The Van Buren press., 1899-03-18
A FORMER GAMER TALKS.
William J. Wilson, of Chicago, a
Former Beef Packer, Gives
Out Some Pointers.
CANNED ROAST BEEF" IS A MISNOMER.
The Kind of Meat His Company Used
to Put Up Wns Not the Kind of
Beef Furnished to the American
Troops Last Year-Lives of Our
Troops Worth More Than Dollars.

Chicago, March 16.-Wm. j. Wilson,
former West Park commissioner and
founder of the Wilson Packing Co.,
which supplied the British army with
canned beef during the first Zulu
war, where the temperature was hot
ter than it was in Cuba Or Porto Rico,
may go before the war inquiry board
before it leaves Chicago. The Wilson
company went out of existence in
1856, and it has no successor, accord
ing to its founder. 1t is said the firm
was the first of the Chicago packing
companies to go into the business of
canning compressed beef.
Never Was Such an Article.
"There never was such an article as
canned roast beef for commercial pur-
poses," said Mr.. Wilson. at is posi-
bic to can it, but too expensive to
make it practicable. Every bit of
beef that is sold under the label of
canned roast beef is nothing but
boiled meat. Canned roast beef is a
trade lie, and that is all You can say
for it.
81 don't hesitate to speak plainly
about it, for the reason that | believe
it will do the packing trade good to
have this matter stirred up.
Meat Eighteen Years Old.
81 have some canned beef and
tongue at my house which my COM
pany put up Is years ago, and it is as
good and sweet as on the day it was
canned.
81 will not say whether the beef that
is being put up now will keep as long
as that. 1t does look, from the tes-
timony before the war inquiry board,
as though it would. Competition has
driven the packing companies to can
their beef in q different way from
that in which it was canned ten years
ago. To save money and time, they
have to use less effective processes.
Ment for the Zulu War.
"When the first Zulu was broke out
| was supplying the English govern
ment with canned compressed beef
not corned beef, but beef in square
cans that had been packed by vacuum
pressure.
"When the English troops were de-
feated the Zulus captured over $780,
600 worth of this canned beef and ate
it. / never heard of their being made
sick by it either.
Seriously Speaking.
Seriously, though, during the whole
of the Zulu war the Wilson Packing
Co. shipped thousands of dollars
worth of canned beef TO the English
army in the hottest country in the
world. Out of all that quantity we
never received a protest from the En-
glish government about the beef spoil
ing. Some of it was kept in the trop-
les for months-and eaten-and there
was no cause for complaint from the
English troops. 1t was not the same
kind of canned beef that was fur
nished to the American troops last
year.
"This beef the American troops
complained of, as / understand 1t, was
in round tins. 1t was not what is
known as compressed beef. 1t was
simply boiled beef.
Lives Worth More Than Dollars.
Business is business, but the lives
of the American troops are worth
more than a few dollars, and | believe
the war inquiry board ought to get at
the facts. 1t ought to give some of
these people a chance to tell their
stories
81 have been asked time and again,
since the talk about bad beef, to tell
what | think was the cause of the
canned beef spelling, if it spoiled. l
have my opinion, but I am not going
to express it,"