The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-23
THE BEEF WAS TREATED WITH
BORAC|C AND SAL|CYL|C ACIDS
Experts in Chicago Testify That the Meat Was Embamed
The Roast Beef Was Of Absolutely No Nutritive
Value-Whoe Carloads Of the Stuff Re-
jected by Boards Of Survey.

1Sned their laDOfS IN CnlCaSO lO-uay ana
left for New York. The testimony of
Governor Roosevelt will be revised, after
| which the court will proceed to Cover
nor's island. The evidence brought
forth to-day was largely cumulative in
its character, consisting mainly Of criti-
csms of canned beef and refrigerated
beef from soldiers who ate it and
watched it's effects in Cuba and Porto
Rico.
David Fleischmann, bell boy in the
Hotel Morrison, told of a visit to the
| stockyards in company Of an unknown
man whose purpose he supposed to be
an experiment in the matter of preserv-
ing beef by chemical treatment
| w. c. Marshall, the provision spe-
cialist, whose testimony was expected
to be sensational, threw no additional
light on the question, his evidence be-
ing principally the expression of the
| opinion that canned beef, as now put
on the market, is totally unfit for hu-
man food.
Lieut. L. J. T. Hartman of the 1st
| cavalry, who was acting regimental
quartermaster while the regiment was
| stationed at Lake Land, Fla, was the
first witness. He testified that refrig-
Grated beef was received from Armour
& Co. At first it was very good, but
| in three or four days it began to get
| poorer in quality. In two instances the
! board of survey rejected the beef. In
| one case the witness rejected a whole
carload. The stencil was observable be-
| fore the car was opened. The witness
later got authority to buy beef in the
| open market.
David M. Fleischman testified he was
employed as bell boy at the Hotel Nor
rison, Chicago. during the month of
June, 1885,
One day in June" he said, "a gem,
tleman in room 13 asked me if l would
| be at leisure to go to the stock yards
with him. I went out there with him
and had to carry two boxes. He went
| out to see some man about meat. he
told me. We took the boxes and went
| to a car where there We're three or four
| rows of meat. In the boxes were sew
eral smaller packages containing light
gray colored substance. He put this
| into perforated trays, set fire to it and
placed it under the meat. He said it
was done as an experiment to preserve
the meat. l put my finger on the meat
and tasted it. 1t burned the end of my
| tongue. There was sulphurous smell
in the car and an odor which l cannot
describe I took the cans back to the
| hotel.
II noticed in one end of the car there
| was card marked Tampa, Fla This
was at Armour's packing house. There
was only one car. There We're only
about three rows of beef. I think it
was halves I asked him who he was,
and if am not mistaken he told me he
was a quartermaster or a quartermas-
ter general, or something like that He
was about five feet ten inches tall, wore
eye glasses, and I should judge was
about As years of age. He wore no uni
| form, but dressed in plain clothes. I
understood from what he said that he
had some connection with the military
| service"
DR.. e. E. Murdock, who was for two
years president of the auxiliary medi-
cal staff in the Chicago health depart
ment and is an analytical chemist, was
the next witness. He stated that he
had made several examinations of both
canned and refrigerated beef, dating
back several years. In the latter part
of June, 1898. he said, some canned
meat was brought to him to determine
it's character. He found that the meat
was apparently boiled beef; it probably
| had been boiled somewhat before it
was sealed in the can and somewhat
after There was in the can quite
quantity of common salt and also nj
trate of potash, called saltpeter These
preservatives, said the witness, must
have been in the can before the boiling
was complete. because 1t had saturated
the fibre of the meat and hardened it,
In his report to the gentleman who
| brought him the meat the witness
| stated that this was the great objection
to the canned meat it should be cooked
without salt in order to be nutritious
and the seasoning should be put in
after the cooking. The character of the
meat, in DR.. Murdock's judgment, was
low grade. Two of the cans contained
but very small quantity of muscular
| tissue which is the nutritious portion
of the beef. The examination was con-
tfnued by the boiling of the meat in a re-
tort to see how much beef extract could
be taken from four pounds of 1t; the
| amount produced was so small it was
not perceptble; it was not enough even
to be used as a culture medium in eX-
periments in bacterclogy.
/ With reference to the examination of
fresh beef, the witness said that at
three different times there were brought
TO him pieces of what seemed to be or
| binary meat frcm the markets, which
evidently had been kept for some time,
| presumably in a refrigerator.
"I found salt in a very small guam
tity," said DIR. MurdOck, land some of
the meat was coated with boracic acid.
| In other specimens l found that they
| had been coated with a preparation Of
| salicylic acid for preserving the meat.
have the opinion that ealicylic acid
was not only detrimental to digestion,
| but produced nausea. Boracic acid
which in itself is not nauseating, delays
the process of digestion and hence is
not a fit preservative for meat used as
a diet. I understand this to be refriger-
! ator beef; found boracic ac'd in two
| specimens and saliCyliC acid in one
These experiments We're made about the
middle of June 1898"
Colonel Davis: Had it any connec-
ton with the governments"
Il don't know that it did
Was it delivered to you by any one
connected with the government? Had
| he contract relations with the United
| StatpSor