The San Francisco call., 1898-12-22
MILES BLAMES THE
 WAR DEPARTMENT
Speaks Bitterly of the Wretched Treatment Accorded the
 Armies in the Field.

"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. It 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 I asked. we could have bought food. but they did not do that"
 General Miles suggested that the food was sent to his large army under pre- tense of an experiment.
 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 1t might be interesting to con- pare the cost of the refrigerated beef. together with the expense of transpor- tation. He said he did not know but that the chemicals used in treating the beef were responsible for the great sickness in the American army. Re- ports which he had received concern ing it were 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 con- missary department?
 General Miles-Reports were frequently sent III to the cOmInlSSdTy general, put he seemed to insist that the speef be used
 Captain Howell-Was thev matter ever brought to the attention of the Secretary of War;
 General Miles-I requested that no more of 1t be sent. If a supply were issuing to the men in this country l would pro- hibit their use of it. l am having an in- vestigation 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 stated the first plans for securing the transports for Cuba were not his. The question at the out set was naval problem and the dis patch of troops, in his Judgment, then hinged on which fleet would destroy the other. If the Spanish had destroyed the United States fleet the United States would have been blocked for d number of years.
 If we had had a force in Cuba, too, We would have lost it, as it would have been impossible to get it back here" he said.
 He was opposed, also, to sending a large force to places like Havana or MatanzaS because of the large per centage of yellow fever deaths.
 He said the destruction of Cervera's fleet settled that problem. He wanted to operate with small force against the Spanish forces by haraSSing them during the sickly season, aiding the Cubans and not endangering the lives of his own force. He also at first fla vored taking Porto Rico to prevent the Spanish using that as base of opera tions.
 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 25,000 men would be sent, and when he found the camp overcrowded he had recCm- 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 a description of operations around Manila prior to it's capture. Owing to the smallneSs of his force. he said, the army was compelled to operate along the sea front, in CO., operation with the navy. Had there been a larger American force on land the city could have been taken from the high ground inland but this was tactically impracticable without leav- HE our DdSt at tie 1ItSIty Ol DOlH Cpcll- iards and insurgents. The .city's de- lenses were good. The Spanish rebels had excellent arms and ammunition. The engagement lasted not over two hours The army had both Spaniards and insurgents to contend with.
 "The insurgents were very anxious to take part in the attack" said General Merritt, but they were not notified when the attack would be made. as I was sure the entrance of the Filipinos into the city would mean unnecessary bloodshed and some footing"
 General Merritt said the American losses were not correctly stated in the press reports. They were about 120 of fcers and men killed and wounded No accurate account of the Spanish loss was ever obtainable. The American force, however, captured over 13,000 stands of modern arms. and the Span ish loss was known to be severe.
 There was some discussion of the committee over the relative merits of the Springfield and the modern small caliber rifles. This drew from General Merritt the statement that personally he should prefer the Springfield with powder to the caliber of 30 or the Mauser As an instance of the lack of stopping power of the small bore rife, he said one of the officers