The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1899-02-16

done his whole duty. He himself had
rendered them every assistance possi-
Bile and said that they would bear wit
ness that he had not sought to influ.
ence them in any manner or in the
slightest degree.
In speaking of the report yesterday
to reporter a prominent member of
the commission said:
The report does not whitewash. 1t critcises
but not persons or things not warranted by the
evidence before us We stfrted out with the
assumption that the conduct OF the war was all
right ana then we went ahead to hear and call
witnesses who said IL was not. The report
represents the honest opinion of every member
Of the commission We were unanimous in
adoptingiL / say this, and am OF the oppo-
site political faith and don't expect and don't
want anything from the administration. l
know that every line of the report represents
my individual view, and If any member tried
harder than did to get at and out all the facts
l have yet to see him. There was no suppress
sion or concealment and no point brought out
in the evidence was evaded or CLOSED over
We never met before hearing a witness and
agreed not to examine him or touch upon cer-
tain matters that might turn out unfavorably.
Everything that a man knew or thought he
knew was the subject of inquiry and am sat-
ished that when the country gets our report in
full there will be no complaint either as to our
methods or results.
We havequestioned more than so witnesses,
and the majority OF them had some c6mp!a mt
that they wanted to relate In no instance can
1t be proved that we have omitted to call any
witness who has been brought To our attention
as having important facts TO disclose. But had
We desired to "whitewash" the administration
we could have had 3 900 witnesses who could
truthfully testify that the conduct of the war
nnS nj lrfrh n
but but they we're TO be expected. The soldiers
in the civil war never had hospitals or medical
attendance as good as was given them in the
war with Spain, and their army ration then
was not as eatable as 1t is now. The men who
complained the most of the food we found
were very generally the militiamen from the
interior states, who had been allowed 81 per
head for subsistence stores while they were in
state camps. When they went into the active
fighting they expected the same sort OF thing
In questioning these men nearly all confessed
to us that they had always received the army
rations They had no right to expect more /
could tell some very funny stories to illustrate
this There were many complaints brought to
us that on their face were foolish and false.
but we went to every trouble and expense TO
inquire into every genuine charge.
The report of the commission may
be in the hands of the president sew.
eral days before being given official
promulgation, to enable full consider
alton of the document 1t consists of
between 60, 900 and 65, 900 words. The
references to Gen. Miles, commanding
the army, are devoted mainly to
structures on his course with reference
to the beef issue as covered in his
testimony. In this connection a main
point made, it is understood, is as 70
Gen. Miles failure to take prompt ac-
ton in reporting on the beef, and, in
stead, waiting long period before
communicating the facts to the de-
partment, and, mean time, with the
information he gave in possession and
his judgment on the beef supplies
made up, permitting beef he so vigor,
ously condemned to be issued to the
army.