Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-01-13

bounded government officials through
out the war"
General Eagan subsequently had
tried to get hist letter of inquiry and
press clipping from the adjutant gen.
erals once, but 1T had disappeared and
was nowhere to be found. Witness
charged General Miles directly with
disarranging and ha.mpering the adj
ministration of the War Department
by calling officers from duty where
their presence was absolutely neces-
sary. This was the case in taking Col.
John Weston away from Cuba to serve
with the Porto Rican expedition, and
in putting Major A. L. Smith, a very
efficient officer assigned as depot COM
missary in Porto Rico, to work on
'some transport duty" when his ser
vices were demanded on shore, Cen
eral Eagan said the commanding gen
eral went clearly outside his power in
doing this, and intimated, that General
Miles was moved to do so by the ignor-
ance and inef1ciency of his own APP
pointee, Major Black, who was suppos-
ed to be the chief commissary officer
on General Miles's staff. General
Eagan referred to General Miles's tes-
fimony that he had "telegr aphed the
department from Porto Rico for COM
plete and proper rations,' and said
off
had received any such a message he
would have considered it the request
of a Every ignorant and I'LL Informed
person. Continuing, General Eagan
referring to General Miles expressed
preference for native beef, of which he
said there was plenty, asserted there
were no cattle whatever in the neigh
borhood of Santiago. The native beer
to which General Miles referred, Gen
eral Eagan characterized as stays,
e runts, bulls and overworked cattle. The
use of such animals the department
would never allow.
General Eagan, quoting General
: Miles's allegations that in his Judg-
ment there were some serious defect
in the refrigerated and canned beef,
said General Miles would not say this
was anything more than his judgment.
whoever" said General Eagan, calls
it embalmed beef is liar
Noticing the reports submitted by
Cen Miles in confederation of his
charges. Gen. Eagan submitted wheth-
er or not his course of securing these
reports wclld not be constructed as
seeking adverse reports. He cited
Generals Merritt and Shafter as APP
proving the beef
Newspaper statements emanating
from Gen. Miles that 10000 pounds OF
the beef was condemned at Porto Rico,
is an absolute falsehood No such
quantity was condemned there or else
where" Witness said that Surgeon
Days report that the beef apparently
was infected with chemicals to aid in
preservation, was a "falsehood and he
made it out of whole cloth" He de-
nounced the assertion that chemically
prepared beef had been issued, and
said he did not believe Surgeon Daily
had that belief then. since or now.
Why" he asked did he shirk his
duty? Why not make chemical analy-
sis, and why keep this information to
himself and then spring it suddenly
on the commission and the whole
country and imply that packing houses
have been cheating the government and
violating their contracts? At no time
I'D he inform the commissary general
or the Secretary of War of these
9TH; h.
lis scandal calculated to ruin thous-
ands of people and discredit and put
infamy on one of the greatest industries
of the world"
Gen. Eagan's testimony on this point
follows:
Gen. Miles was asked by your COM
mittee how timed fresh beef became
a part of the army ration. His answer
is, You had better ask the Secretary
of War or the commissary general. |
think they can tell you. know it was
sent to the army as food, and the
pretence is that it was sent as an eX-
pertinent Gen. Miles, in saying that
this food was sent to the army as a
p,'etense for experiment. says that
which implies corruption, which SO out
of every 100 people will understand to
mean corruption, because 1t was a pre-
tense of experiment he says, not even
giving credit to me for furnishing it as
an experiment but that / furnished it
under the 'pretense of an experiment.
This is a serious charge, should not be
made by any man lightly nor without
ample evidence to suppoSt 1t.
In denouncing Gen. Miles as liar
when he makes this statement, l wish
to make it as emphatic and as coarse
as the statement itself l wish to force
the lie back into his throat covered
with the contents of camp latrine. l
wish to brand it as a falsehood of
whole cloth without particle of truth
to sustain it, and unless he can prove
his statement he should be denounced
by every honest man, barred from the
clubs, barred from the society of de-
cent people, and SO ostracised that the
street bootblack would not condescend
to speak to him, for he has fouled his
own nest, he has aspersed the honor of
brother officer without a particle of
evidence or fact to sustain in any de-
gree his scandalous, libelous, malicious
talsehood, viz: That this beef or any
thing whatever was furnished the army
under 'pretense of experiment.