The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-19
General Weston Tells Beef Board
Interesting Things.
IT BEAT LIVING AT HOME
SOME OF THE DELEGATES THAT
WERE FURNISHED.
However, Most of the Good Things
Were Furnished After the Troops
Had Arrived at Montauk-How
Rations Were Given Out to the
Men In Cuba.

Washington, April 1S.-The Wade
court of inquiry held three sessions
today, devoting the forenoon to an ex-
cutive meeting, the afternoon to hear
ing and listening to the reading of re-
ports of army officers. General Yves
! ton related the arrangements for vic
| tualiing the soldiers during the war
and contended that beef on the hoof
could not have been landed at Siboney.
! At the executive session held be-
| hind closed doors an effort was made
| to agree upon a plan for bringing the
\ inquiry to a close. Major Lee was
| present a part of the time on behalf
| of General Miles. He made plea for
! the summoning of number of addi-
tional witnesses and the conference
ended without reaching any conclusion.
! The board also has under consider
alton the advisability of visiting Pitts
| burg before closing the inquiry, for
the purpose of securing testimony
which cannot be had in Washington.
! The nature of this evidence the court
will not disclose.
When the court reconvened at p.
m, Captain Irvine took the stand. I'm
! der DR.. DAILY, he was in command of
the transport Panama, when the re-
| frigerated beef was thrown overheard
last fall. He said he asked for the
| board of survey, which condemned the
beef and that he made this request
because of the putrid odor from the
refrigerator which was near one of the
wards occupied by convalescents. This
board destroyed all the beef on the
vessel, 900 pounds. This occurred on
the third day out. Previous to that
time the troops and men had eaten
the beef and found it good.
How Rations Were Served.
General Weston was then called. He
said General Shafter had not designat-
ed the ratiOns to be carried to Santa
go, but that he, General Weston, had
informed him daily of what he was
doing. Al Santiago there was no ex-
act system for giving out food sup
plies; they were given to all-who came
and in the confusion it was more than
likely that some of the commands re-
ceived all beef and others all bacon.
Il believe" he said, our meat ration
is entirely too big. and L am now ar
ranging to cut it down materially, ad-
ding vegetables to supply the defici-
ency. The people in the tropics do not
eat much meat and our soldiers should
not require so much.
would the wealth or standing of any
firm in your estimation justify any of
ficer in making his inspection of its
meats less rigid?" asked Major Lee.
NO, sir" General Weston replied,
emphatically He then said he had a
good deal to do with some of the Kan
sas City packing firms, and he had
found that they always delivered food
of as good quality as they had bar
gained to supply. Speaking of the
canned roast beef General Weston said
that when it was spoiled it emitted
horrible odor. He told of one instance
in which five carloads were rejected by
one officer which, upon inspection, fur
nished only twenty spoiled cans. AS a
matter of fact, the beef canned for the
army last year was the best beef ever
put in cans, but it had been put UP
hurriedly. General Weston said he did
not agree with those who believed that
it would have been practical to land
live cattle at Siboney.
Good Things at Montauk.
General Weston furnished the court
a schedule of delicacies supplies to the
troops at Montauk Among these were
over ], 600 600 pounds of ice, 21,000 dozen
eggs. 10000 quarts of milk, 1000 barrels
of pickles, and butter, hams, fruits of
all kinds, cocoa, soda crackers, oatmeal,
soup, peas, dressed chickens, lime juice,
olives, lemons and oranges in album
dance.
George L. Taylor, a sanitary engineer
and chemist of Philadelphia. who went
to Porto Rico last July as a lieutenant
of the First volunteer cavalry, said he
had discovered the presence of formal
dehyde in the refrigerator beef on the
transport Chester He and many mem
bers of the command had been at
tackled by gastritis after eating the
meat. This gas was, he said. the base
of nearly all embalming fluids. When
used as a preservative on organic sub
stances, it's presence could not be de-
tected with chemical analysis. With 10
cents worth of this a whole carload of
beef could be preserved. If used in
moderation, he did not consider it in
furious to meat.