The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-01

! And the canned roast beef was striugy.
| tasteless. nauseating and, according TO
one witness. had the appearance of re-
fuse after beef extract had been pre-
! pared.
Some of it was inspected. but many of
the inspectors We're politicians with a
pull, men of no experience in such mat
tiers and easy marks for the contrac-
tors, who were evidently trying to work
off their bad supplies on the govern
ment.
This "embalmed beef and the pu-
trid boiled beef put up in cans. were
authorized by the war department. for
General Miles begged to be allowed to
purchase native cattle in Porto Rico,
and one cattleman after another in the
south and west offered to supply beef
on the hoof, but Eagan refused to con-
slider any such propositions. There is
nothing to show that the beef was
good when purchased. AS a rule it
was a stale supply that couldn't be
disposed of to home consumers who
were at liberty to choose for them
selves.
tory it could be said with propriety
that it was McKinley's fault primar-
lily, but that Alger and Eagan are i'm
plicated. And the officers at the front.
some of them, may have been negli-
gent about registering prompt COM
plant, but subsequent developments
have shown that they were more dis
Greet than neglectful. But there were
reports made to the war department
at the time the pest camps were scan
daliZing the administration and the
whole rotten business was smoothed
over in the same way and at the same
time
As 20 whether or not the beef ration
furnished the army was fit for food
Roosevelt, who swore that it was nasty,
nauseating, facilitating. and utterly
unfit to feed to dog.
The president asked if there was any
thing better that was practicable. In
answer here is the statement made by
General Miles-the one upon which the
last investigation was based:
Never before in the history of our wars
has the army been refused fresh beef. de-
livered on foot. Under Sherman. Grant
and Sheridan, cattle were delivered at the
front and were driven along with the
army, to be slaughtered from day to day. /
at the points where fresh beef was need !
ed for food.
The embaImed beef for our army in this |
Spanish war, and said to be an expert !
ment. was never heard of before in any |
war or any country.
The Ordinar-r beef sold for home con- I
when the packing house finds a larger /
supply on hand than can be kept.
But the beef sent to our soldiers was /
loaded and saturated with chemicals |
various acids which made them sick. filled /
the men 5 systems with l'oisOn, uniting I
them for fighting or campaign work. I
hardships and exposures of marching I'M /
der the tropical sun. suffered even more |
than the men in the field.
Half million pounds of this beef came
in on a ship to Porto Rico. The soldiers I
were fifty miles away in the mountains. |
The beef was so bad that it would have
ashore from the ship. So it had to be I
thrown overheard. What else could be
done with it? Nothing alive could eat it.
Considerable space is devoted to a
review of the investigation because it
S a most important matter and be-
,ause the finding of the court. as indi-
eated by the synopsis published yester-
lay. is a matter of surprise and dis
Had the inquiry been pursued in
secret the report might have been ac-
,epted in good faith by the public, but
he uncontradicted testimony of hun
lreds of reputable and disinterested
witnesses has proved the charges made
~ General Miles beyond question. No
mount of whitewash can blot out the
evidences of guilt. And the RESPONSE
,ility has already been fixed by the
American people.