The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-03-22
THE BAD BEEF INQUIRY.
DR.. Sem Dlsapprovcs Of tanned Beef as
an Army Ration.
SAYS THAT IT CONTAINS NO NuTRlMENT
bat rhnt Used In Porto Rico Was
Not Spoiled. Though II Was Not
Properly Prepaid.

Chicago. March 2t.-The government
court oG inquiry tonight examined two
witnesses With reference to the beef ques-
tion-Dr Nicholas Sem and Lieutenant
Colonel A. ~. csrliss. Or. Sem entirely
d.sappruved OF canned roast beef as an
army ration for any length Of time and
Cerliss told OF the soldiers dislike for it..
The court will hold an all day session to-
morrow. expecting TO leave for So iorl.
tomorrow evening. The remaining W.T.
nesses viii DO those sugIesiad b, Mayor
Lee, in behalf OF Major General Miles.
DR.. Nicholas Sem OF Chicagu, WHO
served in Cuba and Porto ReD. testified
that the troops in Cuba lived largely Gu
canned beef. that was not roasted bat
Boiled, IL was tasteless and certainly APP
! peared to lack nItrlu0as GlaltiG.. as was
apparent from til snndiiion us the mcn
Wn returned from Cgba o MnErnb men
who had never baen IL, at wers grps ly
| emactated. He believe inat the meat was
| oyerdone that TIL 1 WIS sore faul. N II g
| process OF prepa.Gt,7u. ttar tho process
| has not been pe.ss.t tod. Tha. lie bacon
| was OF good quality, Ne could Sly nothing
about tho refrigl 'lL'h / ~ because he
| Rico He made n Tor nal inspection of the
canned roast beef, bet hal eaten some Of
| IT and his staten tnts WEE basel Jn Is
| own experience. The meat WAS c"t:tntly
| good meat--was NJ good Qullity, bug as
stated before was rot property ptf pared
was ovcNeooked in boiling He thought
one of the meat supplies for the future
for the army should Ne :r'ai heef Men
could be fed pnca Or twtla week. on
| canned roast beef without IL, effects on
the health, but IS \ daily ration for tpy
| length OF time, le would not consider It
safe OF advisable "a Ion. Whel tha rae k.
ers learned how 10 m tSe real roast rect.
he thought it w)Td nc al eEe Silent tnjr 2,
but not as an cTclI 5iVe Dict rho GAINED
roast beef was used very extensively in
cuba, but the ra-.In n Porto Rico vas
very much bett g -ceemed to be tettsr
| prepared.
In reply to General Davis. the witness
stated that the meat as prepared by the
packers, according to the testimony given,
would not lose muck Of It's nutriment on
account of being boiled in the cans. He
saw no evidence of the use of chemicals
In the canned roast heef He had heard
OF cases Of ptomaine intuxicaTon, but did
not see any. Ptomaines would not de-
yelop If the meat were thoroughly steru-
lied and properly sealed When opened
the meat should keep twenty four hours.
~ "SuAu AVt bc safe 10 eat IL dftet tudr
time
In answer to questions OF Colonel Gil
iespie, the witness stated that he really
could not say whether the fresh meat he
ate in Porto Rico was refrigerated or ma
tive; he thought II was the latter. The
meat was wholesome and palatahle.
General A. w Corliss, who was attached
to the Seventh infantry OF Cuba, testified
that he was shot on the 1st of July, and
knew nothing of conditions there after
that. Up to that time" he said, we got
good deal OF canned corn beef and canned
roast beef. also bacon in small quantities.
Complaints were received about the canned
roast beef; it was d@lIked very much.
The officers and men had the same rations.
He tried to eat the canned roast beef. and
| did eat 1t, but in order to do so we had to
mix It up with bareback and fry it.
we tried TO eat it plain, but could not; 1T
made us sick, gave Us bowel trouble
Major Lee did not cross examine the
witness aud the court had no questions 10
| ask.
The court adjourned until 10 o'clock TO-,
morrow morning.