The evening times., 1899-03-25
Must BE No scnpegoat.

Must BE No ScapegOat-
IL is stated. whether on sufficient au
thority is still to be determined, that the
Government will pay Swift & Co. for the
decayed meat cargo of the Manitoba that
was thrown into the sea, being unfit to
eat A special board appointed to examine
the contract is said to have decided in ia
vor OF the payment, although its report
has not been made public. 1t will be re-
called that Eagan testified that the
meat was to remain good for seventy-two
hours after leaving the vessel The con-
tract showed that the time was only TWEEN
ty-four hours When confronted with this,
Eagan explained that 'an error had crept
into the contract Nobody doubts that
somebody took pains to have it creep in.
if ii was an error. II the Government rec
cgnizss the twenty-four- hour provision
as valid, it is virtually a declaration of
false statement by Eagan. That would ne
cessitate another prosecution of that Of
ficial.
ButS even If it should appear that Ea-
gans testimony was false and that he
made the contract for only twenty-four
hours. not Il dollar should go to any Chi
cago packers until the report of the Court
Of Enquiry is filed and prosecution of
the pa ac31ers5 leads to their acquittai At
this moment when ii is proposed to pay
Swift d Co. for cargo of rotten beef.
there is unrefuted testimony that a large
proportion of the beef supplied to the ar
my was not merely unfit for human food,
but positively dangerous to health. There
has been no proof TO the contrary, and un-
Ill it is forthcoming the beef packers are
entitled TO nothing but arrest and trial at
the hands of the Government.
The statement that an attempt will be
made 10 throw the whole burden of the
scandal on Eagan and his subordinates may
be founded on fact. but ii is obvious that
the matter cannot end there. The packers
cannot escape Indictment and trial unless
they are able 10 bring forward evidence OF
which there is so far no indication The
scheme 10 make a scapegoat of General
Miles has been a dismal failure No mat
ter what may have been the prejudices and
predictions OF the Court of Enquiry, the
evidence publicly placed in its hands sus-
tains the Commanding General to the
smallest detail As a result of this, the
officials of the medical bureau who first in
sisted on the invaTiable excellence of the
meat and the Secretary of War and other
officials who scorned the warnings of Mr.
Marshall and subsequently antagonized
General Miles and attempted to stop his
enquiries must be made to assume the full
responsibility for their course.
There is no doubt that the War Depart
ment and the packers, who had been white
washed by the Alger Relief Commission,
looked for the same treatment at the hands
of the Court of Enquiry, which would mean
the censure of General Miles. But even if
the Court were disposed to follow the ex-
ample of the Alger Relief Commission, the
public is in possession of all the testi-
mony and a verdict that should outrage
the truth and cruelty justice would place
burden on the Administration that it could
not carry. Even the payment of Swift &
Co. for the rotten meat on the Manitoba
would be a scandal that would cause great
Indignation.
The public is bound to hold the packers
to account for the deliberate and criminal
sale of diseased meat until the sworn
charges of Thomas F. Dolan are refuted-
including his later affidavit that he was
paid FIVE thousand dollars by the packers to
commit perjury in their interest. Dolan is
still to be called by the Court of Enquiry
and failure to hear him will be construed
as an intention to shield the alleged crimi-
mails. II is not a sufficient excuse that the
meat about which he testifies is not proved
to have been sold TO the Government for
the use of the army. There is reason to
believe that the beef supplied to our SOL
diers included much that had been packed
long ago and had remained unsold, some of
it being recalled from Liverpool.