The age-herald., 1899-02-10
REPORT OF THE WAR COMMISSION Has Been Finished and Submitted to the
 President. MANY THINGS CRITICISED 
 TT
The Board Did Not Seek to Cover Up
 Any Shortcomings.
HUNDREDS OF WITNESSES EXAMINED
No Suppression or Concealment, and No Point Was Evaded or Closed Over-The Report Was Unani-
 mously Agreed Upon.

Washington, February 9.-The report of the war investigation commission is in the hands of the president and the commission is dissolved. All of the members of the commission met by appointment at the white house at 4:15 o'clock this afternoon, and were at once shown into the cabinet room, where they were received by the president. General Dodge. the chairman of the commission. presented the report, and the president in receiving it congratulated the commissioners upon the completion of their task.
 Seated around the cabinet table the mem- bers went over their work in general way, and at the request of the president read portions of their report which covered cer- tain points in which he had expressed an interest. The conference lasted about an hour and half, and as the commissioners were about to leave the president stated that he was satisfied that each member had done his whole duty. He has rendered them every assistance possible, and said that they would bear witness that he had not sought to influence them in any manner or in the slightest degree.
 A Member Interviewed.
 In speaking of the report today to Star reporter, prominent member of the com mission said:
 "The report does not whitewash. It criti- cises, but not persons or things not war ranted by the evidence before us. We started out with the assumption that the conduct of the war was all right, and then we went ahead to hear and call witnesses who said it was not The report represents ha bnpaSt OniniOn of member of the commission. We were unanimous in adopt ing it. l say this, and 1 am of the opposite political faction and do not expect and don't want anything from the administration.
 "I know that every line of the report represents my indiviual view, and if any member tried harder than I did to get at all the facts 1 have yet to see him. There was no suppression or concealment, and no point brought out in the evidence was evaded or glanced over We never met before hearing witness and agreed not to examine him or to testify upon matters that might turn out unfavorably. Every thing that man knew or thought he knew was the subject of inquiry, and l am satls- fled when the country gets our vaport in full that there will be no complaint either as to our methods or results.
 The President Did Not Interfere
 "The president never saw a line of our report before he received it officially; not
 
 talked with any of the committee about it. He has never in any way by word or action or messenger evinced a wish to have us develop anything but the truth or even touched upon tho matter of our work.
 "We have questioned more than 300 wit nesses and the majority of them had some complaint that they wanted to relate. In no instance can it be proved that we have omitted to call any witness who has been brought to our attention as having impor- tant facts to disclose But had we desired to 'whitewash' the administration we could have had 5,00O witnesses who would truth fully testify that the conduct of the war | was all right.
 "Of course there were some evils, but | they were to be expected. The soldiers in the civil war never had hospitals or medi- cal attendance good as was given them | in the war with Spain. And their army ra- l tions then was not eatable as it is now. The men who complained the most of the food, we found, were very generally the militiamen from the interiors of the states and who had been allowed $2 per head for subsistence stores while they were in state camps. When they went into the active fighting they expected the same sort of thing.
 ''In questioning these men nearly all con- fessed to us that they always received the army ration. They had no right to expect any more. I could tell some very funny stories to illustrate this. There were many complaints brought to us that on their face were foolish and false but we were going to every trouble to inquire into every de- mand and charge"