The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-12-03
MOVING IBE SOLDIERS
Transportation Department
Has Its Hearing.
OLD SEA CAPTAIN M'KAY
Covers Ignorant LandIubbers
With Confusion.

this city today, Colonel Charles Bird be.
ing on the stand. He was on duty dur
Ing the war in the quartermaster gen
erals office. having charge of the trans
portation division. He had charge in the
beginning of hte wor Of the purchase OF
mules and he believed the prices paid Il
nave been reasonable, the average price
Tor leaders being 500 and for wbeeIers
SIz9. On one occasion the denartmAnt
-'e1 rejected bids in St. Louis and had
eoHe INTO the open market, securing ami
mas al less rate than the bids snecj-
4i9U' lie SAID that contracts for railroad
transportation were MADE in Chicago 81
aul ana other centers before the begin
| hihS OF the movement of trooos The
| prices secured were lower than ordinarily
| gwen to individuals, but it had been
| Iouhd impossible to get competitive rates
| from the railroad companies In some
cases the officers in the field had not So
cured as low rates as he had considered
possible and in UGH instances. he had in
terfered' generally with the result Of GET
ing better figures. In moving troons
sieepers had been secured where DossibIa
ana IN all cases a seat for each soldier
was obtained. In some cases regular
SIeepers were substituted for the touris-
ears As a rule the railroad COMPANIES
ii6U oeeh prompt in responding 10 me
Terms OF contract, but in some ;nstan-
ces IN the south there had been some de-
lay IN me matter of equipment.
PLANT SYSTEM BLAMEAR1E
IN response to request from Canera1
llE0n.
Guilty IN getting troops from Tsmn7 -
'i' tampa which was. he said. due to
the TACT that tAs Plant s.0tem. which
controlled the only line from Tsmna n
fort Tampa wanted to cut out the F1ori-
ga Central road from carrying any IF the
government troops or supplies and in Nv
der to accomplish this result had MT .
very nigh rate on shipments between tho
Two points In consequence Of ts,is nosi-
uoh taken by the railroad conrauv ar
ders mad been given that not A dollar
Snoca be paid for TRANSPORTATION oysr
this nine miles of road until a proper rate
should be made, and as a Consequence no
payments had been made for this service.
Inc congestion at Tampa was due to
the fact that more supplies were sent to
that point than could be handled. When
they learned Of the congestion an order
was issued for the marking of the cars
ana quartermaster's agent was Sent
with each car. In most cases it was i'm
possible to send bills of lading.
CONTRACTS FOR TRANSPORTS.
Colonel Bird said that he and the sec
retry of war mad co-operated together IN |
chartering vessels for water transpor.a- |
tlon- In some instances it had been nee |
essary 10 be quite arbitrary in securing
some vessels. Mr.. Clyde, Of the Mer-
chants * Miners company. held out very
strenuously on the plea that the vessels !
were needed in his own business. The
rental paid for the chartered vessels were
considered very low, the rate being X
cnts per gross ton per day on vessels
OF 5000 tons and over, but during the lat
ter part OF the war il had been necessary
to increase the rate.
Colonel Bird also said that the trans
ports occupied between Tampa and San
uago had been fitted up only to cary the
men and supplies TO Havana. and this
was the reason they proved inadequate |
Tor a trip of much longer duration.
ABOUT HATS AND TENTS.
Colonel W. NJ. Spatten, in charge of the
supply and equipage division Of the quar-
termaster's department., was the first wit
ness Of the afternoon. He testified con-
cerninS 4 complaint made by Knox. the
nat manufacturer that a fraudulent con-
ract for hats had been awarded to 4
firm and asserting that the
department., as represented a Philadelphia,
Vas ''rotte nand corrupt"
'iaint thoroughly investigated by several
officers, who had reached the conclusion
hat The hats accepted were superior 10 !
hose offered by Mr.. Knox.
Colonel Patten said no outside informa-
ion had had any effect upon his office ;
Il the matter Of awarding contracts for
ents. clothing. etc. and that only on very
are occasions had contracts been award
d except upon competitive bids
Spanking Of the quality Of tentage. he
aid all the tents had been bought that
ould he secured, regardless Of quality. ,
= poor tents We're better than none. but
mere mad been a gradual Improvement in
luality. He was sure there had been no
Intentional fraud
No CONFUSION ON EAIBARKTNG.
Captain James Mckay, a civilian and !,
n old sea captain in Florida and Cuban :,
waters. who. under General Humphrey.
ad charge Of the details of me move
nent Of the troops 10 Santiago. proved an
Important witness He said that complete
atoms had been put or each snip and
hat the vessels had nos been overloaded.
his was contrary 70 previous testimony.
5 WAS also larer statement that the
'esseis which each commander was 10
ccupy had been designated before the
mharking. He emphasized this fact. say
ng the designation mad been made by
General Shsfter. and tine colonel Of each
Z the regiments was evidently informed
n each case He sud there was no con- /.
usion when the rtoops wen, aboard II 5
ay enlpslaticaliy t}.at there was TO disor- :