The record-union., 1898-12-22

shelter.
Questioned as to the character of the
facilities for transporting the wounded,
he said that they We're taken in
wagons.
General Beaver-Do you know if any
of the wounded were lying exposed to
the weather?
General Milestone were exposed in
being sent down to the hospitals. saw
one train of wounded men driving along
in the drenching rain with nothing to
shelter them.
He had taken measures personally to
correct matters, and on July 18th tele-
graphed for a well equipped corps of
pier and bridge builders, ETC., and had
ordered places burned.
General Miles said the transportation
facilities We're used to carry supplies
to some $4,000 to 10000 refugees from
Santiago and about 5000 Cuban troops.
This was not expected" he answer
ed, in reply to a question, because 1
had cautioned General Shafter to keep
his men out of the Spanish buildings of
every character, and to keep the men
away from the natives. Had he not
done as he did, the army would have
been much better supplied"
His army in Porto Rico, he said, had
been supplied in a way with quarter
master and commiSsary stores, but not
in the best way. AT Porto Rico he had
asked that fixed rations be sent, but in
stead they We're sent down in bulk,
without invoices or bills of lading, and
in many instances stores We're spoiled
in the hold and thrown away This
caused great embarrassment and loss
of stores, and deprived troops of food.
He asserted that the scarcity of food
largely caused the distress of the
troops. He had advised against the
shipping of beef to Porto Rico, both
because there was abundance of it on
the island, as Well as because of his
belief that it was defective. He char
acterized the refrigerator beef, of which
there was 327 tons sent, as "embalmed
beef" and said the canned fresh beef,
of which 19S,OO0 pounds had been
shipped there, was condemned by Off
GERS whose commands used it.
who fixed that beef as an army ra-
tion?'
you'll have to ask some one here in
Washington. You had better ask the
Secretary of War or the Commissary
General. 1t was sent as food If they
had not taken that they would have
had to go hungry. If they had sent
paymasters down there as 1 asked, we
could have bought food, but they did
not do that
General Miles called attention to the
fact that good fresh beef could be
bought in Porto Rico for 6 cents a
pound American money, and he sug
geSted it might be interesting to COM
pare the cost of the refrigerated beef,
together with the expense of transpor-
tation.
He said he did not know but what
the chemical used in treating the beef
was responsible for the great sickness
in the American army Reports which
he had received concerning it We're to
the effect that the beef had an odor
like an embalmed dead body.
Captain Howell-Were these reports
ever brought to the attention of the
Commissary Department?
General Miles-Reports We're fire.
quently sent in to him. But he SEEM
ed to insist that the beef be used
Captain Howell-Was the matter ever
brought to the attention of the Secre-
tary of War?
General Miles-I requested that no
more of it be sent If a supply were
issuing to the mem in this country I
would prohibit their use of it. I am
having an investigation made of this
matter. I thought you gentlemen would
get on to it.
He said he had never complained to
the Secretary of War as to the condi-
tion of the beef, but he had asked that
the supply be stopped.
General Miles suggested that food
was sent to his large army under pre-
tense Of an experiment.
General Miles stated that the first
plans for securing the transports for
Cuba were not his. The question at
the outset was a naval problem. and
the dispatch Of troops in his judgment
then hinged on which fleet would de-
stroy the other. If the Spanish had
destroyed the United States fleet the
United States would have been block
ed for number of years. eff we had
had a force in Cuba, too, we would
have lost it. as it would have been i'm
possible to get it back here"
He was opposed also to sending a.
large force to places like Havana or
Matanzas, because of the large percent
age of yellow fever deaths.
He said the destruction of Cervera's 8
fleet settled that problem. He said he
wanted to operate with small force
against the Spanish forces by harrass-
ing them during the sickly season. aid
ing the Cubans, and not endangering
the lives of his own force. He also at
first favored taking Porto Rico, to pre-
vent the Spanish from using that as a.
base of operations
General Miles gave details of the
Porto Rican expedition and obstacles.
Concluding with his opinion of camp
sites, he said the first he knew of the
selection of Camp Alger, Va, the most
Objectionable. camp, in his mind. was
when the regiments began reaching
there. AS to Chickamauga, he had rec
commended mobilizing the regiments
left, but he never anticipated that %
600 men would be sent, and when he
found it overcrowded he had recon-
mended distribution of the forces
among other localities.
General Wesley r. Merritt was the
first witness of the afternoon. He be-
gan his testimony by description Of
operations around Manila prior to its
capture. Owing to the smallness of
his force, he said, the army was COM
PEELED to operate along the sea front
in cooperation with the navy. Had
there been larger American force on
land the city could have been taken
from the high ground inland, but this
was tactically impra cticable, without
leaving our base at the mercy of both
Spaniards and insurgents. The city's
defenses We're good. The Spanish had