Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-13

tration of the WAR Department during the
continuance OF the war with Spain that
complete grasp of the situation which was
essential to the highest efficiency and dis
cipline of the army
1.-The commission has refrained from crit
losing certain of the heads of bureaus for
not having acted with foresight in prepar-
ing their various departments for active
war before war was actually declared. be-
cause 1t has appeared that the national de-
tense fund prop Led by the act of March .,
cept for the navy and for coast defenses
and the expenditures incident thereto, until
after the declaration of war
The Refrigerated Beef.
Going into details, the report states with
regard to the refrigerated beef:
This commission was organized the 2th
day of September last. Up to the 21st day
OF December its members had taken testi
mony in seventeen different towns and cit
les and nine camps. 1t had also received
many hundred letters, communications and
newspaper clippings from persons living in
all parts of the country. Examinations of
numerous officers and enlisted men had been
mace as to the quality and condition of the
meat issued to the troops. The testimony,
with some exceptions, showed that the re-
frlgerated beef issued was pure, sound and
wholesome
"On the 21st day of December last Maj.
Cen Nelson A. Miles. upon the written
quest Of the president of this commission,
appeared before it. He refused to be sworn
as all other witnesses had been except one,
VINO af1rmed, stating that he would make
his statements without being sworn and
was Responsible for what he said. He pro-
ceeded. and for the first time in the his
tory of this investigation the allegation was
made that refrigerated beef issued to the
troops troop had been chemically treated.
Gen. Miles said:
There was sent to Porto Rico 337 tons
OF what is known as so-called refrigerated
peer. which you might call embalmed beef
lie proceeded TO read q communication
from DR.. w. H. Dalv, major and chief sur
geon. United States Volunteers. on his staff
hearing date of Sentember 81. 1885, wherein
DR.. DAILY stated that
IN the several inspections I made in the
various camps and troop ships at TAMPA,
Jacksonville. Chickamauga and Porto Rico
found the fresh beef to he apparently pre-
served with secret chemicals which destroy
It's natural flavor and which I also believe
TO be detrimental to the health of the
troops
Miles DereIictiOn.
Although DIR. DAILY sWearS that he in
formed General Miles about the list of Au-
gust, 1898 that he suspected that the re-
frigerated beef was chemically treated, it
does NOT appear that the general informed
you or the War Department that an officer
OF his staff had made this discovery, nor.
does 1t appear that ne at the time ordered
any of the officers under his command to
Il IL
true, concerned the health of 275,OOO SOL
diers of the United States. 1t appears from
the report of DR.. DAILY, which he handed to
General Miles October 81 last, that he then
specifically stated that the refrigerated
beef furnished to the troops was apparent
fy chemically treated. 1t does not appear
that when this charge was made. October
Il, 1t having been already made to him
in August, 1898, General Miles communi-
Gated to you, or the Secretary of War, or to
the commissary general the belief or sus-
plcion entertained by him that refrigerated
meat, dangerous to health, was issued every
day to the troops, in failure to do which
there was dereliction of duty. 1t is true
that on September 20 he had directed that
an order should be. issued asking for re-
ports relative to meats issued but the
der specifically mentions canned fresh
roast beef and nothing else, and it was
the reports received in answer to this that
were presented in abstract by the general
at the time of his appearance before the
commission and since.
'In his report DR.. DAILY does not make
the all-important statement that he had al
ready chemically analysed any meat, al
though he suggests that such analysis
should be made. He does state that in the
several Inspections made by him at Tampa,
Jacksonville, Chc'lamauga and Porto Rico
he found the fresh beef to be apparently
preserved with secret chemicals He SAYS
that at Ponce the beef he examined was
also of the same character, being appar-
entity preserved by injected chemicals
Srime.
For months, as it appears, DR.. DAILY con-
cealed the knowledge of the commission of
a crime affecting men under his charge,
whom, as an officer and physician he was
bound to protect"
The report then, after quoting from the
regulations of the Agricultural Department
prescribing the manner in which inspec-
tons are made (and no packing house in
the country is allowed to do business with
out governmental Inspection, after detail
ing the processes pursued by our officials
and showing the practical impossibility of
putting impure meat upon the market, goes
on to say:
The commission has not confined itself
to merely verbal or written proof. Imme-
diately upon hearing the testimony of DR..
DAILY, on the Goth of January kilograms
We're sent to all issuing commissaries in
Cuba, Porto Rico and at the various home
camps occupied by troops asking that sam
pies of refrigerated beef be at once taken
placed In glass jars, securely sealed and
forwarded to the commission. These sam
pies We're to be of one pound weight from
the outside and one pound weight from the
inside of a quarter. In response to this re-
quest many samples have been received and
later sent to the chemists of the Agricul-
turai and Interior Departments for careful
chemical examination; The result of anal
ysis has been reported to us in twenty-nine
cases, and, as will be seen by the reports
appended, in no specimen examined has
either boric or saiicylc acid or other dele
ferrous chemicals been found.
In view of the facts above set forth the
commission is of the opinion that no re-
friserated beef furnished by contractors
and issued to the troops during the war
with Spain was subjected to or treated with
any chemicals by the contractors or those
in their employ.
Canned Meats.
"In considering questions concerning can
ned meats. 1t is not the duty of the COM
mission to inquire into the character, kind
condition of all the canned meats that
may be in use in this country. Our specific
duty is to give an opinion as to the quality
Of those furnished the soldiers during the
recent war with Spain There has been
neither allegation nor proof before us that
boric or salicylic, or any other acid has
been used in the canned meats furnished
to the troops; but such meats have, never
theless, been greatly criticised, and they
have, for that reason, been tested by us
and have been analysed under our direc-
ton, and We have taken great deal of
testimony as to the mode of their prepara-
ton. The canned meat is ordinarily taken
from the forequarters of beeves."
An interesting contribution to the con-
troversy is to be found in the Agricultural
Departments official report upon the meth
DDS employed by the packing houses, as re-