The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-23
BEEF INQUIRY DRAGS
DIR. DALY'S TESTIMONY Is DE-
FERRED UNTIL PACKERS CAN
BE SUMMONED
EXPERIMENTAL BEEF FAILED
shown That Chemicals Were Used
In Its Preparation - Complaints
of Canned Roast Beef Were NJ
merOus and Frequ ent and Officers
Found the Stuff Nauseating-
One Witness Disputes Gen. Miles.

One Witness Disputes Gen. Miles.
WASHINGTON, Feb. %. Today's
proceedings of the court of inquiry in
vestigating the beef controversy devel-
oped little that was new The testi-
mony with the exception of that of Dr.
DAILY, surgeon on the staff of Gen.
Miles during the war, and of Col
Woodruff, assistant commissary gen
eral, was generally in line with that of
yesterday. The canned roast was gen
orally condemned as unsatisfactory,
while the refrigerated beef was con-
demned, the chief complaint being that
it often decomposed en- route to camp
The testimony of representatives of
the subsistence department was begun,
that of Col. Woodruff. assistant COM
miSSary general, being the most nota-
bic. He purchased more than 300 600
pounds of canned beef and told of the
method of purchase and the reasons
that prompted it. He took issue with
Gen. Miles contention that beef on the
hcof was the usual source OF fresh
meat supply to the army
Another feature of the day was the
Introduction of DR.. DAILY, who charged
before the war commission that refrig-
Grated beef at Chickamauga, Jackson
vile. Tampa and in Porto Rico had
been treated chemically. He was not
eXa mined, however, in regard to this
charge, Col. Davis announcing that the
contractors who were attacked were
entitled to be notified of the eXamina-
ton upon this point that they might
have ample time in which to appear
should they desire to do So The law
required this, he said. Accordingly, DR..
DAILY was excused after a partial exam
ination, and will be recalled later. The
inv
when Gen. Eagan, former commissary
general, is expected to appear and tell
the story of the beef supply as furnish
ed by his department.
EXPERIMENTAL BEEF.
Lieut.. Cole. Sixth cavalry, who was
aboard the Rio Grande, which carried
Gen. Summers headquarters and four
experimental quarters of beef to Cuba.
was the first witness. The beef was.
he said, from some firm of meat pack
ers" and was sent expressly for ex-
per1mental use by the soldiers with the
knowledge that it was chemically pre-
pared. The beef lasted only three days.
after which it decayed and was thrown
overheard. Some of it was cooked be-
fore it spoiled. Witness saw the piece
cooked, but did not eat it. It looked
we'll, and the men who tasted it said
'it was all right" The officers dis
cussed it freely but none of them
knew how the beef had been treated.
the process being secret The beef that
spoiled became very offensive and ex-
uded dark, coagulated blood.
Lieut.. Cole said he ate some Of the
canned roast beef, aboard ship, before
it had been subjected to the tropical
heat and it was then fairly good, and
he ate it with relish as a relief from ba-
con. After it had been heated in the
southern climate it became Shiny and
rather repulSive looking
Lieut.. Col. Charles H HUMPHREYS
Twenty infantry, said that
canned roast beef was issued to his
command in small quantities, prior to
the surrender of Santiago, but he had
then no complaints about it. When re-
frigerated beef was furnished, it was at
first satisfactory, but it spoiled In large
quantities and the men finally ceased
to care for it. The canned roast beef
was then furnished in a stew, but the
men could not eat it. Witness had at
tempted to eat the beef from the can
1t did not taste right. 1t gagged him
He gave it up.
MEAT WAS NlAUSEATING.
Brig. Gen. ]. W. Kent, who COM
mande&a division in the Santiago
campaign, said complaints Of canned
roast beef came from the men. 1t
Seemingly nauseated Them but he
took no official action, considering these
complaints unavoidable incidents of the
campaign. Gen. Kent, replying to Gen
Davis, said beef on the hoof would have
been preferab bic to refrigerated beef,
but he doubted very much the practic-
ability of live cattle supply about San
tiago.
Col Charles Woodruff, assistant
quartermaster general, United States
purchasing agent and dispenser at
Governors Island. and prominent in
army supply purchases, testified that
he bought a total of s., 256 900 worth of
supplies in the first few months of the
war. He bought between 100000 and
100000 pounds Of canned roast beef.
pa. The entire supply in New York
and in the entire country, together
with $4,000 pounds brought from Eu-
rope, which had been reshipped, had
been exhausted and the factories, Col
Woodruff understood were running
night and day to meet the extraordinary
demand. Witness said he understood
canned roast beef had been brought to
the front in the recent war because Of
a desire to give the soldiers something
besides salt meat in their movements
in the tropics.
Replying to Col Davis query, Col
Woodruff said that he had been fami1-
lar with all campaigns during the past
twenty-five years, and never had beef
on the hoof been used as the fresh
| that beef on the hoof was the usual