The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-03

aroused much criticism of the War Depart
nent. and this criticism is perfectly just.
! One Of the first duties Of officials in charge
of an army in the field or in camp is to
see that the men have enough to eat. This
/ duty is only second 10 that OF providing
them with ammunition. The conditions of
war are rot so different from those OF
/ peace that it need be impossible to feed a
/ lot of soldiers properly, especially when
! they are encamped in their own country,
within reach OF railroads and centres of
supply. To pretend that it was necessary
that these men should he half starved and
provided with unsuitable and unhealthy
| food is ridiculous in the extreme.
| But there are others besides incompetent
I and careless War Department officials who
are TO blame for the iamenlable state of
things disclosed by hundreds of letters
! from volunteers, BIZ fearless newspapers,
and By important witnesses before the AL
ger Relief Commission. The pablo should
take in hand the contractors VINO furnished
that canned beef which has been so thor
oughly described by General Miles. Food
put up in tins is. of course, less easy of in
specticn than when shipped in boxes or
barrels. II is all the more important,
therefore, that the canning factory which
furnishes such food should be honest in
its dealings. What shall be said of the
men who deliberately sold hundreds of tins
OF bad beef TO the Government, knowing
that it YVES intended for the use OF soldiers
fighting for their country?
1t is bad enough for manufacturer to be
dishonest in such dealings in time Of peace.
To send out rotten or inferior meat under
the name of wholesome food ought to be
made State prison offense. The meat is
a fruitful source of disease and death
among the people who partake of it. Many
of these people are too ignorant to under
stand the danger of improper food and too
poor to go to the expense OF buying food
of the highest quality But there is no rea-
son why their meats and vegetables should
be poisonous or unwholesome.
Bad as such dishonesty is under ordinary
circumstances. in time of war it is
murder on a large scale. The ordinary
citizen can protect himself from such rob-
berry if he is intelligent. He can, after one
experience with inferior food, refuse to
buy any more of that brand; and the gro
ceryman, finding that the goods do not
give satisfaction, VIII buy some other kind.
Thus it behooyes the thieving wholesale
dealer TO be cautious. But when such
dealer sells to the Government he knows
that the men who will consume his meats
are unable to protect themselves. He has
a large contract to supply thousands O? dol
lars worth OF meat, TO be fed to men who
must eat it or stsrve. When the food
reaches them it will be impossible TO sup
ply other and better rations without i'm
mense cost TO the Government. Discipline
and tie military spirit will prevent many
OF the men from expressing their opinion
of the meals served to them by the govern
ment for which they are fighting. Many
OF the officials concerned in the purchase
Of these unwholesome supplies will not ad-
NIT their inferior quality for fear of being
blamed for it. The citizen can refuse to
purchase such food; the soldier has no
choice. The dishonest manufacturer, there
fore, is rs nearly safe as crime ever is in
this world. Before anything can be done
about his thieving transaction his profits
will be safely slowed away, and ii the SOL
diers suner-why, that is what they are
in the army for, isn't 1t?
II would be interesting to know just what
sort Of moral makeup such man has.
He takes advantage Of the conditions OF
war to defraud the defenders of his coun-
Try. rot only Of money. but of that far
TO the men who are risking wounds and
death in the most horrible form TO protect
his interests food which will cripple them
for their work, and perhaps injure their
health for life, which will rob them of
their chance for glory and lessen their
power TO DO the work to which they give
their lives He might just as well go
through the camp by night and poison all
the springs of water, in the diabolical fash
ion of Chinese warfare hundred years
ago. He is morally. though not technically.
q traitor OF the worst kind. Benedict Ar
mold was q gilded saint to him. He COM
mits this JUDAS crime not even in the hope
OF fame and honors from the enemies OF
his country. The Spaniards would exc
tIdlt nun % htfAlI4s ID Tue amer -I'iI's All
he wants is to fill his pockets with the ma
TONS money. earned by bringing disease
and death to the nations soldiers He is
two kinds of traitor criminal and a
cheat. He is about the ugliest develop
ment which commercialism has ever
brought forth. We are accustomed TO look
upon the man who wrecks railroad train
in the hope OF robbing the passengers as a
hend in human form. but, after all. the
crime Of the merchant who knowingly
sends rotten food to the army of his coun-
try is considerably worse He has not even
the excuse Of poverty and outlawry for his
abominable scheme