The Portland daily press., 1899-02-21

Gen. Miles leaned forward. drawing his
brow TO q furrow and replied: 81 an
not required, air, to report 70 the commits
sary general"
"weli, did you report TO the secretary
Of war;" asked Col. Davis.
HE did not report directly to the SEQ,
rotary Of war because under q rula of
1850 the order should 90 from the adju.
tant general to the secretary.
His attacks upon the canned and re-
frigerated beef before the war commits
ion were then taxed up.
Continuing this explanation In answer
to q question OF Col. Davis, General Miles
said he thousht his use OF pretense OF
experiment." was unfortunate and he dis
claimed any intention TO impute to any
one.
Gas far as Indicating fraud" he said:
~ wish 10 state that no such Inference
was intended. IL was perhaps an unfor-
tunate expression and had my attention
tesn called 10 IL, l might have amended
II to say.weii, 'on the theory OF an el-
pertinent A matter OF tact. 1t was On
experiment and very costly one.
with that disclaimer" remarked Col.
Davis. "of course We win pass to the re-
frigsrated beef"
Then replying TO a question General
Miles said he first heard complaints
against the beef at Ponce. This first direct
chemically came, he believed, from DIR.
DAILY who presented IL late in September,
andt Appeared subsequently before the
war commission.
General Miles said he did not recolleot
whether DIR. Days was volunteered or
whether he had been ordered to investi.
gste and report en- the meat. II was gen.
eral talk among the officers at Ponce,
General Miles continued, that the re-
frigerated beef must have been subjected
to some chemical treatment In make u
keep for seventy-two hours. DR.. Days,
however. was the first official report.
General Miles then read long summary
Of one hundred letters received BY him NJ
army headquarters, giving the various
last terms In which the army meat was
characterized. These included 'em.
balmed," "decomposed, injected,
poisoned, +" spoiled" and the like He
said that he should liz September II, (the
date Of DIR. Days report) rs about the
earliest mt which the question of chemical
ly treated meat had been brought to his
notice so rs 10 command bis full atten.
ton.
Col. Gillespie took hand In the In
quiry when Gen. Miles finished, desc rib.
ing the nauseating qualities OF the canned
and refrigerator beef.
did you, general, ever eat any of this
beef" Col Gillespie asked.
i presume 4 ulu, hbuub lish itHib We
wefc at Ponce" said Gen. Miles, with
some hesitation. Eyes. ! presume did. ="
"rhen.' said Col. Gillespie. lit has
not such characteristic qualities as would
permit you to detect 1t of handr"
mo, sir. -
Other witnesses testified to the bad
quality of the beef.
The trend of questionsiput to this other
witnesses of the day indicate that so long
as they agreed with Gen Miles as to the
quality OF the meat furnished the troops
in the Held. the only crit cisin of their
position the court had TO make was to
ask why they had not taken sons Ollie
ial steps TO have the matter Temedied at
the time. In every instance the reply
was that the circumstances in which the
army was placed in sickly foreign
country with large amount OF fighting
and a great scarcity of transportation,
precluded the possibility Of any such act
ion. In each case the questioning was
pushed no further on this line. Ii was
said after the court adjourned that DR..
DAILY, whose original "embalmed beef"
report was the Genesis of the meat con-
troversy. probably would appear at to-
morrow's session.