The Portland daily press., 1899-02-04
MUST PROVE HIS Case.
Miles Statements To Be Inquired
Into.
THE BEEF CONTROVERSY COMING
TO A HEAD.

Process of Inquiry May he an Inspec-
tion Board-This Carries No RefIec-
tion Upon Parties Concerned
Presidents Leaning Unknown.
Washington, February Q. The purpose
Of the President 20 terminate the unsatis'
factory state of affairs that has existed
for some time as the result Of the numer-
Gus charges and counter charges and In.
terviews respecting tie character OF the
army beef. by instituting a formal In
quiry into these matters and iendeavoring
to place the responsibility where 1t be-
longs, was made known today. This In
quiry will not be undertaken before the
commission to investigate the conduct OF
the war has made Its report TO the Prcsi-
dent. The scope Of this new inquiry has
not been defined but 1t certsinly will en-.
brace the allegations made BY General
Miles as to the character of the army sup
plies and will involve that officer 10 the
extent that he must make these charges
good and to that degree will be on trial
himself In q preliminary manner. Should
the charges be found well established
heavy responsibility would be placed up
on the packers and persons concerned In
the meat inspection and perhaps others;
should they fall unsuppoi ted. General
Niles may be obliged to answer TO
courtmArtiAl for rejecting upon the char
acter Of other officers There are two
methods by which suoh an Investigation
may be conducted, according to estab-
lished military usage The first is hy the
appointment of u court of inquiry and
the seoond by the appointment OF what
Is known as an officers or inspection
board. In the former case IL would be
necessary to name some officer who IL TO
be- the subject Of the Investigation In the
latter ths board Is charged simply to in
quire into n state Of facts or alleged
facts, without reference to any particular
person and TO place responsib lity, IL
possible, for anything of which complaint
IL made. The boards findings may serve
as the basis for q court martial quite as
effectively rs the findings OF court OF
inquiry and the board has SONS advan-
tages in that 1t does not begin with the
prssnmpt ption of a court OF inquiry. Whcre
court of iuquiry Is ordered 1t is said,
there Is conveyed distinct renection
upon the officer named. Because OF this
when the navy department requested the
WAL ucPoitncnt w oAoeA SSeAs - -
quiry TO investigate the circumstances at
tending the killing of number OF Span
ish prisoners on board the Harvard. the
latter department. instead ordered an In
spection board considering that the order
ing OF the court OF inquiry might be
looked upon as q pre-decision against our
troops such officers boards are frequent
ly ordered to nx responsibility for the
loss or damage OF stores and several OF
them have been appointed during the war
to look into the loss of meats, notably In
the case of that shipped to Porto Rico and
returned to Montauk Point. Like court
of ina uiry, these boards return state
ments Of facts developed by them upon
which the superior authorities can act.
Ii is not possible at present 70 learn
which direction the President leans. but
he has been In conference on the subject
with the secretary Of war and the attorney
general and the matter has been dis
cussed In the cabinet to some extent. As
before stated, however, no action Is to be
taken on either plan until the report OF
the war Investigation commission is sub
mitted.
Up to the close of the day General
Miles positively declined to discuss In
any manner the events OF the day so fhr
as they related to himself or 10 discuss
any statements contained In any OF the
interviews attributed to him. 1t may be
said Of these interviews that, while IL Is
ooncei vable they might figure they would
do so of necessity for the matters to Q
frst looked into arc those connected with
the character of the army.