mon
80 abort OF rntlons and medicines ana
might have been better prptccteu iinh
-sf1surn to fever contaglun.
-, Merritt told the commission thlt
d, rcenrdcd the Philippine expedition
as a decided success, ana would cons
5yri IL ON the same lines u he hnd !,
W IA, aver. lie spoke In hlgh terms os
W., t,nnus under him. and said his army
w,s wen supplied WIKI medicines ana
ION. Nllca was fortified with a large
.,rLarc Of papers. and hgd MS own
trr~Igrapher. lie gave his evidence ~
riear. unhcsitntinE way ana went
into details regarding BOTH the sahslas'
ana Porto Rico expeditions.
a. cpnnai by dCscf1hng the iNilre1l
al. atsiou In getting the war munitions
sY -awft. p1if,td 20 fhc isck of GOV.
,-re,.ft g.5rehausc Facilitates there. and
saI the Q1fa ~ one same were hfiu
. l,sE A. FAR a. Columbia. =. e.
lie said when the TROOPS were Loaded
% was found Impossible 10 put moro
thln 1900 men aboard. aud they were
,1ifpfsd AZ wen a. possible und n fhe
itfUifus.inrcs. u WIS most f1riunnte'
h. pl. 'nhi. she trnufporia had good
weather. " they hid encountered \
slt,.re storm. ahe lrfs ~ NE or thc SUI
fHr.nr. lc hast. must have been fear-
fiL A. O was With fair weather. mo
mon below CrnNtifi In WIKI the mules,
ana supplies could HUt on u Eek whlch
wound have b,rn lmpoafble Otherwise
MEDICAL SUPPLIES SHORT
The commlfslry slows sakcn, he Hit1,
war. sufficient. but the medical sup
piles wcre Inadequate. lie had l'ii The
loading. except for Ecneral directions
so the corp commander q fn, Shliter.
80 found on. before aalans shat ihtre
were "a number - p1E.Qln boats bolng
rakeu which would b. utterly usecHs
flr the purpose and he himself had So
cured two hargcs frnm the owners
h0fc ana had rak % ether stops. hu' the
supply " ouch boats takca waa very
Inadequate.
"Th, expedition" he c1u,lnlsd.
should have bctn furnished wlih
lunches naphtha or steam, or tugs Tor
towing hargpr from the ships - the
shore. We relied largely on the enrin-
s'r officers and she engineer depiifm NJ
Tor these.
an ihe secori expedition TO Por;u
Rico ihCas werr furnished. but gAfy ar
Fiyyd too late 80 render aSfifelnce."
~ said before the first ncr. sailed
from Tampa crilma,cs had been dom
ufl'y made 81 the number 90 b1asa
So b5 furnished shs transports. ana tn
number % be- furnished by ihe navy So
uffsi. The moe, curdial assistance. he
nflH1, lad been promised on the part
VI the navy. A. aanlagO h. fild h.
srIply Of tcuipgc ana food was very
NmNt1.
Were tae medical supplies a! ih'
slime suiilclcN FOR the needs " th'
eourmard7" was asked.
IN rcply he read VI dlsraech from Gen
Shftcr on August ith, which referred
b. chronic scarcity 0f medlclncs.'
urd that four mon hal Just died iron
HEX ~ medicine. Thnrc Nus nj ~
cline. sa.l Gen, Miles, sufficiens mcGi'
cine Tor the ,fvori. H. rrmcmborcl
rtsiuF one tnln f1r ne rick In d
aching rain with no covering ovei
che WuEluH.
Gen. Bsayer-From what you lcarnc,
und observed NhIle there. % sou thinl
ih,rc vas 10 any time sufficient mril
cal Fupply3
Gen. Miles-of medical men and ma
serials?
Gen. Bcavcr-Yes.
Gen. All a-No. cir.
The witness stated nat tee hoSpln
accommodations were only u tempo
rffy character. lie said that the shell
~ was bad The shelter tents ala no
sheser. questioned as % she chirarte
and tho ficlnilea Tor trunfpor,lng ~
wounded. he fald that they were takei
H. wagons.
Gen. ntaver-Do you know II any o
lhr wounded were lying exposed 30 IN
NVaiherf
Gen. Mlles-some were exposed In be
ius sent down 81 the hnfpltaA, I rly
one train - wounded men drvlnl
along In nhr drenchlnE rain with uo;h
ins % HhoEcr thm ] tuok steps per
H1nNlly % correct natter, and on Jnll
lefh telegfuphtd Tor web equlppei
corps ~ bridge and pier builders, c.c
and urdofed places burned.
Cen Miles said the iransp1r,n;lo
fadltlla were No 4 90 carry ~ Ihea Z
me 1900 20 5000 refugees frnr san
.lsn NfI about 1000 tuiln ifoNp'
This was not expected" he answer ~
IN reply 20 a question, "hecguse ha
cautioned Gen. Shafier 10 keep hi
men ont OF she SpaniFh building d
ivory Character. and 90 keep tle me
AWAY from she natives. Had he NJ
hANo done as h. dld, the army woul
have been much better supplied"
EXPERIMENTS IN BEEF.
His army In Porto Rico. h. said. ha
heen supplied In a way with quarter
master ami commisary fiotfs, hut NJ
n the bees way. A. Por.u Rico h
"a nvkci eha. fixed ratinna b. son
nlt instead they were sen. down
nuik wlthoui Invoices or bills OF lad
INK, and In many instances stores WEI
slolod In the hold and thrown awal
This caused great embarrassment an
.ofs OF stores and deprived troops {
MOOD, lie asserted TIA. che scarcll
OF food largely caused the distress ,
he sipops. He hid advised again
IN shipping OF beef 10 Por.o Rico, bI
cause theirs was abundance Of u a
thr Island. as well as because OF h
bllcf ehW Il was defective.
te chirac.rrlzed che refrigerat,
beof, ~ which there was 327 tons sen
a. "cmbalmed beef" ana said %
muned ffosh bevf. OF which 1884,
pounds had been shipped there, ~.