Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-01-13
RHEUMATISM


at that time the railroad tracks AT
Tampa were piled with millions of ra-
tions. Gen. Eagan said he was as
founded the following morning to see
in the reports of certain papers tina,
Gen. Miles had severely reprimanded
the commissary general, the chief of
ordnance and the quartermaster gen.
eral for the unprepared condition of
their respective departments.
Gen. Miles had no right in law to de-
liver such a reprimand and witness at
once had enclosed the clipping to the
adjutant- generals office, requesting an
inquiry as to the authenticity of the
report. No such reprimand was ever
received by him, and the general COM
manding had taken no notice of his
inquiry nor even taken the trouble
since then to declare the unauthorized
character of the press statements.
Gen. Eagan, in the course of his tes-
timony, this afternoon. said: Gen.
Miles was asked by your committee
how timed fresh beef became a part
of the army ration. His answer is
you had better ask the secretary OF
war or the commissary general l
think they can tell you. l know it was
sent to the army as food and the pre-
tense is that it was sent as an expert
ment.' N
Gen. Miles in saying that his food
was sent sent to the army as "A pre-
tense for experiment. says that which
implies corruption, which 80 out OF
every 100 people will understand to
mean corruption, because it was "A
pretense of experiment, he says, not
even giving credit to me for furnish
ing it as an experiment. but that I
furnished it under the 'pretense of an
experiment. This is serious charge
and should not be made by any mar
lightly nor without ample evidence to
support.
Taking the statement in the sense
that was probably intended. the sense
that will be accepted by the country
at large. the sense in which the press
almost wholly of the United States has
accepted it-indeed, some of the press,
because of it. called for my dismissal
from the army and my courtmartial-
I answer that it was not furnished
under the pretense of an experiment,
nor even as an experiment, and when
Gen. Miles charges that it was fur
nished as a 'pretense of experiment
he lies in his throat; he lies in his
heart; he lies in every hair of his head
and every portion of his body
He lies wilfully. deliberately. inten-
tionally and maliciously. If his state
ment is true that this was furnished
under 'pretense of experiment" then !
should be drummed out of the army
and incarcerated in prison. If his
statement is false, as | assert it to be
then he should be drummed out of the
service and incarcerated in prison with
other libelers. His statement is a
scandalous libel rejecting upon the
honor of every officer in the depart
ment who has contracted for, or pur-
chased. this meat and especially anG
particularly on the commssary gen
eral-nyself.
In denouncing General Miles as a
liar when he makes this statement, !
wish to make it as emphatic and as
coarse as the statement itself. ] wish
to force the lie back into his throat,
covered with the contents of camp
latrine. | wish to brand 1t as a false
hood Of whole cloth without a particle
of truth to sustain it, and unless he
can prove his statement he should be
denounced by every honest man. barred
from the clubs, barred from the society
of decent people and 50 pstracized THAI
the street boot black would not conde-
scend to speak to him. for he has foul
ed his own nest: he has aspersed the
| honor of brother officer without 4
particle of evidence or fact to sustain
| a y, ~ 1al lflS 1iholl11C
malicious falsehood: Viz, that this
beef or anything whatever was fur
| nished the army under 'pretense of eX-
pertinent. -
| 1t was such Indifference as that, he
said, that had license to yellow jour
nalistic knaves who had msrepresent-
ed and bounded government officials
throughout the war. Gen. Egan sub
sequently had tried to get his letter
of inquiry and press clipping from the
adiutant generals office, but it had dis
appeared and was nowhere to be found
Witness charged Gen. Miles directly
with disarranging and hampering the
administration of the war department
by calling off officers from duty where
their presence was absolutely neces.
sary. He intimated that Gen. Mile:
was moved to do SO by the Ignorance
and inefficiency of his own appointee
Major Black. who was supposed to b,
: the chief commissary officer on Gen
Miles staff.
Gen. Egan referred to Gen. Miles!
testimony that he had photographed
the department from Porto Rico fo
complete and proper rations," and salt
: that if the commissary generals offic'
had received any such message HI
should have considered it the reques
of a very ignorant and ill-informe(
Q person.
: Continuing. Gen. Egan. referring t,
S Gen. Miles expressed preference TO
native beef. of which he (Gen. Miles
3 said there was plenty, asserted ther
e were no cattle whatever in the neigh
= borhood of Santiago. The native beef
Gen. Miles referred to, Gen. Egan char
n acterized as stays, runts. bulls an,
o over-worked cattle. The use of sucl
r animals the department never woul,
: allow.
y Gen. Egan, quoting Gen. Miles's al
d legation that, in his judgment ther
9 was some serious defect in the refrig
y Grated and canned beef, said Gen. Mile
would not say this was anything NOR
shan his Judgment.
= Whoever" said Gen. Egan, calls /
= enEnalmed beef, is a liar'