The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-12-22
shafter on Aug. 4, which referred to


! that four men had just died from lack
| of medicines. There was at no time,
| said Gen. Miles, sufficient medicine for
I the troops. He remembered seeing one
train for the sick in a drenching rain,
with no covering over the wagons. He
had taken measures personally to cor
rect matters, and on Aug. u had tele-
graphed for well-equipped corps of
pier and bridge builders, etc, and had
ordered places burned Gen. Miles
said the transportation facilities were
used to carry supplies to some $4,000 to
10000 refugees from Santiago, and
about 5000 Cuban troops
'This.' he stated, in answer to a
question, was not expected. because I
cautioned Gen. Shafter to keep his M an
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 men would have been much
better supplied"
His army in Porto Rico. he said, had
been supplied in a way with quarter
IN the best way. At Porto Rico he had
asked that fixed rations be sent, but
instead they were sent down in bulk,
without invoices or bills of lading. In
many instances stores were spoiled in
the hold and thrown away. This caus-
ed great embarrassment and loss Of
stores and deprived the 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 his belief that it
was defective. He characterized the
refrigerator beef of which there was
327 tons sent, as 'embalmed beef" and
said the canned fresh beef, of which
$4,000 pounds had been shipped too,
was condemned by officers whose COM
mands 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 to go hungry. If they had sent
paymasters down there, as I asked, we
could have bought food, but they did
not do it,
Gen. Miles suggested that food was
sent to his large army under pretense
of an experiment.
NOT HIS PLANS.
Gen. Miles stated the first plans for
sending troops to Cuba were not his,
as he was opposed to sending troops
there until Cervera's fleet was located.
The question at the outset was a naval
problem and the dispatch Of troops, in
his judgment, then hinged on which
fleet should destroy the other. If the
Spanish had destroyed the United
States fleet the United States would
have been blocked for number Of
years.
IF we had had a force IN Cuba
there We would have lost it, as It
would have been impossible to get it
back here"
He said the destruction of Cervera's S
fleet settled that problem. He said he
wanted to operate with a small force
against the Spanish forces by harras-
sing them during the sickly season,
aiding the Cubans and not endanger-
ing the lives Of his own force. He also
at first favored taking possession of
Porto Rico to prevent the Spanish from
using that as a base Of operations. Gen.
Miles gave details Of the Porto Rican
expedition organization 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 reach
ing there. AS to Chickamauga, he had
recommended mobilizing the regulars
there and a portion OF the volunteers
! after some Of the regulars left, but he
never anticipated $4,000 men would be
sent there, and when he found it over
| crowded he had recommended the dis
tribution of the forces among other
! localities.
GEN. MERRITT HEARD.
Gen. Merritt, who was the first wit
ness Of the afternoon, told the COM
mission that he regarded the Philip
pine expedition as decided success
and would conduct 1T on the same
lines if he had it to do over again. He
spoke in high terms of the troops un-
der him, and said his army was vel
supplied with medicine and food.
He began his testimony by a de-
scription of the operations around Ma
Mia 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 cooperation with the
navy. Had there been larger Ameri
fnrca land the CITY cnIIld h. "