The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-08
HAD A S|CKEN|NG ODOR
Major w. II. Days Beef Letter
Made Public.
BITTER AND NAUSEOUS
The Beef Had a Flat, Mawkish Taste
When Cooked and Made All Who
Ate It Sick-Department
Imposed Upon.

JAIL i.-llE commission
to-day made public a report omitted
in the statement given out bearing on
the beef controversy. 1t is from Ma
Jor w. II. DAILY, chief at army head
quarters at Tampa, prior to the sail
ing of the Shafter expedition, and is
as follows:
Washington, Sept. 81, 1S9S.-To tie
Assistant Adjutant General, Head
quarters of the Army, Washington, D.
G.: Sir-I have the honor to report
in the interests of the service that in
the several inspections + made in the
various camps and troopships at Tam
pa, Jacksonville, Chckamauga and
Porto Rico, that found the fresh
beef to be apparently preserved with
secret chemicals, which destroys its
natural flavor and which l also believe
| to be detrimental to the health of the
| troops.
| While on duty at the Headquarters
| OF the army at Tampa, at the time of
| the embarkation of 1.-The Shafter eX-
petition Colonel Weston, the efficient
chlef commissary. showed me a quar-
| ter OF beef that had already as a test
| been go hours in the sun without be-
ing perceptibly tainted, so far as the
sense of smell could detect IT is i'm
| possible to keep fresh beef so long I'M
tainted in the sun in that climate
without the use of deleterious preser-
NATIVES, such as boris acid, salsyiic
acid, or nitrate of potash injected into
| 1T in quantities likely to be hurtful to
the health of the consumer At Ponce,
Porto Rico, much of the beef I examln-
ed arriving on the transports from
| the United States was also of the same
| character. being apparently preserved
! by injected chemicals to aid deficient
| cold storage.
Where efficient cold storage is i'm
possible transporting beef alive is the
| method that should receive the fullest
consideration by the government as
being safest for the health of the con-
sumner
| When detailed to take charge of the
| transport Panama for conveying con-
valescents to the United States, I OBJ
tanned 1000 pounds of fresh beef from
the commissary at Ponce. 1t looked
well, but had an odor similar to that
OF dead human body after being in
jected with preservatives, and tasted
when first cooked like decomposed
boric acid While after standing a day
for further inspection, it became so
bitter nauseous and unpalatable as to
| be quite impossible for use | was
| therefore obliged owing to its condi-
ton and the just complaints of the
sick about it, and the disgustingly
| sickening odor it emitted when being
| cooked, and its mawkish flat taste
when served, and the safety of the pa
t1ents-255 convalescent soldiers ON
| board--to organize a board of survey
condemn and throw 1900 pounds, all
| we had, overheard, consequently the
conValescents were entirely without
much needed fresh beef, making the
duty of bringing the men to the United
| States in an improved condition a very
| difficult matter.
In my inspection of the 4th IT, S. V.
l.. at Jacksonville, recently, l observ-
ed the same odor and taste upon the
! fresh beef, but not so marked, and at
the camp of the 9Th U. S. V. l., at
Chickamauga, I also, at several in
spections, observed it markedly. I
there inspected lot of beef lust is
sued to that regiment, and while it
looked we'll, was of sickening odor
like human body dead of disease
and injected with personalities, and
| when cooked was quite unpalatable.
consequently likely to prove an eff
Gent cause of ill health The men
complained of its insipd and mawkish
flavor that high seasoning could not
| conceal
Believing that the commissary de-
partment has been imposed upon hy
the misdrected commercial spirit of
persons furnishing fresh beef, I re-
spectfully recommend that the matter
be investigated by experts, making "A
cumulative and qualitative chemical
analysis of the several preservatives
suspected to be used by getting sam
pies of beef furnished for export to
Cuba and Porto Rico
If the question arises that a report
should have been made by me earlier,
l. beg to say that / have endeavored
with all my opportunities to first IN
form myself by observation of the
conditions above noted sufficiently to
warrant my drawing the attention of
the adjutant general at headquarters
1 of the army to the matter Very re-
| spectfully, w. FL. DAILY,
| Major and Chief Surgeon, U. S. V.