The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-05-08
sal,ed. but that the meat wad not ola


or stale. sE
That the refrigerated bcdf furnished
the, army was mot doctored on treated
with my other agency than cold OH"
That the meat purchased for tho
army was the meat OF commerce: that
both ,klnds-refrigerated and canned
were such as ore we'll known in both
hemispheres as commercial articles OF
which there is and has been very largo
consumption, not only by tho trade gem
orally, but by the United Sntes navy
and by the armies and naEies Of Eu-
rope"
That no reports ofunftness or insult
ability of tho beaf sent from the United
States were forwarded 10 the war de-
partnent by any general officer serying
in Cuba, or Porto Rico, while the field
operations were IN progress. nor were
any such reports received until more
than one month otter hostilitics
ceuSed.
That barring some defects In methods
Of inspecting the beef on It's delivery to
the subsistence department, the do
tcrioratlon OF the meat in shipment was
due to the fault OF no one.
The charges OF General Miles. Us
made In newspaper interviewB. as well
as those made before the war investl-
eating commission, aro rrfer11d to at
length. among them being the interview
with tho general, sent out from tho
New York office OF the Associated Press.
in which General Miles was quoted as
saying that he had Overwhelming evil
dencn that the beef whs treated With
chemicals to preserve 1t, and that he
had aiiidavIts from mon who saw the
beef undergoing the cmbalming pro-
cess"
The court notes the denial which Cen
cral Miles made Of this rart Of the con-
vrrsation as 1t was printed In the New
York Herald. but prints the charge as n
part OF the allegation, saying on this
point:
Tho testimony of both Mr. Reed and
Mr.. Berry, Of tho New York Times.
agree In the verify of the interview as
reported by the former. and this IS
found in the Herald clippings. The
court does not. therefore. ignore this
paragraph. but treats II as part Of the
allegations which are under invccstlga-
tIon."
Chemical Investigation.
Summing up the results Of the tnves-
tigation Of the chemists employed by
The contents Of all the cases, which
consisted OF boiled rather than roast
beef. were found to be perfectly sweet,
with an odor of cooked meat The beef
in nearly all the cans appeared to have
been softened by exposure TO heat, but
apparently without Injurious effect as
to Its quality; apart from this the meat
contents were found to be In Il good
state of preservation In every case. No
traces OF prcservative acids were found
in any of the cans.
There X; no testimony to the effect
that any OF the canned fresh beef sup
piled to the subsistence department
since April 251S9S, has been chemically
treated or subjected to the action of
prevcntatires Of any kind save small
quantity of common salt which has been
added as seasoning to the product OF
certain packers.
Several pages Of the report are de-
voted to the consideration OF the allie
cations made by General Miles that the
refrigerated beef was treated with pre-
scrvativc5, but the statement Is made
upon The threshold OF his question that
little testimony was submitted by him
In support of his contention"
The inference drawn by the court
from from the absence OF such testi=
hrohy Is adverse TO tho existence Of
practice alleged 10 prevail by the ma
joT general commanding"
DR.. Days Report.
Considerable attention Is given to Dr..
Days testimony concerning the refrIg-
Grated beef on the transport Panama.
and also to the report conccrninE tho
beef supplied to the im1nunes stationed
ut Ch!ckamauEn- Referring to the
DOCTORS analysis os rcs!duum from beef
secured on the transport, the court calls
attention TO the fact that he approved
the finding OF the board OF survey, and
that notwithstanding thpre we-e other
medical officers on board, no reference
was made by him to his suspicion that
the meat hnd been chemically treated"
Courts Closing Statement.
The report closes with the following
statcment: "The court, with deep
sense OF the responsibilities devolving
upon II, has lnborcd zeulously 10 bring
out the truth. and believes that 1t has
fully covered all the matters referred
to It for investigation. The calling
of more witnesses from the large
number suggested by the major general
have taken part in the operation OF the
war, would only have resulted In addi-
tional testimony on the same lines MS
hosei pursued. without throwing fur
thcr light upon the questions involved.
Several witnesses who were duly sub
poenaed to appear beforr the court did
not obey the summons. Some OF these
were called nj the instance OF the ma
for general commanding, others at the
instance Of the court. Having Rnowl-
edge of the fact that the statutes did
not make II possible to punish wit
nesscs who refuse to testify before a
court-mGrt,ul or court Of Inquiry. the
court took no steps to compel their at
tendance"
The document Is snGned byJ. ]. Wade,
Major General, u. S. ", president;
George j. Davis. lieutcnnnt colonel
deputy judge advocate general, re-
corder.
The foregoing report having been sub
mittcd. with the proceedings. the fol,
lowing nre tho orders thereon:
Executive Mansion. Washington, D. c.,
May 0. 1890.
The findings of the court Of inquiry
are approved.
(SiEned) WAI. M'KINLEY.
The court of inquiry. of which Major
General James +. Wade, u. S. v, is
president. Is hereby dissolved.
By order of tho acting secretary OF
war. II. C. CORB1N,
Adjutant General.
Miles has Nothing to Say.
WASHINGTON. May :. - General
Miles, when Nsied' tonight whether he