Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1899-01-18

have to ask some one here in Wash
ington.
General Eagan went on to say that
General Miles chief commssary, Sc
lected by him over experienced officers,
had public subsistence funds in his
possession, but could not use them for
lack of check book. though Colonel
Sharpe, chief commissary on General
Brookes staff, because he did not hap
pen to be q selection of General Miles,
had sense enough to provide himself
with check book"
Having traversed General Miles
statements" he said, having shown
him to you as having been liar; hav-
ing demonstrated the animus that per-
vades this whole matter I 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
assert, 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 prompted by base motive
and under cover of the qualification in
my Judgment
He then charged that if Chief Sur
geon Daily, with General Miles, had ever
made an expert examination of the
beef, then he "willfully and deliberate
ly falsified the facts" General Eagan
concluded as follows: IF have used
harsh language before this committee
in dealing with the subject / ask the
commission to bear in mind that group
ing together the statements made by
General Miles means that / have fur
nished or allowed to be furnished to the
army embalmed beef which has dis
eased soldiers, and that great deal of
sickness arose from it's 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 be-
cause of corruption.
Nearly all the press of America, be-
cause of General Miles high position in
the United States army, has accepted
these views and his statements, and
many of them have called for my dis
grace. court-martial and dismissal from
the service. Also, that these state
ments of General Miles were held back
by him-not furnished to the govern
ment for its appropriate action and use,
but sprung upon you and the country
at time when the country from the
falsehoods that had been told in re-
gard to starvation and supplies for
the army was in state of excite
ment and ready to believe most any
thing. The subject i have treated here
is filthy subject. and you cannot touch
pitch without being defiled; you cannot
touch base, malicious, libelous false
hoods, misrepresentation, without
calling a spade a spade and telling the
truth and characterizing things as they
are.
THE damage that has been done by
these statements is believed to be very
great, but | indulge the hope and the
belief that my statement when pub
lished to the country, when read by the
representatives of foreign governments
here, will offset the statements made by
General Miles, and will, in some meas
ure at least, do justice to others that
have been wronged. maligned 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 d.shonors his uni
form With his false statements and
libels, or | dishonor mine in feeding
soldiers with poisonous beef, causing
their sickness and doing so under pre-
tense Of experiment
Washington Jan. 14.-There was nc
abatement in the interest exhibited here
yesterday in all the incidents connected
with the bitter attack made Thursday
by Commissary General Eagan upon
General Nelson A. Miles. The principals
in the case of Generals Miles and Eagan,
contributed little during the day to the
controversy, but the war investigating
commission acted promptly to redress
the affront put upon the board itself
as the members regarded it-contained
in the language used by General Eagan.
The commission in q note signed by
Charles DENLY, vice president. told
Eagan that his statement would not be
entered i'm the record; that the Ian
guage was not such as a witness should
have used before the commission. and
that Eagar might revise it. leave out
the irrelevant matter and resubmit il