The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-01


move the defective cans. This was done,
so he understood, and the cars were after
ward accepted. He opened some of these
cans after they had been accepted. The
contents were softer than that in the aver
age cans he had seen, but ne should say
better than some he had seen in Porto
Rico and in Havana.
When stationed in Porto Rico witness
handled considerable refrigerated beef.
The troops seemed to be divided in opinion
as to the value of the refrigerated meat
Some regiments took it and some refused
it. Part of the meat was left on shore IN
the storehouses and spoiled, and part was
taken back to the United States.
Witness inspected the beef only after Il
came on shore. Part was mouldy ana
some was tainted, but the larger part
was perfectly good.
Col. Smith also made contracts for ma
tive beef, but there were complaints as
to this supply, and some of the commands
asked for refrigerated beef in place OF
fresh meat
Preserved Canned Meat.
Replying to Col. Davis, the witness said
that where the troops under observation
could get both sorts, the refrigerated beef
tended to dispIace the native beef Wit
ness said he never heard of the use Of
chemicals with the refrigerated beef.
He said there was one comparatively
small shipment of canned prepared
meat" 4,OC0 or 5000 pounds sent from the
Dole Packing Company in Kansas City.
The witness had eaten some of this meat
at the packing company's place in Kansas
City. He did not know exactly how 1t
was prepared, but he had been shown
some white powder which the company
n hat
and packed fresh in cans and shipped on
ice.
Col Smith said he had recommended
this meat as a good thing, but as he recol-
leeted he had been informed by the COM
missary general that it was too expensive
to be generally introduced into the army.
Men Guessed at the Samples.
At the afternoon session the enlisted
men were served with the beef
Sergt Alexander was the first He
looked blankly at the line of plates, turn
ed the samples over with the fork and
said that there didn't any of it look like
what we had in Cuba" He did not taste
any Of it and retired.
Sergt Casey followed and picked gu;
the sloppiest looking plate as the cooked
Cuban article and the driest as the Gu
ban beef cold.
,Sergts. Buckeye and Kidd picked the
same pate among the hot dishes, but
differed as to the cold.
Sergt. Grant picked the same hot plate
as the Others, but insisted that none of
the cold meats looked like anything he had
seen in the Santiago campaign. On being
urged to pick out one of The cold plates
he selected one which he said looked
more" like the Cuban brand
Sergt. White picked out the sloppy-look-
Inc AZ
cold meat, insisting that he had never
seen anything like it in the campaign.
Sergt. Miiz was like-minded, but said
candidly that he wasn't an expert in
spoiled beef" and consequently, did not
know that his opinion was of much value.
Was Not a Fair Sample.
The enlisted men were then recalled, and
| Maj. Jesse Lee said that he would like
to take advantage of the permission ac-
corded him by the court to question some
of the men himself. He asked each OF
them If the beef shown them here was
prepared the same way as. that they had
had in Cuba, and whether the plates were
fair sample of what they had used dur
ing the campaign. They unanimously
agreed that it did not look the same, and
did not seem to be a fair sample of the
campaign beef in any way.
1Ols a. L. GAiAAlAs the I1dNdld COluu1lS-
sary, was recalled, and told Of the con-
demnation of canned meat recently report
ed from Havana in the press dispatches.
He said there had been two Inspections to
his knowledge, one under Col. Guard and
another under Gen. Ernst Gen. Brock
inridge had made an examination with
| DR.. Sead; and destroyed number of cans
but whether this was an authorized in
spection witness could not say.
Col. Smith said that a great deal of the
canned meat sent over from Porto Rico
fell under suspicion because of swelled
and broken cans in the cases. So far as
he knew, something over 1920 cans had
been condemned and destroyed. There
had been considerable complaint of the
meat that had been sent to the interior
for relief distribution and for other pur-
poses.
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