The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-25
SUPPLIES.
Too Much Red
Tape in
FURNISHING THE M.
More Interesting Testimony
Before the War Board.

Admission, Oct. 24.-The war investi-
cation committee began its session at
10 o'clock today. Mai Otto was on the
stand. He was chief quartermaster of
the 1st division of the Sd army corps
while in Chickamauga, and he now oc-
cupies the position of chief quarter
master for this camp. He said the
most serious complaint in the early
history of the army was from the 1st
Missouri, whose men claimed that their
trousers were nothing more than rags,
and threatened to appeal to charity at
home to supply their wants.
There was also a shortage in tents
which became quite serious at the time
of the beginning of the rainy season.
Previous to that time the men had,
slept under their shelter tents without
complaints. Indeed, he said there was
never a sufficient supply of tentage, and
it was necessary to put six men in a
tent. He said the division had never
been completely equipped.
He said, however, that there had
been no refusal to honor acquisitions.
He thought, however. that upon the
whole there was too much red tape in
the quartermasters department.
Il do away with it whenever / can
and have succeeded so far, even though
l sometimes violate regulations
Illustrating, he said he had to sign
his name nine times in the process Of
paying bill of 800.
Charles NJ. Drake, in charge of the
general hospital here. and who was in
command of the hospital in the 1stl
division of the Sd corps at Chicka-
manga, was the next witness. He told
of various Improvements he had found
it necessary to make in the hospital
at Chickamauga.
There was, he said, "such flood of
disease that It was almost impossible
to meet the demand for tentage. and
quite out of the question to anticipate
it. The medical supplies had been am
pie from the beginning, but the hos
pital corps had proved inefficient as
nurses"
They were as a class, he sad. "the
very worst material that could have
been found of which to make nurses"
However, he thought there had been
no more serious results than discom-
fort to patients caused by the ineff1-
cheney of nurses. He was positive that
there had been no death from starva-
ton or deprivation. The appearance
of the typhoid cases of the hospital
had died, and compared with hospitals
generally, the percentage was phenom-
enally low. He was of the opinion
that patients in this hospital received
better attention than the average man
in this country receives at home
Replying to charges made by a signal
corps patient in Chickamauga hospital
DIR. Drake said he had seen maggots
on one occasion in a box in the hospi
tai. but never on patients. Often the
men came there lousy but they did
not remain so. Replying to charges
concerning the furloughing and Ship
ment of members of the Sth and 14th
New York regiments, he said that the
men of the two regiments had not
wanted to travel together and that the
delay in shipping those of the Sth had
been due to the fact that, after he had
secured transportation for them over
the Pennsylvania line, a major in their
regiment changed the order so as to
secure transportation over a more cir
cuitous route. Regarding the insinua-
ton that he tried to favor the south
ern road because he had been chief
surgeon of that line, he said he had
not been connected with the road since
Aug, '97.
Mai. Joseph H. Heatwole, chief COM
missary of subsistence, said the quality
of the rations had been excellent. AS
for the quantity, a man would have
to be a gormandizer to eat it.
After MAJ. ftedLWOlea Was excused,
Gen. Dodge read a letter from DR.. Sea-
man of New York, who was before
the commission in Washington in
which he corrected an error in his tes-
timony He states that he had received
only the regular army rations for the
convalescents on the steamer OLDHAM
from Porto Rico to New York. He
says that such supplies as had been
received up to the night previous TO
sailing had been received from the re-
lief societies during the night He
continues: 'fThe hospital ship Relief ar
rived, and early the next morning l
boarded the Relief and personally se>
cured without any requisition the adj
ditional supplies enumerated in the re-
ceipt signed by me. Until my confer
ence yesterday with Maj. Bradley.
believed these supplies, like many 9TH
ers, were bought by outside contribu-,
tions, and were not government sup
plies
The letter is dated Oct. is, and is d.
rected to the surgeon general Of the
army.