The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-25
HE BLIMES SHAFTER
COMMISSARY GENERAL EAGAN
SAYS HIS DEPARTMENT DID
ITS DUTY
SUPPLIES In ABUNDANCE

t1a3O Tor the Use OF the Men 1t
Was the Fault of the Command
ing officer and Not the Staff
Montauk Point Chief Surgeon
Scored.
CHICAGO, Nov. paw. q. Curtis,
teiegraphing from Washington to the
Record, says:
The annual report of Commissary
General Eagan makes clear some of the
blind testimony which has been given
by Col Roosevelt and others before the
war investigating commission concern
ing the absence Of rations in the
camps and trenches around Santiago
Gen. Eagan shows that q, 1852, 1853 ra-
lions of bacon. beef, flour, bareback,
beans. rice, potatoes, onions, tomatoes
and coffee, sufficient to supply $4,000
men for LAP days, were carried by the
transports that left Tampa for San
tiago; that additional supplies were
shipped shortly after, including crack
ers, canned peaches, apricots, pears,
blackberry jam, currant jelly, deviied
ham, condensed milk, prunes beef,
chicken, clam, oXtail and mock-turtle
soups, lime juice and other delicacies,
and that all due diligence was used in
placing them within reach Of the
troops. Then, he says, upon landing
in Cuba these stores Of the expedition
were subject to the orders of the gem
eral commanding, who was in par
amount control of the military opera
tons in that quarter If with an
abundance of provisions af1oat and
ashore at the base of supplies in Cuba
the enlisted men were at any time
hungry, not the commissary general Of
subsistence nor the entire personnel Of
subsistence department was at fault
This delicate suggestion that the
commanding general was responsible is
supplemented by a letter from the
chief commissary at Siboney under
date of July Z, who says: The troops
We're run ashore without rations The
commanding general directed that hard
bread, roasted coffee, sugar and meat
be the only components furnished. I
added soup and some tomatoes
" Tt is evident says the commissary
general, from the foregoing statement
that the supplies OF subsistence stores
shipped for the use Of the army in
Cuba have been at all times in excess
of immediate needs, but there is not
in this office any information throwing
light on the subject of the provisioning
of the transports which brought the
army back to Montauk Point, further
than that there was an abundance OF
subsistence stores in Santiago and
vicinity
NO HOSPITAL FUNDS.
THE commissary general relates in
cidentally that there were no hospital
funds at Santiago for the purchase of
delicacies for the sick, but that the
surgeons had authority and instruc..
tions to buy everything necessary fol
the sick upon the transports. Medical
officers, however, who returned on the
transports loaded with sick troops evil
IDENTIFY had to rely almost exclusively,
If not entirely. on the ration of the
soldier for the diet of the sick during
the passage
Gen. Eagan shows by official records
and correspondence that as early as
Aug 10 the surgeons in charge of the
hospitals at Montauk Point and else
where were authorized to purchase
delcacies and other food at the rate
of 80 cents a day a man. and de-
scribes his efforts to compel them to
do SO. There were some spicy tele-
grams between the commissary gem
eral, Gen. Wheeler and other officers.
Finally Gen. Eagan telegraphed Gen.
Wheeler: VIII you please direct the
surgeons to call for the money imme.
diately? The surgeons should be made
to perform their duty to the sick In
this respect. The money Is ready and
they should be forced to do their duty
Gen. Eagan then te,egraphed the
chief commissary at Montauk Point rs
follows: General order No. 116 covers
any and every soldier that the sur
geons consider should receive other
food than the prescribed army ration.
The failure Of he surgeons to avail
themselves of this order up to the pres
sEt time is a matter of serious trnpor-
lance, and if continued I shall deem
it my duty to appeal TO the law and
all that implies, and hold each and
every one responsible for any short
comings. That the order mas not been
carried out by the general command
ing and the surgeons is entirely be
yond my comprehension. 1T locks to
me like criminal neglect, and some
body. and everybody IL necessary, VIII
be held accountable for not using the
money provided. You are on the
ground. You are the senior officer
after myself, and I require from you
at once an Official report, upon which
official action can be taken by the
president, by the s. cretary of war and
10y the country at large, as to why
the money provided for the sick has cot
been used
WHEELER PROVOKED.
This provoked from Gen. Whe e,er an
explanation, which Goes not locate the
responsibility. but no attempt Is made
to excuse the surgeons for their APP
Parent neglect The chief comnissary
at Montauk Point wired Gen. Eagan
at Washington: Have conferred with
Cen Wheeler and with chief surgeon.
Chief surgeon stated that articles were
not necessary
From this relation it would appear
that Gen. Wheeler and DR.. Forwood,
the chief surgeon at Camp Moutauk,
are responsible for the neglect to pro-
vide proper food for the sick soldiers,
although Gen. Eagan is very careful
to make no comments upon the faots
ard the correspondence he submits. He
let's the reader draw his own con-
illusions. Those who were at Alontauk
Point are aware that Dr.. Forwood was
50 ratified by his sense Of responsibility