Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-05-11

possessions acquired rs II result OF tht
war with Spain and the general legis
lntion. including that relating to cur
rcncy reform, the Nicaragua canal
merchant marine" etc, are OF suci
great importance that the President l.
Inclined to regard 1t as advisable thni
Congress should act earlier than the
rcglilnr session In December In order
to get the work under way. The re-
tircment of Speaker Reed will natural
ly entail considerable delay In the np
polntmcnt of committees In the House,
as II Is customary to allow new
speaker four or five weeks to make VI
his committees. and this furnishes m
additional reason why Congress should
be convened before December. OF the
several senators and members OF Con.
gress who are going abroad this sum
mcr. the President has particularly
inquired the length Of their stay. and
has hintch that II was advisable thai
they should he back In the early fall,
ms the necessity for nn extra session
might arise. With others. II IL said.
he has discussed the subject. and more.
over II was uppn the Presidents Ill
rect suggestion that the caucus com.
mittec appointed by the House Itcrubli'
| cans to formulate u currency reform
measure met when 1t did.
The United States and GS'eat Britain
will stand together In the advocacy of
| the adoption of u sclicmc for the settle
ment of international disputes by ar
bitration which will he presented 10
| the disarmament conference ut It's
meeting ut The Hague on the 10th or
| the present month. The American
| delegates. headed by Ambassado:
White. are equipped with IL fairly well
digested plan for the execution of
this long-clierished project, while the
| British delegates are prepared with Il
plan which Is almost Identical with the
| American project. The details cannct
he procured for publication In advance
OF the presentation of the projects TO
| the conference. The American dele
gates go committed to this arbitration
project much more strongly than TO
| anything likely to figure before the
| conference. Regarding disarmament,
| their instructions are to tell the con
ference that the present armament of
| the United States and any within the
possibilities of the future. are so far he
| low the present minimum urmnmcnts
| with which any of the great powers of
Europe are likely 10 be content that
there II really 10 reason why the
| United States should he called into
| the ngrecn"nt. Other points upon
/ which the delegates have been instruct
! ed are correctly referred to In the cable
/ dispatches this morning. namely. the
exemption from seizure of Individual
property ana the extension of the Red
Cross rules to warlikc operations ut
sea. Another point In the instruc-
tiOns is tia; relating to the nmeliora-
| tlOn of the horrors of war. and with
this. too. the American delegates are
deeply concerned. 1t was because of
the Presidents interest In this subject.
as much MS for any reason. that the two
| Apf.,
Captain CroHicr. were included in the
American delegation, and the State De-
pnrtmpnt encourages hope that some
thing in this direction will bc accom-
plished nj the approaching confer
cnce.
BY direction of the President. who
approves the findings. Acting Secretary
of War Mciklciohn has made public
| the report and findings of the military
court appointed to investigate the
charges made by Major General Miles.
commanding the army. that the beef
supplied to the army during the war
with Spain was unfit for the use of the
| troops. The most important features
OF the report are: The finding that
the generals charges that the rcfrigcr-
| ntcd beef was treated with chemicals
were not established; that his allega-
| tions concerning the canned fresh or
canned rOnst beef were sustained rs
to its unsnitabli,y for food ns used
on the transports and as n long contin-
ued field ration: ccnStre of General
Miles for .'crror'' in failing to prompt
! ly notify the secretary of war when
| he first formed the opinion that the
| food was unit: ceilsure of the commits
siry general then General Egam for
the TOO expensive purchases of the
canned beef asjan untried ration: cen
l
staff: the finding that tho fnckers were
not at fault and that the meats''siipS
| piled to the army were of the same
| quality MS those supplied to the trade
| generally and the recommendation that
no further proceedings will be taken
| in the premises. The report places the
quantity of canned roast beef pur-
chased for the war by the commissnry
| department mt G.3hI.1Ii pounds. inc,s1d-
ing $4,000 pounds which was brought
from liverpool and other English
points. This amour. is characterized
as excessive and the cOmmssary gen
eral General Egam is severely criti-
ciscd in several parts of the docu-
mcntS on this score. One of the sever
est rcbukes is as follows: considering
the little use that has been made of
this beef in the regular army. the
probability that the volunteers were
entirely Ignorant of 1t. that its use as
II part of the field ration had never
been sanctioned by the President or
secretary of war, the court can but
characterize the action OF the commits
sary general of subsistence as unwar-
wanted and reckless in that he ordered
the purchase of such enormous Quanti-
ties OF food that was practically un-
tried and unknown. and the court so
finds. The court also finds that there
is no ground for any imputation what
the part of the cOmmissary general
than the earnest desire to procure the