Arizona republican., 1899-04-02
THE BEEF SCANDAL"

The inquiry into the army beef ques-
 tion has progressed so far and has been conducted so thoroughly that it is pos | sible for the public, without waiting
 for the official verdict, to form pretty
 accurate conclusions of it's own in the
 matter. In the minds of fair follow
 CTS of the testimony there must be two
 leading general conclusions. One Is that some of the canned meat supplied
 to the army, perhaps much of it, was so l bad as to be unfit tC eat, and all of it l lacked the nutrition necessary to
 proper feeding of men engaged in the exhausting business of war; the other, that monumental frauds were practiced l upon the government by some meat packers. A generous government, fol lowing the custom of the British and
 French war departments, and 1n ths
 feverish hurry of war preparations
 which precluded that caution possible
 in peace times, undertook to ship with
 the armies such an abundance Of re-
 frigerated and canned meats that there
 could be no possibility of shortage iii
 nutritive rations The stipulations of
 the contracts with the meat dealers
 were of Euch character that if con
 scientiously followed there would have
 been little cause for complaint. The
 refrigerated meats were reasonably
 good, and while there have been ore or
 two witnesses who have sworn that thse were chemically treated, there has been absolutely no proof that such WAS the case. That charge has flattened out utterly. So has the graver one against the commissary department of fraud and collusion, made, if not specifically, l at least by innuendo and insinuaticn. There. does not appear to be scintilla l of proof of dishonesty on the part of the war department, or any branch | thereof. But the meat dealers, instead | of supplying the soldiers with roast beef, furnished what is known in the trade by that name, but is in reality boiled meat from which most of the nutrition has been extracted in the cooking-a food that is neither palat- able nor strength giving. The war de- partment had not the means of know ing these tricks Of the trade" It was put to the sudden and enormous task f feeding a great army, a task in which
 1t was largely hampered by reason of the red tape into which past con yresses had coiled it, and the insutfi- ;ient machinery afforded it by a pa'si- nonious policy extending back for In this great stress the department relied upon the honesty of he meat combine It had as much eason to rely upon its patriotism as it las upon that of the individuals in { whom the strength of the nation rests. f the department bIundered in this confidence, there is sufficient Xcuse. Those who have never been f onfronted with sudden and staggering z uties know nothing of the weight of 1 uch burdens. It is easy enough with t he wisdom of hindsight for some to | ynically criticize the lack of foresight l others. Many man who has b either the ability nor the purpose to r ed his own small family properly has t liked himself red in the face over tlis Il leged "crime' of the war department \. supplying bad meat to the army He n emained at home while others were T resting at Washington or in the amps and fields with the tremendous a 'oblems of a war that flashed upon n 5 almost like lightning stroke, and lr om his safe distance, criticised un- n ,aringly. But in spite of him and his u md, the war was conducted with mar 0 9lous success, and when it's record is
 It upon the pages of history by che o lpartial historian, that one great fact ts i'll overtower all the incidents thai Ii e new being viciously magnifed to t( n the glories of deserving men or to d ,alt Ferscns who can get honors only h blackening the reputation of others "