Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-01

standing and he had no personal knowledge
Asked by General DAVIS as to his personal
| experience with canned roast beef, witness
said he had used Ii only once at Baquri.
He considered 1t an unpalatable and Inferior
quality" Of badly boiled beef General Davis
pursued this line OF inquiry witness said
he had seen canned roast beef frequently
! "a his own post canteen and in the consod-
! dated mess OF which be had been in charge.
WAS 1t the same in the canteen that you
| had in Cuba?" asked General Davis
UnHt for Sick or Well Men.
| The outside Of the package was the same
] but not the inside. The beef we had at the
canteen at Madison barracks was quite popu-
lar for picnics and the like. II was a beef
/ that could be sliced down. II was good and
palatable. That l saw in Cuba was evidently
from the plates. chucks and nooks. ! do
not think in the cans | saw there was a
single piece that would weigh an ounce"
Colonel Gillespie questioned the witness
with some asperty when he ventured the
opinion that the meat was unfit for sick
men to use. but witness replied firmly that
he considered it unfit to feed to men. either
sick or we'll. He considered 1t responsible
in considerable part for the sickness and
stomach trouble among the men. He had
II frequently on his table, but never tasted
1t but once Neither did his sergeant eat 1t
more than a few times.
Lieutenant Colonel A. l.. Smith, chief COM
missary at Havana, testified in some detail
as to the purchasing arrangements OF the
commissary department when the war broke
1 out and of the proportion agreed on between
| the bacon and the canned meat in the ra-
| ton. 1t was finally decided to make the ra-
tion half bacon and half canned meat, roast
|
because there was more 10 be had on the
market.
Colonel Smith did not go to Cuba with the
Shafter expedition, but he saw a great deal
| OF the loading at Tampa. He had seen two
| cars of Armour's canned meat rejected be-
| cause OF the stencil arising from the cars.
| Tho contractor had asked leave to go over
! the cars and remove the defective cans This
was done, so he understood. and the cars
afterward accepted. He opened some Of these
cans after they had been accepted. The con-
| tents were softer than that in the average
| cans he had seen. but he should say better
| than some he had seen in Porto Rico and in
| Havana.
| When stationed In Porto Rico witness
| handled considerable refrigerator beef. The
Manitoba was the first of the meat ships
| which he unoaded. The troops seemed to
refrigerator meat. Some regiments took it
and some refused 1t. Sometimes one bat
, talon of a regiment would take it and an
| other would not Part OF the meat left
| on shore in the store house and spoiled and
| part taken back to the United States.
Witness inspected the beef only after 1t came
on shore. Part was mouldy and some was
| tainted, but the larger part was perfectly
| good
Governments Meat Contract
Colonel Smith gave his Interpretation of
the governments meat contract, especially
| the much discussed ''seventy-two-hour
clause He said that the contract pro-
/ vided for having a refrigerator erected on
shore. The meat was to keep there seventy
two hours and the commissary officer was
not compelled to accept it sooner unless he
chose. After leaving the shore refrigerator
| the meat was to remain good twenty -four
hours under tarpaulin protection. II 1t
| failed during any of this period, 1t went
| back to the contractor to be made good.
Witness had acted on this Interpretation OF
| the contract in Porto Rico and was still so
acting at Havana.
Witness said as to the Manitoba that it was
sent back to the United States with sick SOL
ders before he could get its cargo Of meat
| used up. He told in detail as to the out
fitting OF the Panama for its trip home as
a hospital ship, saying that it carried some
of the Manitoba's beef with it on ice.
Colonel Smith also made contracts for
| native beef, but there was complaint as to
this supply and some OF the commands asked
| for bacon in place Of fresh meat The bacon
issue was increased frcm one-third to one
half of the meat ration in some cases. Wit
| ness did not urge the issue OF canned beef
| There were complaints about the canned
| beef because OF the lack of vegetables to
| cook with it, but there were not enough
vegetables in the country to supply full
| ration Of these and the ration OF vegetables
was commuted to allow the men to buy for
| themselves where they could.
Replying to Colonel Davis witness said
that where the men under his notice could
get both sorts the refrigerator beef tended
to displace the native beef. Witness said
he never heard OF the use OF chemicals with
the refrigerator beef. He said there was
one comparatively small shipment of
canned prepared meat" 1000 or 5000
pounds. sent from the Dold Packing COM
pany in Kansas City. Witness had eaten
some OF this meat at the packing company's s
place in Kansas City. He did not know
exactly how 1t was prepared, but he had
been shown some white powder which the
company said 1t used to preserve the meat.
|
shipped on ice Some Of this meat had been
issued TO the batteries which had refused
the refrigerator beef and they accepted It..
Colonel Smith said he had recommended
this meat as a god thing, but as he recol-
lected he had been informed by the COM
mssary general that 1t was too expensive
to be generally introduced in the army.
Surprise for Witnesses.
The afternoon session opened with a sur
prise for the witnesses. On the long table
in the court room were eight plates, with
various stews and compounds OF beef, some
Of canned beef fresh from the factory, some
OF beef that had gone TO Cuba and back and
others OF fresh beef from the Washington
market but prepared as nearly as possible
in the same way that the canned beef was
packed at the factory
The enlisted men who testified yesterday
were brought in and asked to pick out il
they could the various sorts Of beef from
the various plates. Sergeant Alexander was
the first He looked blankly at the line cf
plates turned the samples over with the
fork and said that there did not any Of it
look like what we had In Cuba" He did not
taste any cf 1t and retired.
Sergeant Casey followed and picked out
the sloopiest looking plate as the cooked
Cuban article and the driest as the Cuban
he, IL