The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-04-21
WHAT THE BEEF SCANDAL
TEACHES.
BY GEN. GEO. W. WINGATE, PRESIDENT
OF NATIONAL GUARD ASSOCIATION
OE limited STATES

| OF UNITED STATES.
| Much has been said and written in
regard to the beef furnished to our SOL
diers in Cuba and Porto Rico. A clear
and dispassionate statement of the facts
and of the lessons to be drawn from
them is nevertheless greatly needed.
So far as the refrigerated beef was con-
cerned, the truth probably is that there
was little, if any ''embalming" about it.
Soldiers generally agree that the beef
itself was almost universally good. It
may be that the outside of it was some
times covered with some waxey or
chemical preservative, to repel the flies
and perhaps to arrest decay, but this in
itself did not render the beef unwhole-
some. Where it was issued to the
troops within a short time after being
taken out from the refrigerator it was
relished and nutritious. 1t is self-evi-
dent, however, that beef, however good,
cannot be taken from refrigerator
and exposed to the heat of a tropical
climate for more than few hours with
out becoming putrid. In fact, in such
climates beef must be consumed within
twenty hours after it is killed, which is
the reason why it is usually tough. 1t
was apparent to any reasonable man,
whether he was o soldier or not, that
in such expeditions as the one hurriedly
dispatched to Santiago, or that more
deliberately sent to Porto Rico, a con-
siderable period must necessarily elapse
between the time when beef could be
taken from refrigerator and when it
could be delivered to the soldiers in the
field. If the distance was considerable
or the roads bad this time would be so
great that the meat would not keep.
1t was, therefore, a great blunder for
the War Department to undertake to
supply our armies in Cuba or Porto
Rico with that kind of beef, even if
every statement in regard to its being
''embalmed" be rejected. General
Eagan's idea that the contractors had
agreed that their beef would keep three
days ~ hours) after it was delivered
from the refrigerator was net only
opposed to the terms of the contract
but to common sense. General Miles,
on the other hand, was clearly right in
asking that the troops might be fur
nished with beef cattle on the hoof,
which could follow the army over any
road and which would keep in good
condition on the luxuriant grasses of
Cuba and Porto Rico. This was the
system pursued in our Civil War. No
one has yet explained why it was aban-
doned for the experiment of furnishing
this kind of beef to places in the tropics
where it had to be hauled in wagons for
many hours over muddy roads, and
when most of the wagons required to
move it promptly had to be left behind
for want of water transportation.
The matter of the refrigerated or so
called 'embalmed" beef is, however, OF
very slight consequence compared with
that of the canned roast beef. The use
of that beef as an army ration in this
country, at least, was new. Officer
after officer has testified before the
court of inquiry that they never saw ii
so issued before the Cuban campaign.
1t is true that the navy uses it, but the
facilities on shipboard for caring for
and cooking food are SO different and SC
superior to those of an army in the field
that no comparison can justly be made
between them. Moreover, as was
lrecently stated in the Army and Navy
Journal, the belief is general in the
navy that the canned beef it had reject
ed on inspection was afterward sold to
the army and accepted by it without
inspection. Be this as it may, the evi.
dence is overwhelming that the canned
roast beef which was issued to the army
was repulsive in appearance and disa-
greeable in smell; that it was not only
without nutrition, but made those i'll
who ate it. AS one witness tersely
stated, SIT seemed like boiled rope y
lGOvernor Roosevelt says in his testi
mony that from generals to privates
he never heard any one who did moi
condemn it as an army ration" Its
defects appeared on the voyage to San
tiago, if not before. 1t waa then so baG
that the men would not touch it, and al
lGovernor Roosevelt says in his article
in Scribner's, his Rough Riders, wht
certainly were not particular, could MOI
eat it, and as it constituted one-third O
the rations, his men had to go hungry
And yet, in spite of these facts, {
million pounds of that beef was pur
chased from Armour & Co. alone, ant
/, its issue was confined not only in Cub;
but in Porto Rico. What is worse thai
all, after its defects were fully known i
was issued as travelling ration to th'
! fever-racked men on their homewart
voyage to this country; men who needed
and were entitled to receive the mos
nourishing food and to whom this indi
gestible stuff was poison. This shoul'
never be forgotten Or forgiven by tn
plain people of the country.
The real point upon which publi
, attention should be concentrated witt
reference to this matter is the selection
by the authorities at Washington of al
improper article of food in the begin
ming and in persisting in it's use afte
experience had shown it was unfit TO
service. do not believe that this is t.
bo aScrihod tn oorr,1ption tbiDLr ~ 4;
caused by the Capitalization and divides