The Meeker herald., 1899-05-13
WASHINGTON GOSSIP
AND DEPARTMENT NEWS,


pOintment of committees in the House,
az 1t IL customary to allow q new
speaker four or five weeks to make up
his committees, and this furnishes an
additional reason why Congress should
be convened before December. OF the
several senators and members of Con-
Rress who are going abroad this sum
mer, the President has particularly
inquired the length of their stay, and
has hinted that 1t was advisable that
they should be back in the early fall,
as the necessity for an extra session
might arise. With others. 1t Is said,
he has discussed the subject. and more
over 1t was upon the Presidents d.
rect suggestion that the caucus con-
mittee appointed by the House Republi-
cans to formulate currency reform
measure met when 1t did.
The session of the Association o.
American Physicians Mt the Arlington
was marked by an important paper on
typhoid in the volunteer camps by d. |
V. G. Vaughn. one of the board of sur
geons appointed by Surgeon Genera
| Sternberg last summer to look into the !
matter when the epidemic Of typhoid
was prevalent in the various army
camps. The board made a thorough
been looked forward to as an authori-
tativc work. The report Is not yet
completed, but Dr. Vaughn's paper
was in the nature Of an advance state
mcnt. with the sanction of General
Sternberg, who was present at the
meeting. DIR. Vaugh4lk paper was a
severe arraignment OF me volunteer sur
ceons and incidentally of the officials
who were responsible for the policing
of the great camps mt Jacksonville
Chickamauga. Camp Alger and Mon
tank Point. The board visited all
these points and found that not only
was there Il great deal more typhoid
than was at first supposed, but that
the surgeons. mostly of the volunteer
class. We're. from Ignorance or other
motives. treating and reporting typhoid
| under the names of persistent ma
larIa,- "indigestion," gastric fever
and "typho-malarla." General Stern
Der. referred to the appointment of
volunteer medical army officers by the
governors of states, the former there
by becoming responsible for the health
of our camps. Most Of the volunteer
medical officers went to camp with the
expectation of fighting no end Of ma
laria. In one regiment each man was
provided with 200 grains of qunine
and three-Ounce bottle Of pareaOric.
The great bulk of supposed maarial
cases were not malarial affections nj
| all. but many of the doctors, regard
less of this. dosed their patients with
thirty to forty grains Of quinine eich
day.
i BY direction of the President, 1ho
approves the findings, Acting Secretry
of War Meiklejohn has made public
the report and findings of the military
court appointed to investigate the
charges made by Major General Mes.
commanding the army, that the leef
supplied to the army during the sSar
with Spain was unfit for the use cd the
troops. The most important feattres
of the. report are: The finding that
the generals charges that the refiger
ated beef was treated with chemicals
were not established; that his sllega-
tons concerning the canned fresh or
canned roast beef were sustained as
to its unsuitability for food ns used
OH the transports and as long contn-
ued field ration; censure of General
Miles for "errOr' in failing to prompt
ly notify the secretary of war when
he first formed the opinion that the
food was unfit; ccnsurc of the commits |
sary general fhen General Eean) for |
the too expensive purchases of the |
canned beef rs an u-tried ration; CEN /
sure of Colonel Maus of Generll Miles |
staff; the finding that the packers were
not at fault and that the meats sup
piled to the army We're of ihe same |
quality as those supplied to the trade |
generally and the Recommendation that |
no further proceedings will be taken |
In the premises. The report phces the
quantity of canned roast beef pur-
chased for the war by the comnissary
department at 63571 ia pounds includ-
ing 100000 pounds which was brought |
from Liverpool and other English |
points. This amount is characterized |
as excessive and the compulsory gen.
eral General EgaD is severely criti- |
cised in several parts of the docu-
ments on this score. One of the sever
est rebukes is as follows: "Consdering |
the little use that has been made Of |
this beef in the regular army, the |
probability that the volunteers were
entirely ignorant of 1t. that its use as
part of the field ration had never |
been sanctioned by the President or
secretary of war. the court can but
characterize the action of the commits
sary general Of subsistence as unwar-
wanted and reckless in that he ordered
the purchase Of such enormous quanti-
ties of food that was practically un-
tried and unknown. and the court so
finds. The court also finds that there
is no ground for any imputation what
ever or any other actuating motive on
the part of the commissary general
than the earnest desire to procure the
best possible food for the troops. The
court pronounces this act of the COM
missary general of subsistence colos-
sal error for which there Is no pallia-
tion."