The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-03-29
SWIFT BEEF CONTRA
Captain Davis, Commissary Of ssI,,..
Familiar HithIt
HIS TESTIMONY DIFFERENT FROM II.
says tho Reason for ~.
nncy Was That "G-ncrs, = ''s|
Had sinpI, Forrott,,s

Washington, March Is. --csp.,,,
was the first witness If ~ i ~
stated that he was employed ii 4.
CT tho ccmmisssry general. and ~.
was there when the contrac, Win
s Go. was drawn up. Under n. ".
lions Of CommIssary General 4,
he'd formulated the portion 0, 4.
tract relating TO refrigerator on /,
he had asked the commissorv @
what he desired to have nut (
He explained to me, said ran,..
yiS, that it was desired to have H. o
with reference to the time that = ese.|
was to keep sfier coming out ~ =. IS ~
ir!gerator on tho ship seventy .sss "
ana that the period between thc H.. ss'|
it Was placed in the refriEcJ.stor = ~
and taken from the rcfrigsrator ~
was to be twenty four hours I'll
This" Captain Davis explalsaa
for the purpose OF enabling them !. =
beef in tho refrigerator when m NJ
orator might be some little distane. /,
where the ship was anchored thar n. y
beef on it
Captain Davis named some in.t,,...
which boards OF survey had oxa,n,r.ss.
which had been complained Of sbn II
the refrigerator. One instance occpr, II
Manzanillo and another al santisss
the first the beef was CONDEMNED =, N
part of It was thrown away.
This" he said, was the extrems \.
but 1t was not supposed that In Nj
would be kept for more than twen,,s..l
hours" Captain Davis said he has NJ
something of the Powell process ior :
pairing beef, and experiments hss "
made with it before the beginning \ NJ
war.
Major Lee pointed out the apparea /,
crepancy in Captain Davis and C,,,
Eagan's testimony as to the copditio,s !.
der which beef was TO be kept for ssr,rs|
two hours after the arrival OF the ~ Il
its point of destination. He read Er.,|
statement saying 1t was his intentiou All
the beef should be good for seventeen
hours. no matter where 1t came from NJ
saying that the twenty four hours ~
must have been clerical error. n
asked Captain Davis to reconcile a. ii
statements, to which he responded by ,rJ
ing; General Eagan had simply M
gotten. Probably he had not seen Il. vi
tract for six months. It is not cus.o,sr
in such cases to depend upon memoir n
contracts being on file and refssensa
them convenient and usual"
The witness said there had been cta|
cradle discussion in the office Of the mi
missary general OF the feasibility Of ~
ping beef on the hoof. but Il hal ts
decided not to try experiments The al
sistence department had, however. srsl
80 far as TO gather the names Of wnu|
who might desire TO bid
Edward Morris Of the Chicago in 4
Morris G. Co. was the next witness 81
stated that his company had for The vi
two years been in the habit Of sndE|
canned roast beef in the Baltimore III
Ohio warehouse and shipping the-tm|
for domestic purposes. Some Of this sr|
shipped has been returned to the unl
house In Chicago. None had ever Vel
sold to or rejected by foreign Esa|
ment. The goods returned to Chicaga vol
sold to wholesale grocery house ah n
it sold 10 the government. 90 per csn, p|
ing TO Manila, the FIRST being sold b N
government direct.
He said he had been in the tesf WI
ness for fifteen years and that ttt VI
delivered at Lakeland was Arst-dH|
There was nothing TO indicate that
had been treated with preseryatiys 4
there was no coating upon il. During Z
connection with the business Their vi
only Two reflections OF beef and thts
small quantities.
Bernard T. Murtagh agent for Af1e
& Go. at Lakeland during the pfei''
of The troops, gave the details Of he Y
ply there. He said the beef was gtntn''
held in the cars for three days, The 81
being well iced. About oDe-third arI
contents of one car had been rejected ~
after this the meat was shipped u n
frigerator beef cars. Some OF this meal NJ
also rejected. He testified that b X
never known of any chemicals ne'ns "
as preservatives in his house.
Charles II. Moorehouse. manager q 4
Tampa branch or Armour & Co., aug "
tilted. He said that from May 70 - ~
] 10000 pounds of ice was used at laSss]
The beef was the same quality
supplied to the Florida hotels. he v
willing to take oath ms to that. Im ln]
cipal trouble was that some oil ene q
missary officers knew nothing o. ~
George w. Watson. railroad asp'
Lakeland. said he had often gone ~ !.
cars in which the beef was csr1lea i
that tho meat did not present any wy 4
appearance, He had eaten some =
meat and found II to be as good W /
he had ever tasted. h.
Tho afternoon session was execuu,s
character and was devoted prinrlpsgs,
the consideration OF witnesses % g
the future.