Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1899-02-21
FAV0RS BEEF ON HOOP
General Miles Appears Before the
Court Of Inquiry.
THOSE NEWSPAPER TALKS.
He Declares His Statements were
Misrepresented by New York
Papers-HOw He Expect
ed Army to he Fed.

! Washington, Feb. 2l.--The court of in
quiry into the beef charges has begun
work in earnest After assembling in
the Lemon building the members went
| to pay their respects to the president.
On their return General Miles appeared
before them as the first witness in the
inquiry.
He appeared In fatigue uniform and
was sworn. After stating his rank and
| office he was asked about his statement
| before the war commission. He said he
made one and. upon Colonel Davis sub
hitting q printed report of that state
| ment, General Miles examined and ap-
proved 1t.
| Then he was asked about an alleged
interview which appeared in the New
York Journal of Dec. 49, whether 1t rep
resented completely or in part what he
said. General Miles read it and then
| said:
"I do not recall anything in that in
terview that had not been given in my
testimony or transmitted in my reports.
| You will observe 1t contains a number
OF my declarations to name officers or
my authorities and my refusal to an
.wer. It must therefore be incorrect In
its representations"
Many Interviews Sought.
He then commented upon the general
slight inaccuracy Of newspaper inter-
views owing to the dependency of writ
ers upon their memories. Hardly day
in six months had passed that an inter-
viewer had not applied, and because of
the kindness of the press to the army,
~ icil 1,o I'D he ho6
endeavored to f'.e them such informa-
ton as he thought wise and safe, but
never, he said, with a view to prejudc-
ing any one against any person or de-
partment. Finally General Miles said
he did not think The Journal interview
represented correctly what was said,
because its contents should be taken In
connection with all that was said, his
silence upon some points and speech up
on others.
Then, being asked about an interview
from the New York Herald Of Feb I, he
said:
II have letter from the gentleman
who, understand. wrote this in which
he says he is willing to swear that 1 de-
clined to be interviewed and that, think
ing something had been given out, he
had proceeded to write what he knew
were the facts"
Interview Erroneous.
He then pointed out that the inter-
view was erroneous in that where 1t
represented him to have said that he
had overwhelming evidence that the
refrigerated beef was treated with
chemicals the fact was that his only ev-
idence was what was contained in the
reports Of officers and statements of
men who claimed that the beef had the
odor Of an embalmed body; that they
had seen fluid injected into beef and
other indications of chemical treatment.
He declared the interview an erroneous
presentation of what he could possibly
have said.
Colonel Davis, recurring to the state
ment Of General Miles before the war
commission, asked him what his idea
as to the beef supply for the army was
when the war broke out.
Replying, General Miles said, while his
attention was occupied with weightier
matters of mobilization and equipment
Of troops, he felt confident that the
usage of 100 years would be followed
and cattle herds would be shipped to
tHC army III tHe tropics anu NIIIcu tAeIc
Just as they had been through the south
during the civil war, in Arizona, Texas
and in Mexico, where it was so hot that
a soldier could not sit tpon the rocks.
He understood Cuba and Porto Rico
were excellent grass countries, and cat
tie could be shipped and kept in prime
condition. He reviewed his action in
cabling the department to send no more
refrigerated beef to Porto Rico while
he was there, finding it possible to use
beef on the hoof.
Plenty of Cattle There.
General Miles said that he understood
that our troops in Porto Rico We're still
being supplied with a form of refriger-
ator beef, although the country was as
good a grass country as any in the
world and the cattle there were plenty,
and the Spanish troops drew all their
meat supply from this source. Colonel
Davis asked if General Miles knew
whether Porto Rico exported any cattle.
Witness said it did to the number of
several thousand, and that they were
fine cattle. Still. he understood that
our troops We're not only receiving re-
frigerator beef at the coast, but it was
being sent into the interior. The situa-
ton now he said, was different from
that during the war. Now there We're
ice machines on shore. Then there was
not ice enough for the hospitals.
Recurring to the eXpediency of feed
ing the troops hoof beef in Porto Rico,
General Miles said he was much in ia
vor of it. He said that native beef kill
ed at night could be very we'll fed the
men the next day.
do you think" continued Colonel
Davis, that the native beef would keep
as we'll as the refrigerator beef in the
absence of cooling apparatus on shore ?"
II am quite sure it would unless the !
refrigerator beef was chemically treat |
ed with preservatives. If it was treated |
so to keep for Y hours after coming out
Of the coolers. Of course it had the ad-
vantage Of the native beef so far as |
keeping goes"
General Miles said his use of the |
phrase "pretense of experiment" In |
speaking Of army beef was unfortunate, |
He disclaimed intending any inference |
of fraud and said he should have said
the refrigerated beef issue was ION the |
theory Of an experiment" and "a very |
costly one"
Report on Hawaiian Cable,
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