The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-13
THE WAR INvEsrIGArIoN.
Testimony Of Gen. A. w. Greedy and
Gen. G. Z. EGan.

Ueu' -. H. ESAus
WASHINGTON. Dec. Il. - Gen. A w.
Greedy, chief of the signal service, testified
before the war investigating commission
that his plans had been laid well ahead and
that when appropriations became available
I'll ere was no delay in launching dhe work.
He knew what would be required and acted
accordingly. He said the auxiliary force
of the corps was mustered in, organized and
sent TO the front in thirty days after its
formation was authorized. Every order from
the commanding general to create lines of
communication had been obeyed promptly.
He had made practice of having the
necessary material always on hand at sup
ply points and there had not been single
complaint over the manner in which the
corps had responded to all calls upon it.
General Greedy was then asked: Were.
you hindered or delayed at any time in the
administration Of your department by any
one in authority over your"
well, of course, in time of war, when
large supplies are needed, in many cases it
is necessary to convince the secretary of
war that certain things are necessary to be
done. There was at first some delay, and
before the war l was cautioned to be cir
cumspect in purchases and expenditures.
This never did any real harm, and when
the emergency arose was given everything
l needed and was well supported by the de-
partment."
When asked if he had any suggestions TO
offer the commission, General Greedy said:
II believe that there should be some officer
in the American army whose duty it should
be to see that the American soldier is fed.
believe the problem Of feeding, clothing
and paying the army is business one, and
any three competent business men could get
together and devise system as much in adj
vance of our present one as that Is In adj
vance of $50 years ago."
Referring to the health of his men, Gem
Of 1900 men in the corps / only had five
succumb to disease. There were two killed
and two officers had their horses shot under
did you have any doctors in your
CORPSE
no SIR quite positively.
There was a general laugh at this and
Governor Beaver said: Good thing DR..
Conner is not here"
Il will say added General Greedy, that
l made a point of impressing upon my offi-
GERS that their men in the field were bound
to be as irresponsible as children and would
have to be looked after as such regarding
their food, sinks and bedding. / tried to see
that my officers carried out this supervision
everywhere and must say they did SO faith
fully. The result speaks for itself.
In conclusion General McCook asked:
in Santiago?"
Through Colonel Allen, of my CORPS
said General Greedy, who received the news
from Havana in the afternoon and the Pres
ident had il at midnight.
''How did you manage to communicate be-
tween Santiago and Havana, and how did
you get the news out Of Havana? 81,
where they would do the most good and
they had their own methods of communicate
ing with each other We arranged that be-
fore the war They were men upon whom
we could depend and when anything worth
knowing, happened IN cuba the President
usually had 1t by midnight
''All the same said General McCook, Il
don't see how you did it..
General Greedy, speaking of the press CEN
sorship. said the greatest latitude of criti-
cism upon the government had been per-
mitted, he suppressing only particularly vio-
gers of the commercial telegraph lines had
aided him greatly In this matter.
General Charles p, Egan, commlssary
of his department he found an abundance
of food on hand, and with the troops az
various points in the field. This continued
up to date General Egan said that there
were very few contractors VINO ala not
ckeerfully make good any denclency III the
quality of material delivered.
Colonel Denby-Do you think that the Of
ficers took proper care in seeing that the
beans and everything else In tact were wei
cooked Does not the value or the 1000
work down to the value of the cook after
az General Enthusiastically so. I be-
lieve the cooking was almost uniformly
had I,believe good cooks ought to be en-
Moved If they cost 800 a minute. / have
recommended that very thing in my bill
before Congress, and | devoutly believe IL
ought to be done.
Referring to a tropic ration General Egan
said. II have recommended to the DEPART
ment the addition of a little more sugar ana
a little dried fruit for the soldiers In the
tropics. but otherwise the ration is good:
Those who talk against the eating OF meat
in the tropics do not stop TO consider Lnat
the reason the native of the tropics does
not eat meat is not because he don't want
II but because he can't afford it. And
when Won look at the native you see he is a
product of his food. and there is nothing
To him The English tropic ration differs
very little from our own and with the
changes i have mentioned our army ration
which is the product of one hundred years
experience is the best food the American
soldier could have.