The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-03-20
THE BEEF INQUIRY.


FROM the ChlcagO Record.
The disclosures made through the inves-
legations of the army board during its
sessions I'm Chicago hold out the pros
pect that at last the government ana the
public are getting at the truth of the mat
ter. The inquiry conducted I'm this city
has furnished the specific facts which
previously had been lacking
O.
The court came to Chicago with view
to looking into the methods employed in
canning and shipping beef under the gov
ernment contracts. The information ac
tually secured covers much more than
this. IT has been shown that although
canned roast beef"--which Is boiled beef
minus the beef eXtract-was q food prod
uct of uDtestod utility for troops in the
field the commissary ger eral took 1T upon
himself TO order over 2,5OU0UO pounds OF
that commodity. 1t has been shown, also,
among the other mistG kes included in the
comprehensive system Of laundering
which marked the management of the
commissary, that the beef was not even
delivered to the soldiers In accordance
with the conditions which the beef pack
ers specified as necessary If it were to ne
with the conditions v hich the beef pack
One of the packers declared that the beef
for which the Commissary department
had contracted was never assumed to be
in condition to stand more than twenty
four hours exposure in the Cuban cli-
mate. General Eagan during the inves-
tigation at Washington testified that the
meat was guaranteed to keep for seventy
two hours, but the packers avowed that
ii would keep only Il day. and then orly
with the exercise of "reaSona bic care"
C.
But this is not all. If the commissary
| department made its original contracts
unguardedly it was also lax IN finding a
means of getting the beef promptly to its
destination. One witness testified that q
| transport which had been laden with the
beef and ordered to Porto Rico arrived
| at it's destination only to be advised that
| the troops there had fresh beef on shore
| and that the transport would do well to
| carry its cargo elsewhere The transport
remained at anchor a whole week. finally
| going to another port on the island, where
| II discharged small part OF its beef.
which was transported fifteen miles in
| land. The beef was spoiled when it
reached the soldiers. With the remainder
of the cargo the ship was then ordered
| back to New York, where the beef had to
| be condemned. In other cases the beef
| was found to have spoiled while on ship
board or within very short time after
| unloading, and the testimony of some of
the witnesses goes to show that when it
actually did find It's way to the camps
| ii was in n disgusting state of decomposi-
| tion. There is one instance of a whole
company made sick by ptomaine poison
| ing, and the cases i'm which unavaling eff
| forts We're made to force the beef on
nauseated soldiers are numerous.
The evidence thus far secured seems to
| fit together with the story of misman-
| aCement for which the administrative
/ branch of the war department has been
| responsible. 1t serves to sustain the pre-
vious charges to the effect that the CON
| tracts for the beef were unwisely made
! in the first place, that the system of in
| spection was lax and that much bad beef
| actually was served to the soldiers, while
| some good beef was allowed to spoil
! through carelessness i'm arranging for
| transportation. Evidently General Miles
| and his partisans have not been COM
planning without cause.