The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-13


Having traversed General Mios's state
ments." be said. having shown him to you
to be a liar: having demonstrated the ami
mus that pervades this whole matter,
now go back to his statement that in his
judgment food was one of the serious causes
Of so much sickness and distress of the
troops. The design to say, to imply, to as
sert, to insinuate. that sickness was caused
for such reason in Porto Rico is to make
an assertion wholly untrue, devoid of any
facts. devoid of truth, and can only be
of the qualification in my judgment.
Questioning General Mles's course in sub
hitting briefs of reports from regimental
commanders, General Eagan says this
course is unprecedented in the history OF
the army, not within his province or con-
templated by law and regulation, ana there
would be just as much justice IN the Presi-
dent or secretary of war sending out cir
cuar letting inviting criticisms on the con-
duct Of General Miles during this war.
General Eagan said the first intimatiOn or
chemical treatment he had had was in Gen.
NIies's statement and it seemed to him the
raVing nonsense of mailman" His own
(Eagan's) conduct and work had been looked
into and he saw no reason why Gen. Miles
conduct aud work should not be looked into
on this showing, adding 1T is high time
and proper this committee should examine
into the truth and falSehOOd or the state
war" Further he said, General Miles lesa4
~ had no control of the purse as ne as
sumcd in Porto Rico, nor does the law
authorize him to set aside food furnished
under the law, but it does determine how
TO hold accountable the party furnishing inn
proper food. He charged that If Chief Sur
geon Daily, with General Miles. had ever
made an expert examination of the beef,
then he '.'wilfully and deliberately faisiiied
General Eagan concluded as follows. 'If
have used harsh language before this COM
mission in dealing with the subject, ask
the commission to bear in mind that group
statements
Miles means that ] have furnished or al
lowed to be furnished to the army embalmed
beef which has diseased soldiers, and that
a great deal of sickness arose from its use;
that / have furnished meats to the army
under the 'pretense of experiment. meats
that made the soldiers sick and this, under
the pretense of experiment, this because OF
corruption Nearly all the press OF America,
because of General Mtles's nigh position IN
the United States army has accepted these
views and his statements and many OF them
have called for my disgrace. court-mattiai
and dismissal from the service. Also, that
these statements of General Miles were held
back by him, not furnished to the govern
ment for its appropriate action ana use, put
sprung upon you and the country at ~
time when the country, from the falsehoodS
that had been told in regard to starvation
and supplies for the army, was in state
of excitement and ready to believe most any,
thing .,.. 49,, 4.o4oa ho~o :. =
filthy subject and you cannot touch pitch
without being defiled; you cannot touch
base malicious. Hbelous falsehoods, misrep-
reservations WITHOUT cdluUB Il Spduo
and telling the whole truth and characterize
ing things as they are. The damage that
has been done by these statesments is be-
lieved to be very great, but / indulge the
hope and the belief that my statement, when
published to the country, when read by the
representatives of foreign governments here,
will offset the statements made by General
Miles and will. in some measure at least, do
Justice to others that have been wronged,
malgned and libeled. For myself, l content
myself with expressing my profound belief
that either General Miles or should be put
out of the service; either he Is right or
am right: either he dishonors his uniform
with his false statements and libels or dis
honor mine in feeding soldiers with poison
Gus beef. causing their sickness and doing
so under 'pretense Of experiment +"
w. D. Miles, general manager OF the Ar
mour Packing Company at Kansas city,
testified before the commission to-day that
the company had supplied to the govern
ment about 1000 900 pounds of refrigerated
beef and nearly 100000 pounds Of beef in
tins and no chemicals of any kind were
used He said they had also supplied the
English, French and Japanese government
with timed meats OF the same kind and
the Japanese government has recently stip-
ulated that future deliveries must he of the
same quality as before, and the beef sup
piled them was exactly the same as that
furnished the United States government