The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-04-19
YESTERDAYS PROCEEDINGS.
Testimony Of General Wade and G.. l..
TAYLOR. a Chemist.

u
WASHINGTON, April 1S.-The Wade court
of inquiry held three sessions to-day. de-
voting the forenoon to an executive meet
ing, the afternoon to hearing testimony and
the evening to the reading of reports of army
officers. General Weston related the pro-
vision made for victualing the soldiers dur
ing the war and contendsd that beef on the
hoof could not have been landed at Siboney.
George L. Taylor, Philadelphia chemist,
said he had detected the presence of formal
dehyde on the meat while on his way to
Porto Rico last fall as an officer in the First
Volunteer Cavalry.
Captain Irvine was the first witness to-
day. Under DIR. DAILY he was in command of
the transport Panama when the refrigerator
beef was thrown overheard on the trip from
Ponce to the United States last fall. He
said he had asked for the board of survey,
which condemned the beef. and that he had
made this request because of the putrid
odor from the refrigerator which was near
one of the wards occupied by convalescents.
This board destroyed all the fresh beef on
the vessel, 900 pounds. This occurred on the
third day out Previous to that time the
officers and men had eaten the beef and
found it good.
General Weston was then recalled. He
said General Shafter had not designated the
rations to be carried to Santiago, but that
he General Weston) had informed him daily
of what he was doing. At Santiago there
was no exact system for giving out food
supplies. They were given to all who came
and in the confusion II was more than likely
that some of the command received all beef
and others all bacon. II believe" he said,
''our meat ration is entirely too big and
am now arranging to cut it down materially,
adding vegetables to supply the deficiency.
The people in the tropics do not eat much
meat and our soldiers do not require so
much"
Would the wealth of standing of any
firm in your opinion justify any officer in
making his inspection of its meat less
rigd?" Major Lee asked
mo, sir" General Weston replied, en-
phatically. He then said that he had had
a good deal to do with some Of the Kansas
City packing firms and he had found they
always delivered food of as good quality
as they had bargained to supply.
Speaking of the canned roast beef Gen.
Weston said that when it was spoiled il
emitted a horrible odor He told of an in
stance in which five entire cars were re-
jected by one officer which on inspection
Oniy twenty SpOlieu cans. AS
matter of fact the beef canned for the
army last year was the best beef ever
put in cans, but it Gad been put up hur-
rledly
General Weston said he did not agree
with those who believed that 1t would have
been practicable TO land live cattle at Sib-
oney.
In conclusion, General Weston furnished
the court a schedule of the delicacies sup
piled TO the troops at Montauk. Among
these were over a million pounds OF ice.
2l coo dozen eggs. eco quarts of milk, T.
0c0 barrels Of pickles, aud butter, hams.
fruits of all kinds. cocoa, soda crackers.
juice. olives. lemons, and oranges in abund-
ant quantities.
Geo. l.. Taylor. sanitary engineer and
chemist of Philadelphia. who went TO Porto
Rico last July as a lieutenant OF the First
Volunteer Cavalry, said he had discovered
the presence OF formaldehyde I'm the re-
frigerator bees on the transport Chester.
and many members of the command had
been attacked by gastritis after eating the
meat This gas was. he said the base OF
nearly all .embalming fluids. When used as
a preservative on organic substances It's
presence could not be detected by chemical
analysis. With 10 cents worth of the gas
an entire carload of meat could be pre-
served. Used in moderation he did not con-
slider the gas injurious 10 meat.
Between sixty and seventy reports from