The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-08

which there is, and has been very
large consumption, not only by the
trade generally, but by the United
States AMY and by the armies and
navies of Europe.
THAT no reports of unfitness or I'M
suitability of the beef sent from the
United States were forwarded TO the
war department by any general officer
serving in Cuba or Porto Rico while
the field operations were in progress.
nor were any such reports received un-
til more than one month after HOSTILE
ties ceased.
THAT, barring some defects in meth
DDS of inspecting the beef on its deliv-
cry to the subsistence department, the
deterioration of the meat in shipment
was due to the fault of no one.
Miles Veracity Questioned.
The charges of General Miles, made
in newspaper interviews, as we'll as
those made before the war inveStigat-
ing commission, are referred to at
length, among them being the interview
with the general sent out from the
New York office of the Associated
Press on Jan. 81, in which General
Miles was quoted as saying that he had
overwhelming evidence that the beef
was treated with chemicals to preserve
ii, and that he had afhdavits from men
who saw the beef undergoing the en-
balming process"
The court notes the denial which
General Miles made on this part of the
conversation as 1t was printed in the
New York Herald, but prints the
charge as part of the allegations, say
ing on this point:
THE testimony of both Mr.. Reid and
Mr.. Berry of the New York Times
agree in the veracity of the interview
as reported by the former, and this
is found in the Herald clipping. The
court does not, therefore, ignore this
paragraph, but treats it as a part of
the ALLEGATIONS which are under in
veStigation."
Summing I'D the results of the in
vestigations of the chemists employed
by the court, the court says:
Meat Sweet and Good.
''The contents of all the cases, which
consisted OF boiled rather than roast
beef, were found to be perfectly sweet,
with an odor of cooked meat. The
beef in nearly all the cans appeared to
have been softened by exposure to
heat, but apparently without injuri-
GUS effect as to its quality; apart from
this, the meat contents We're found to
be in a good state of preservation in
every case. No trace of preservative
acids were found in any Of the cans.
There is no testimony to the effect
piled to the subsistence department
since April %, 1898, has been chemically
treated or subjected to the action of
preservativeS of any kind, save small
quantities of common salt have been
added as seasoning to the production of
the packers
Detailing the numerous Investigations
of the keeping quality of the canned
fresh beef, the court concludes that
lin no case did the number of swelled
or tainted cans greatly exceed in
amount 1 per cent of the entire num-
Der examined
Several pages of the report are de-
voted to the consideration of the ailega-
tions made by General Miles that the
refrigerated beef was treated with
preservatives, but the statement is
made upon the threshold of this ques-
ton, that but little testimony was
submitted by him in support of this
contention"
No Practice of Embalming.
The inference drawn by the court J
from the absence of such testimony is |
adverse to the existence of the practice |
alleged to prevail by the major gen. |
eral commanding.
Attention is then called to the fact |
that the testimony bearing upon the |
Standardization of the beef deals with |
it only at the time of it's issuance to |
the troops, and analysis of this testi- |
mony is made with the result of show
ing considerable difference of view as
to the substances used and the mode of
their application"
Considerable attention is given to
DIR. Days testimony concerning the re-
frigerated beef on the transport |
Panama, and also to his report con-
corning the beef supplied to the i'm
munes stationed at Chickamauga. Re
fe,-f.iFcr n doctors lVCic of ,~acid-
uum from beef secured on the trans
port, the court calls attention to the |
fact that he approved the finding of
the board of survey and that notwith-
there We're other medical Of
fcers on board, no reference was made
to him to his suspicion that the meat
had been chemically treated. Referring
TO this and to another incident, the
court says:
No Acids Were Used.
1.-THE testimony shows that the beef
treated by the Powell process, which
was declared by DR.. Daily tc contain
boracic and saiicylic acids. was in fact
treated by fumigation and the ma
terials employed contained neither
boracic nor salicylic acids. The beef
from which the broth was made on the
Panama has not been positively identi-
fed as refrigerated beef and the con-
nection between the residuum of the
sample taken from the ships cauldron
and that analysed by DR.. Clark has not
been established to the satisfaction of
the court"
A chapter of the report is devoted ]
to the consideration of the cause of the
sickness in the army in the Santiago
campaign, but the court finds it i'm
possible to conclude that either the
canned fresh beef or refrigerated beef
to any appreciate extent as
causes of intestinal diseases"
Ration As a Whole.
Speaking of the ration as a whole,
the court says:
LAS to the effects of the food supply,
having regard to both sufficiency and
quality, it seems to be clearly estab-
ished that the army ration as sup
Piled. without modification, to the
troops serving in the West Indies, was
by no means adapted for use in a
tropical climate. II this be true, the
Infitness of the ration should have
manifested itself by its failure to keep
he troops which subsisted itself by its
failure to keep the troops which sub
sisted upon it, in the best possible con- !
iition for service in hot climates This. | !
n the opinion of the court, is fully es-
.ablished in evidence.
1.-The insufficiency of the food supply !.
n Cuba and the irregularity attending
Upon its distribution, due primarily to
/ marked deficiency in transportation
ABILITIES and to the conditions of the (
Weather and the roads, appeared to
;Ome extent, as causes of disease among {
he troops who were thus insufficiently
md irregularly subsisted.'
Court Compliments Itself.