The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-12

While the report of the court of inquiry
has officially ended the controversy over
the beef supplied to troops In Cuba and
Porto Rico. it has not and was not re-
quired TO point out the defects in our army
organization which led TO ii and which
will lead to similar evils whenever an army
shall be called into active service.
The report shows that a commissary gen.
cral, entirely independent of the command
ing general. managed the commissary de-
partment. IL he had not been willful and
reckless, he would have been untitled by
actual experience for the duties of rationing
an army. He had never shared the feeding
of a large body of men, and he appears to
have been without special knowledge of the
torrid climate. the rations needed and the
best mode of supplying them. BY some
means he came to the conclusion that
canned beef was a suitable ration for the
field. so. possibly, with the consent of the
secretary Of war. he rushed into the market
and perpetrated the colossal error" of pur-
chasing 100000 pounds of ii. General Eagan
was an autocrat under the present system,
for the reason that the secretary of war.
a civilian. must depend upon the supposed
information Of the commissary general. The
troops in the field are under the control
of the commanding general. but the feeding
of them is devolved upon the head of a
bureau hundreds of miles away, who has
spent his life. not in investigating foods for
armies. but in signing vouchers and requisi-
lions. 1t may be that General Miles under
stood M hetfer ah0ut the rari0pS neodpf
than did General Eagan. but. having been
in the field with troops. having investigated
the methods of European armies. il is fair
to assume that his observation and ex-
~perience would be of more value than that
of the commissary general. 1t is at least
safe to say that had the decision regard
ing the purchase of such large quantities
of an untried ration devolved upon General
Miles the purchase would not have been
made. But this officer. the commissary
general. without consultation. without ex-
pertinent and against the general opinion.
had the power to make the purchase. In
deed, the fact hat the commanding general
or other officer commanding a large body
of men should make suggestions regarding
rations seems to have been regarded by
General Eagan as an unwarranted inter-
ference with his duties and an aspersion
upon his infallibility. making him willful
in adopting his untried ration and forcing
it upon troops even when it was known not
to be acceptable.
1t is possible, even probable, that Con-
gress will content itself with threshing over
the old straw. but If 1t desires TO remove
all cause of complaint 1t will reconstruct
the entire staff departments. 1t will place
all the bureaus. quartermaster. commissary.
ETC.. under the direct control of the head
of the army. Now these bureaus are not
really a part of the army. but are civil es-
adjustments, except that they are con-
tinuous. The secretary of war ought to be
placed in his proper position as the civilian
adviser of the President, through whom or
ders are transmitted. The secretary of war
should be deprived of direct control of staff
appointments.