The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-09

Said All Beef He Saw Was Bad
Washington, April S.-The army court
of inquiry into the beef supplied to the
army decided today to adhere to it's
decision not to call the list Of witnesses
submitted by General Miles The read
ing OF the official reports was conelud-
ed. Mr.. Alexander Powell, the owner of
the beef process of which 50 much has
been said, was heard at the forenoon
session. He gave many details con-
cerning his invention, and stated that
he made an agreement with Armour e
Co. to nave them use the process in
case they could secure the government
contract. He stated, however, that
Swift & Co. had not had the use Of it.
He said the process was applied to
car OF six carcaSSes of beef at Chi
cago owned by Armour & Co. He had
made the arrangement with Mr.. Con-
nOrs, the superintendent of Armour Sc
Co., agreeing that they should have the
preference in the use of the process for
the use Of the government These car
cassea were taken to Tampa the latter
part of May last, and Colonel Weston
secured four of the carcasses. exposing
them in the sun for about eighty hours.
1t was after this exposure that Colonel
Weston of the cOmnissary department.
made his report, which was commenda-
tory.
WERE OTHER PROCESSES.
He said later that not to his knowI-
| edge had Armour & Co. used the pro-
cess during the war: nor had it ever
] been used by any one except himself.
| There were, however, other beef pre-
servative processes in the market.
Does your process resemble the en-
| balning process at aH?" asked Major
! Lee.
Not in the least replied Mr.. Powell.
! But L see no reason why it could not
! be SO used-why human bodies could
not be preserved by it's use. However,
| there is no resemblance to the embalm-
| ing process
! Mr.. Powell said he had known Of ho-
| tells in which beef prepared by him had
| been used for the past five years, and
in which it gave the best satisfaction.
| He had been shipping to the Compile
! du Barry for ten years, and he would
have no other beef.
He had only a verbal contract with
Armour & Co., but the understanding
was that if that firm got the contract
they were to have the exclusive control
of the process during the continuation
of the contract only. He was to have
80 cents per hundred for its use-abOut
5000 per carload. He had not attempted
to- make arrangements with Swift e
Co., the successful bidders at the time,
but after the battle of Santiago had
written to Mr.. Swift on the subject. fur
nishing him a piece of beef that had
/ been treated Nothing. however, had
come of it.
HAD THE ODOR OF SULPHUR.
Mr.. Powell said he, made no claim
that his process would not discclor
beef. Any process would cause a
change in appearance. After the use of
his process, beef would look ike meat
that had been in cold storage for two
weeks, darkening the grain and bleach
ing the fat There would be a smell of
sulphur for an hour, as sulphur was one
of the articles used in the fumigation.
The witness said that refrigerated
meat which had not ben kept cool
enough would look Shiny and be dark
of grain. He considered it impossible
to keep fresh meat for seventy-two
hours after leaving a refrigerator with
| out a preservative process, and he was
of the opinion that any agreement to
! keep it so long in the climate of Cuba.
after taking it out of the refrigerator
must involve some preservative process.
He thought if thoroughly frozen, it
would keep for from twelve to twenty
hours, and not longer.
Captain George B. Davis, who was
General Egan's principal assistant in
the commiSsary generals Office during
the war, was recalled to give testimony
concerning a shipment of canned beef
to the troops at Dunn Loring, Va. He
said many cans of the canned beef had
been opened in the Office. and he had
never found any that contained IN
wholesome meat. Before concluding,
Captain Davis asked permission to
make a brief statement in response to
Mr. de Caindry. He said that his
charge of the files of the commissarv
generals office was only perfunctOrv.
and that he had a search made for the
menorandas which Mr.. de Caindry had
reported as missing, and found one OF
them He had never removed any pa
pers from the files.
REPORTS OF OFFICERS.
The reading of the reports IF officers
was then proceeded with by Major Lee.
Lieutenant Colonel Bisbee Of the First
infantry forwarded the reports of his
company officers, saying that he con-
CURED in their expressions of opinion
Lieutenant Campbell King said that
all the beef that had come under his
observation was bad; Lieutenant D. c.
Berry said that it had no permanent i'll
effects. but that it promoted slight nau-
sea; Lieutenant Kilbourne said that
the beef was unpalatable: Lieutenant
McCue said that the men were enabled
to subsist upon it, but that was all.
After a brief executive session, the
court took a recess until 2 O'Clock.
Colonel Davis announced at the begin
ming of the afternoon session that the
court had decided to adhere to its for
mer decision to summon only such OF
the additional witnesses suggested by
General Miles as could give testimony
upon points not already covered by the
inquiry.
The reading of the reports of armv
officers upon the canned roast beef as
an army ration was then resumed and
concluded.
The reports read today included sixty
or seventy statements from army off,
Gers. among them the following from