The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-09
MORE OFFICIAL wHITEwAsH.

According to the gentlemen who con-
stituted that board of inquiry into the
embalmed beef subject. 1t is quite sub
stantial matter whether an army ration
which is served up to a soldier in more
or less advanced state of decomposition
is canned roast beef or refrigerated beef.
If maggots are bred In the canned roast
beef which q soldier has served to him
Tor dinner, the fault, OF course. is Gen.
Eagan's in ordering such ration too ex-
tensively, and the government or the
contractors are in no wise to blame.
Rotten and rotting beef was served in
great quantities to the men in the field
around Santiago and to men in the camps
in Florida and Georgia. That remains
undisputed When doubt is raised as to
whether the rotten beef was refrigerated
or canned roast, then the war depart
ment is indicated, and Gen. Miles and
his immediate staff are censurable. That
is the logic of this wonderful report.
''It has been developed in the course
that in some instances some individuals
failed to perform their full duty or to
observe the proprieties which dignity high
military command says this report. No
doubt the general public will be deeply
interested in the proposition that some
individuals - presumably Gen. Miles
among others-did not observe the pro-
prieties. But the investigation was not
specially designed to extend to the pro-
prieties of military command. 1t was
intended to enlighten the people as to
where the responsibility should be placed
for supplying the American army with
decaying and decayed meat. 1t
is mere wretched bubble to turn
the report on the issue wheth-
er it was the canned roast or the refrig-
Grated meat which in such enormous
quantities was found unfit for human
consumption.
One of the Roosevelts, either Robert or
Theodore, took occasion to remark, with
reference to a former investigation of the
same kind, that the aim Of the investi-
. eating body should be directed toward
finding where the fault lay rather than In
deciding that 1t did not lay in certain
given directions. The same criticism ap-
plies to the report which has just been
made public. From the outset 1t has been
a scheme to exonerate the war depart
mont IF fo,,rd d oo,,,,+,,i - . - r.
Gen. Eagan. And In the guarded language
a part of which we quote above it is also
sought to make a scapegoat of Gen. Miles.
/ It would not be surprising If these bench
part of their undertaking was a. little
more, difficult than the former :. - -
Nobody will be imposed on by this re-
port. Whether Gen. Miles reported at
the proper time or in the proper form to
his superiors concerning the existence of
rotten beef as representing a large pro-
portion OF the meat supplied; whether
the evidence sustains the claim that all
the refrigerated beef or any Of it was
treated chemically or not or whether it
was the one class Of beef or the other
or both that was unfit for human food,
matters but little to the country. The great
fact, which no supply of official white
wash, civil or military, can cover out of
sight, is that a large proportion of the
meat given to the men as rations was
better fitted for the offal pile than for the
human stomach.
In spite Of this report, the verdict of the
country will be that the charges made by
Gen. Miles have been substantially sus-
tanned.