New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-16
THE BEEF INVESTIGATION.
GENERAL BRECKINRIDGE CONDEMNS
THE CANNED MEAT.
pnoFEssoR ATwATER TELLS OF SOME IN
TrREsrrNu ExPERIMENTs-oNLY TWO

MORE WITNESSES TO BE hEAnD' .f
w..hsng,on Aori ls-The Beef Court OF Inquiry
ala not finish the examination or Witnesses 80
sa,ourn,ne to-day as had been hoped. but when al
xnurnnoent was reached there were only TWO more
vitn<sess in sight. The witnesses to-day inciuueo
rnspector- General Breckenridge. General "ii"''e
ana Colonies Bird and A. L. Smith. OF inc .oi''''s
saxy Department. and Professor w y. E'" .
The oficers called related their Na'ieu $3.50
with the beef supplied 10 the Army ana r,oie'so ,
A,xater rave the results. not only or chemieai
ANALYSTS q. the canned beef but OF experiments
maze With II on persons In his laooraloS nv
found the beef wholesome according 10 'he o"e'
cal tests but in some of the experiments '
<~ets experienced failure OF appetite and aversion "
the food ., .,
General John G. Gilmore. acknowledgement on
General Miles's stan was the first witness. "
vas examined with especial reference 10 'es n
given by Captain Aspinwall IN co"ha"u % 80
trsnxpcrt Manitoba which carried cargo oi oee.
"a Porto Rico Captain Aspnwan had salo Una,
General Gilmore suggested TO him AFTER me 'esse'
became stranded in the harbor at romeo ma ~
beef should be thrown overheard saying 'ns.
Aecossary he would give an order 10 tna' en-. ~,
The Captains testimony was read 70 oene.a' Ia
more Il don't remember word OF H. ne s,
.sr an nositve I would not have told MIN 10 thro"
sne beef overheard. because am not gwen 10 ma" man,
ins remarks Of that kind. In fact oon reoa.'
any conversation with Captain Asp'n"an """'
ever" ,s,e,
.-.n.norta,,on in the Quartermaster-Generais
ofboe expressed the opinion that the Government
eould have saved money by buying oeeVes Oh '"e
heof killing them in Cuba and PORTO Nieo ~
keeping the meat in refrgerators OF Hs o"n -.
ye had said 90 TO Colonel Davis, Of General Easah
ofaee while the was In progress Oo
p,,A also gave particulars concerning the purchase
~ transports at the beginning OF the war neie,
-tnx 20 General Miles's recommendations ne saiu'
.sve fel, the need OF securing the most sui'a''.
vessels as sharply as did General Miles ne sai'
,,s, while the contract with Swift q Co hao re-
~.,r.a Tho, the firm should build its own re-
s,,,.-.,ors on the transports. they had not oeei
,sau,red In any case to do 80. as all the transports
vsre eouipped with refrigerators before the oeei
Shipments began.
GENERAL BRECKINRlDGE'S TIES IlMoNi'
. General Joseph c. Breckenridge lnspeetor-ue"
erai 81 the Army. also expressed the opinloh '"o'
:, would have been possible TO land Limited mum
80 ~ cattle in Cuba after the troors secured
sro,,ns there He thought the landing OF livestock
eh,pt the easiest task for the Army In Cupa as
,,ev landed themselves. He also thought tha' oa'
,a might have been held in the island as grass an"
vs,sr were plentiful 1T would have been as easy
ser ,he cattle to carry themselves az 1t was LOT inc
mules 20 carry them" he said. laconicaHy.
rnsaking Of the canned roast beef. General breoN-
,r,5ge said he had eaten H. and found II to be ui-
pelatable. ITO my mind" he said II was iieI
rre,ence Of food. tried giving II away 10 o'ie''
In rhou | was interested, but ola not Su'Oeeu ~
AM enpreclahle extent" He had decided that Il
uss well TO avoid the canned beef General BrecK-
inridze also said that he was recently present III
Havana when quantity Of canned peer was u,S
tributed among Cubans. Il felt interes'tu' -"
said because thought the rations gwen 10 N,oSe
people should he beyond question was pIese"' d.
two issues and found the canned beer GIVING OUT
most offensive cdor. ] saw the meat ryseh anu
have no doubt that some OF IT was dece!eu' ms
was about the time OF the condemnation OF cahleu
goods at Havana. ,,..o..
Colonel A. L. Smith Of the Commssary Depart
ment. was recalled He said he had no recohec'io"
~ having tod Captain Pomeroy, depot quartefnas-
ter al Ponce that the contractors had a eheh'''"'
process for the preservation OF fresn peer LOT seN
enty-two hours and he was conndent that ne ia"
made. no such statement on the contrary. MS III
,srprrtstion OF the contract was that the con-
,rac.ors agreed that the meat should be preserved
for only twenty-four hours after being taken from
the ships He said no canned beef had been issued
10 the troops waen fresh beef was available
Under actual conditions what form OF peer Il
nrsferred BY the troops in Cuba al present.? asked
Colonel Davis.
without a doubt the refrigerator beef he re-
plied, III 1t can be supplied regularly. We can
handle 4 more geographically than beef on IN, ,nS
Colonel Charlie; smsT' DEPUTY s,Unis es ,T6
cans OF beef recently. and had found tha; with the
eombsrsd well in most respects with fresh beef in
n point OF nutritive qualities
ATwATERs INVESTIGATIONS.
AT the afternoon session w o. Atwater. profess
sor OF che nistry Wesleyan University. gave de-
tails OF his Investigations Of the canned roast peer
from specimens furnished by the Court Professor
Atwater said he had made test for preservatives'
but had found none. There nothing disagree
able in the taste, except that the meat was some
what insipid. owing 10 the absence or salt lie
found that in the matter of proteids and fats the
exceeds ordinary fresh beef The appearance Of the
beef indicated that i had been boiled for con-
had thus been extracted.
periments with the meat on three young men CON
nected with his laboratory Several trials of three
The meat being prepared in a variety Of ways and
eaten 10 the exclusion or vegetables ana Irults.
Summarizing the experiments Professor Atwaier
I'm three Of the experiments there was more or
less loss Of appetite and Discrimination to eat the
meat This was only slight In one case but was
quite pronounced In one other. In the third case
fculty in eating It. These experiences may. per-
hsps. be attributable at least in part to the fact
quantity OF meat The other two cases which
ssnsot Be explained in this way the
cline OF appetite was IN each case accompanied
subjects were inclined TO connect with the meat.
II happened that these were the only two cases
another of the same length without any nterven-
ny mea was va ess than that
any other but neither OF the subjects was inclined
TO this opinion, and Of them emphatic In
the statement that his trouble with the meat was
entirely unexpected. and began with the very first
meal
ut will seem reasonable TO infer that this meat
either contained some undesirable or lacked some
important ingredient: but the data OF the expert
nents not sufficient TO show the nature OF the
defect existed
The court adjourned until .. Monday. with
out questioning Professor Atwater the understand
Ing being that he will resume the stand at that
time