The record-union., 1898-12-31

investigation committee held bfleL
executive session to-day, and at noon
adjourned until Tuesday. January Sd.
/ There was no important action at to-
days meeting, and the matter of re-
! calling COmmissary General Eagans
Major General Shafter or Major Cen
! eral Miles, as a result of the agitation
over the beef issued to the army in the
war, remains undetermined A decis-
| ion probably will be reached next Tues
day, when it is likely there will be
full attendance
The commission to-day made public
a report, omitted in the statement given
out yesterday, bearing on the beef con-
troversy. 1t is from Major W. H.
Daily, Chief Surgeon at army headquar-
ters at Tampa, prior to the sailing of
| the Shafter expedition, and is as fol-<
lows:
Washington, Sept 81, 1S9S.-To the
Assistant Adjutant General, Headquar-
ters of the Army, Washington-Sir
have the honor to report in the inter-
ests Of the service that in the several
inspections 1 made in the various camps
and troopships at Tampa, Jacksonville,
Chickamauga and Porto Rico, 1 found
the fresh beef to be apparently pre-
served with secret chemicals, which de-
stroys its natural flavor and which L
! also believe to be detrimental to the
health of the troops.
while on duty at the headquarters
of the army at Tampa, at the time of
the embarkation of the Shafter expedi-
ton, Colonel Weston, the efficient Chief
| Commissary, showed me a quarter of
| beef that had already, as a test, been
sixty hours in the sun without being
! perceptibly tainted, so far as the sense
| of smell could determine 1t is impos-
sible to keep fresh beef so long untaint-
! ed in the sun in that climate without
| the use of preserves, such as boric
acid or nitrate of potash injected into
| it in quantities likely to be hurtful to
the health of the consumer. At Ponce
much of the beef arriving on the trans
port from the United States was also
of the same character, being apparent
| ly preserved by injecting chemicals to
aid deficient cold storage.
Where efficient cold storage is inn
possible transporting beef alive is the
method that should receive the fullest
consideration by the Government as be-
ing safest for the health of the con-
sumner. When detailed to take charge
of the transport Panama for conveying
convalescents to the United States, I
obtained 1000 pounds of fresh beef
from the Commissary at Ponce 1t
looked well, but had an odor similar to
that of a dead human body after being
injected with preservatives, and tasted.
when first cooked, like decomposed
bodies which after standing a day for
further inspection it became so bitter,
nauseous and unpaIatable as to be quite
impossible for use. I was therefore
obliged, owing to the condition and the
complaints of the sick about it, and the
disgustingly sickening odor it emitted
when being cooked and mawkish fiat
taste when served, and the safety of
the patients, 255 convalescent soldiers
on board to organize a board of sur
vey condemn and throw / 800 pounds,
all we had, overheard, consequently the
/ convalescents were entirely without
much needed fresh beef, making the
duty of bringing the men to the United
States in an improved condition, very
difficult matter.
I'm my inspection of the Fourth
United States Volunteer Infantry at
Jacksonville recently, observed the
same odor and taste upon the fresh
camp of the Sixth Infantry at Chicka-
mauga, ] also at several inspections
observed it markedly. 1 therefore in
spected lot Of beef just issued to that
regiment and while it looked WELL was
of a sickening odor, like a human body
dead of disease and injected with pre-
servatives, and when cooked was quite
unpalatable, consequently likely to
prove an efficient cause of ill-health.
The men complained Of it's insipid and
mawI1ish flavor that high seasoning
could not conceal
Believing that the Commissary De-
| partment has been imposed upon by the
misdirected commercial spirit of persons
furnishing fresh beef, respectfully rec
ommend that the matter be investigat-
ed by experts, makingr a quantitative
and qualitative chemical analysis of the
several preservatives suspected to be
used by getting samples of beef fur
nished for export to Cuba and Porto
Rico
"If the question arises that report
should have been made by me earlier, /
| beg TO say what I have endeavored
with all my opportunities to first assure
myself by observations of the condi-
| tions. as above noted, sufficiently to
warrant my drawing the attention Of
/ the Adjutant General at headquarters
of the army to the matter. Very re-
spectfully, W. H DAILY,
Major and Chief Surgeon, U. S. v"
Murdered His Son.
; CINCINNATI, Dec 30.-Frank Wehr,
7 a rooldar to-day struck his only SON