The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-02-04
He viii Appoint Court Of Inquiry TO Look
Into The Whole Matter.
THE SCOPE OF THE NEW INQUIRY.
While il Has Not Been Definitely Decided on il
VIII Certainly Embrace The Charges
Made by General Miles.

Washington. Feb. 4.--The purpose CT
the president TO terminate the unsats
factory state of affairs that has existed
for some time as the result of the num-
erous charges and counter-charges and
interviews respecting the character OF
the army beef, by instituting a formal in
qulry into these matters and endeavor-
Ing TO place the responsibility where il
belongs, Is made known.
This inquiry will not be undertaken
before the commi ission 10 investigsie the
conduct OF the war has made its repor.
10 the president The scope OF this new
inquiry has not been defined, but il GER
tainly will embrace the allegations made
by General Miles as 10 the character Of
the army supplies and will involve that
officer to the extent that he must make
these charges good and TO that degree
viii be on trial himself In preliminary
manner. Should the charges be found
well established, a heavy responsibility
would be placed upon the packers and
persons concerned i'm the meat inspec-
ton and perhaps Others; should they fall
unsupported. General Miles may be
obliged 60 answer to a court martial for
rejecting upon the character Of other Of
hccrs.
There are two methods by which such
an investigation may be conducted, ac-
cordlng TO established military usage.
The first is by the appointment OF court
OF inquiry and the second by the appoint
ment Of what Is known as an officers or
inspection board. In the former case IL
would be necessary TO name some officer
who Is TO be the subject OF the inyestiga-
tion. In the latter the board IL charged
simply TO inquire into a state Of facts
or alleged facts, without reference 10
any particular ptrsoa. and to place re-
spouslbiity, II possible. for anything OF
which complaint is made. The boards
findings may serve as the basis for
court martial quite as effectively as the
findings OF a court OF inquiry. and the
board has some advantages in that il
does not begin with the presumption Of a
court of i9auiry.
Where a court OF inquiry is ordered. ii
is said there is conveyed "a distinct re-
Election upon the officer named. Because
of this, when the navy department re-
quested the war department to order
court OF inquiry to investigate the cir
cumstsncss attending the killing of
number OF Spanish prisoners on board
the Harvard, the latter department. in
stead ordered an inspection board, con-
sdering that the ordering OF the court
OF inquiry might be looked upon as pre-
decision against our troops.
Such officers boards are frequently or
dered TO fix responsibility for the loss or
damage OF stores, and several OF them
have been appointed during the war -
look into the loss OF meats, notably in
the case OF that shipped 10 Porto Rico
and returned TO Montauk Point. Like
court OF inquiry. these boards return
statements OF facts developed by them
upon which the superior authorities can
act
II In not possible at present to learn in
which direction the president leans, but
he has been I'm conference on the subject
with The secretary OF war and the at
torney general. and the matter nas been
discussed in the cabinet 10 some extent.
As before stated. however, no action is
10 be taken on either plan until the re-
port of the war Investigation commission
e. submitted.
discuss In any manner the events OF yeF-
terday SO far AZ they related TO himself,
or TO discuss any statements contained
I'm any OF the interviews attributed TO
him. IL may be said OF these interviews
that. while II IS conceivable they might
figure. they would not DO so of neces-
sity. for the matters to be first looked
into are those connected with the charac-
ter of The army beef.
General Miles WAS questioned regard
ing the reported statements that he
had denied the accuracy of the inter
views concerning beef furnished TO the
army, which were publiched while on his
recent visit TO New York. He cour-
teously declined TO be drawn into any
discussion OF that or other newspaper
appertaining 90 him Gen
cral Miles insisted that the question at
Issue after all was not OF this or that
interview. but whether bad food was
furnished the army.