Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-13


nished $500 before starting for Porto Rico.
and that he had apparently not known
enough to provide himself checkbook.
ana had not left his signature with the
secretary OF the treasury nor made any
other preparations for availing himself of
the funds at his command. There were
experienced disbursing officers in the ISL
and who had. in the aggregate. over $780,
900 in their possession. and yet General
Miles had complained that there were no
paymasters in the islands so that the SOL
diers had no money with which TO buy
food for themselves. General Miles had
then called on the department TO put
SS.coo more in the hands Of Major Black,
and this General Eagan declined TO do.
putting $4,000 TO Major Blacks credit in
New York
General Eagan referred to the mysterious
manner in which papers disappeared from
The files of the war department. He said
that while General Miles was at Tampa
he wired to the commissary general to
know what stores and supplies were on
hand at Tampa and some other point.
General Eagan replied in the usual way,
though at that time the railroad tracks
at Tampa We're piled with millions of ra-
tons.
General Eagan said he was astounded the
following morning 10 see in the reports of
certain papers that General Miles had Sc
rerely reprimanded the commissary gen.
eral the chief of ordnance and the quarter
master general for the unprepared condi-
tion Of their respective departments. Gen.
eral Miles had no right in law to deliver
such a reprimand, and witness at once had
Enclosed the clipping to the adjutant gen.
erals Office, requesting an inquiry as to the
authenticity of the report. No such repr!-
mand was ever received by him and the
general commanding had taken no notice
OF his inquiry nor even taken the trouble
since to declare the unauthorized character
of the press statements. 1t was such in
difference as this that had given license
TO the yellow journalistic knaves who had
misrepresented and bounded government
officials throughout the war General
Eagan subsequently, had tried to get his
letter of inquiry and press clipping from
the adjutant generals office, but they had
disappeared and were nowhere to be found.
Witness then charged General Miles di-
rectly with disarranging and hamperins the
administration of the war department by
calling officers from their duty where their
presence was absolutely necessary. This
was the case in taking Colonel John Wes-
ton away from Cuba to serve with the
Porto Rican expedition. and in putting Ma
5or A. ]. Smith. very efficient officer. as
signed as depot commissary in Porto Rico,
TO work on some transport duty" when
his services were demanded on shore. Gen.
eral Eagan said the commanding general
went clearly outside his power in doing
this, and intimated that General Miles was
moved to do SO by the ignorance and inef-
ficiency of his own appofntee. Major Black.
who was supposed to be the chief commits
sary officer on General Miles staff.
General Eagan referred to General Miles
testimony that he had photographed the de-
partment from Porto Rico for complete and
proper rations" and said that IL the COM
missary generals office had received any
such message he should have considered 1t
the request of very ignorant and ILL
informed person"
Continuing. General Eagan referred to
General Miles expressed preference for ma
tive beef. of which he said there was
plenty. and asserted that there were no
cattle whatever in the neighborhood Of
Santiago. The native beef General Miles
referred to General Eagan characterized
as stays, bulls and overworked cattle. The
use of such animals the department would
never allow.
General Eagan. quoting General Miles
allegation that. in his judgment. there was
some serious defect in the refrigerated and
canned beef. said General Miles would rot
say this was anything more than his judg-
IntUt. w uOtNeT, Sdlu 1GutTdl
''calls it 'embalmed beef is liar
Citing the reports submitted by General
Miles in corroboration of his charges, Cen
eral Eagan submitted whether or not lis
course of securing those reports would
not be construed as seeking adverse re-
ports. He cited Generals Merritt and Shaf-
ter as approving the beef. Newspaper
statements emanating from General Miles
that $4,000 pounds of beef were condemned
at Porto Rico are absolutely false. No
such quantity was condemned there or
elsewhere
General Eagan's testimony on the eX-
perimental beef question follows:
General Miles was asked by your COM
mittee how timed fresh beef became
part of the army ration. His answer is:
You had better ask the secretary of war
or the commissary general. l think they
can tell YOU l know, it was sent to the
army as food. and the pretense is that it
was sent as an experiment. General Miles,
in saying that this food was sent to the
army as "a pretense for an experiment.
says that which implies corruption which
ninety-nine out of every 100 people will un-
derstand to mean corruption. because 1t
was a pretense of experiment. he says,
rot even giving credit to me for furnishing
1t as an experiment, but that 1 furnished
II under the 'pretense of an experiment.
This is a serious charge, and should not
be made by any man lightly nor without
ample evidence to support II. Taking the
statement in the sense it was probably in
tended. Ahe sense that will be accepted by
the country at large, the sense that already
the press. almost wholly. of the United
States has accepted it-indeed. some of
that press. because of ii. called for my dis
missal from the army and my court-martial
i answer that it was not furnished under
the preteuse of experiment, nor even as
an experiment. and when General Miles
charges that it was furnished as a pre-,
. tense of experiment. he lies in his throat,
he lies in his heart he lies in every hair
of his head and every pore of his body. He
lies wilfully, deliberately, Intentionally and
malieioussly
IF his statement is true that this was
furnished under 'pretense Aof an expert.
ment'. tlsen should be drlmmed out of
the army and iicarcerated in, prison with
other fhehers. His statementNis a seand-
alous libel rejecting upon the, honor OF
every officer in the department who has
contracted for or purchased this meat ana
especially and particularly on the commis>
sHry' generai-myself. In denouncirigsGen-
eral Niles as liar when he makes this
statement. wish 10 make it as emphatic
and as coarse as the statement itself
wish to force the lie back into his throat,
covered with the contents of camp la
trine. ! wish to brand ii as a faIsehood
of whole cloth, without a particle of truth
TO sustain it, and unless he can prove his
statement he should be driven out of the
clubs, barred from the society of decent
people and SO ostracized that the street
bootblacks would not condescend TO speak
fn for ha hus