The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-12-22

Wenther-Lac of Medical Sup
plies-He Speaks Bitterly of "Em-
baImedv Beef Furnished Porto
RiOau Army of General
Merritt tells of Operations in tho
Philippines.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 21.-General
Nelson A. Miles, commanding the
United States army, and General wes-
ley Merritt. commander of the Ameri-
can forces at the capture OF Manila,
were the principal figures before the
war investigation commission to-day.
General Miles responded to the sum
mons of the commission only after sew
eraI days consideration. He was ac-
companied by his own stenographer.
His examination was comparatively
brief and not sensational. BE spoke
with some bitterness as to the "em-
balmed beer and the canned beef fur
nished the army In the field. This he
characterized as an experiment for
which some one in Washington" was
responsible. He said that the landing
facilities OF the Santiago expedition
were inadequate and that the men were
short Of ratIons and medicines, and
might have been better protected from
exposure to fever contagion.
General Merritt told the commission
that he regarded the Philippine expedi-
ton as decided success and would
conduct 1t on the same lines II he had
II to do over. He spoke in high terms
Of the troops under him, and said his
army was well supplied with medicines
and food.
When General Miles took the stand
he was asked, Are you willing to be
sworn?'
II think" was the reply, "that can
say what 1 have to say without being
sworn"
! large package Of papers and had his
own stenographer. He gave his evil
dence in a clear. unhesitatlng way and
went into details regarding both the
Santiago and Porto Rico expeditions.
He opened by describing the railroad
confusion in getting the war munitions
| TO Tampa, pointed to the lack OF gov
ernment storehouse facilities there and
said the cars at one time were held
back as far us Columbia, S. c. He said
when the transports were loaded It was
found impossible to put more than 1900
men aboard, and they We're equipped as
well as possible under the circum-
stances.
Fortunate Good Weather.
ut was most fortunate" he said,
that the transports had good weather.
II they had encountered severe storm
the loss of life. or the suffes3ag, al least,
must have been fearful, AS It was.
with fair weather, the men below
crowded in with the mules and supplies
could get on deck. which would have
been impossible otherwise"
The Commlssary stores taken, he said,
were sufficient, but the medical supplies
were inadequate. He had left the load
ing. except for general directions. to the
corps commander General Shafter He
found Just before sailing that there
were number Of pontoon boats being
taken which were utterly useless for
the purpose and he himself had secured
two bnrges from the owners there and
had taken other steps, but the supply
Of such boats taken was very inade-
Quate. "The expedition" he continued,
"should have been furnished with
launches. nnpthn or steam, or tugs, for
towing barges from the ships to the
shore. He relied largely on the engI-
neer OF the corps and the engineer de-
pnrtment for these. In the second ex-
pedition to Porto Rico these were fur
nished, but they arrived too late to rem
der much assistance"
He said before the first vessel sailed
from Tampa estimates had been detin-
itely made of the number of bouts to be
Furnished the transports and the num-
ber TO be furnished by the navy to as
sist. The most cordial assistance, he
added, had been promised on the part
Of the navy.
At Santiago the supply OF tentage and
food was very limited.
"Were the medical supplies at that
time sufficient for the needs Of the com-
mand?" he was asked.
Chronic Scarcity of Medicine.
In reply he read dispatch from Cen
eral shafter on August /. which re-
fcrred TO Chronic scarcity of medl-
clnes," and that four men had just died
from lack of medicines. There was at
no time, said General Miles, sufficient
medicine for the troops. He remGm-
bered seeing one train for the sick in n
drenchIng rain, with no covering over
the wagons.
General Beaver--"F'rom what you
learned and observed, while there do
you think there was at any time n suf-
ilcient medical supply?"
General Miles-"Of medical men and
materinls?"
General Beaver-"Yes."
General Miles-"No, SIR"
The witness stated that the hospital
accommodations were only Of tempor-
ary character. He said that the shell
ter was bad The shelter tents did not
shelter. Questioned as to the character
OF the facilities for transporting the
wounded. he said that they were taken
in wagons.
General Beaver-'De you know If any
OF the wounded were lying exposed to
the weather."
General MILESTONE were exposed
in being sent down to the hospitals. I
saw one train OF wounded men driving
along in the drcnching rain with moth
ing 20 shelter them"
He had taken measures personally to
correct matters and on July IL had tele-
graphed for n we'll equipped corps Of
pier and bridge builders, etc. and had
ordered places burned. General Miles
snid the transportation facilities were
used TO carry supplies to some 1900 TO
10000 refugees from Santiago and
about 5000 Cuban troops. This" he