Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1899-02-17
WAR BOARD REPORTS
BEEF FURNISHED SOLDIERS DE.
cLAREo NOT BAD.
Investigating Committee Sends Re.u,t
of Its Labors to the President-Mau.
agement and Conduct of the Army Ia
commcndcd-Report Is u~nanimous.

The complete report of the war inves-
tgatiOn commission vas submitted to
President Mckinley Thursday. The re-
port is very long and would fill about
thirty newspaper columns.
Naturally the chief public interest in the
report at this time attaches to the inves-
tigation of the beef furnished the army.
Upon this point the commission finds in
direct contradiction to Gen. Miles. The
commissioners devoted the last four weeks
of their labOrs to this subject, calling in
experts, physicians, chemists and pack
crs, as well as army officers both favora-
bic and opposed to Gen. Miles. The COM
mission called for and received reports
from nearly every command i'll the service
as to the character of the beef. Samples
were gathered from the commissary Off
GERS from the various camps and dcpots.
These We're examined by chemists for the
alleged chemicals.
1t is admitted that some of the beef was
spoiled when it reached the front, but
the commission attributes this to the cf-
feet of the tropical climate, and finds that
most of the beef was wholesome and sat
isfactory for emergency. The great mass
OF the testimony fails to corrobOrAte the
S1sssi tSS WI 1Slis MINUS, uilu tIt COUuIlllS-
sion emphasizes the fact that Gen. Miles
failed to report the alleged faultincss in
the beef while he was in Porto Rico, or
even Immediately after his return. The
structures of Gen. Miles made publicly OH
the beef and his public expressions i'll 9TH
err ways are subjected to criticism.
Thc Military Campo.
The camps are reported upon with much
detail. The methods of transportation md
distributing supplies are discussed. The
commission points out where some of
these might have beer improved, but it
finds that the War Department bureaus
did well under the sudden and cXtraordi-
nary demands upon them. Secretary Al
gers administration of the War Depart
mcnt is commended. The commission calls
attention to the unprcparedncss of the
country for war, which existed, not
through my fault of the War Depart
ment, limited as it was by Congress in the
way of keeping supplies for an army, and
points out the great work which was done
in n brief period.
Under the circumstances, it concludes
that the department. is deserving of praise
rather than ccnsure. The camps in Cuba
are discussed, n careful review of the
management of the expedition against
Santiago is presented, and the conclusions
drawn from it are favorable to Gen. Shat
ter. Tho evidence on which the findings
of he commission are based will fill Al
dozen large volumes.
The commission was organized Sept. "a.
1t has worked continuously, as business
men work, has had three separate commit
tees conducting hearings most of the time,
and has taken testimony i'll twcnty-three
different cities. The commission was
made up of Republicans and Democrats
from the North and the South who were
in the Union and Confederate armies in
the civil war, and who were in politics an
%tagonistic to each other. These men are
a unit in their report. which, written by
different members assigned to various
subjects, received the approval of all.
There is no minority report.