The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-04-26
THE REPORT OF
COL. DARLINGTON
Analysis the Complaints Made Against
Army Beef.
WITH USE OF CONDIMENTS
Little Dissatisfaction Was Found With
the Canned Meats.
A CHEMICAL PROCESS WAS USED
For the Purpose of Preserving the Re-
frigerated Beet, and Commissary
Department Assisted in Expert
ment-Inspection by Boards.

Washington, April 25-The report of Col
onel Darlington, of the commissary depart
ment of the army which was offered to the
Wade court of inquiry but not accepted as
part of the record was made public today.
1t covers almost one hundred typewriter
pages, and is careful review of the sub
ject.
Colonel Darlington claims to have collect
ed the opinions of 3I6 officers and 1853 enlist
ed men concerning the canned roast beef,
which he classifes as follows:
Twenty-three officers and one man pro-
nounced 1t good or excellent; twenty-five
officers and two men fair or good with
exceptions;" twenty-six officers and eleven
men, ''mostly bad or unfit" 3O2 officers and
149 men, entirely bad or unfit"
He comments at some length upon this,
giving the various terms used to indicate
the feeling of officers and men in regard
to It, but says where cooking was possible
and vegetable and condiments available
and the beef prepared, seasoned and mixed
with vegetables, complaints were lessened
or modified and some even praised it as
substitute for fresh beef"
Use Heretofore Limited
Colonel Darlington re1erS TO the 1acL lnaL
the issue of canned beef was authorized IS
a part of the army ration as early as 1880,
but says that the use of the canned roast
or boiled article appears to have been very
limited before the beginning of the Spanish
war.
Referring to the Chicago purchases of
canned roast beef for the Spanish war, Col
onel Darlington says:
There was no inspection of 1t other than
that of other samples sold by the various
packing houses and delivered to the COM
missary officer from time to time.'
Colonel Darlington directs attention to
the fact that none of the cans bore any
label giving the date of canning, and he
comments thus:
'.How long the beef that was sold to the
government had been in storage was mat
ter of conjecture as the question or age
does not seem to have entered 1nto@making
contracts"
Colonel Darlington mentions the fact that
the first complaint concerning the quality OF
the canned beef was made by Colonel
Woertz I'm telegram dated Tampa, June .,
and directed to Colonel o. M. Smith, at
Chicago. In it he said:
Some of the beef is Objectionable and
cans here and there are fermented.
Received Prompt Attention
The record shows that this complaint re-
ceiyed prompt attention, that Colonel
Smith asked that the name of the packer
he given and that Colonel Davis. assistant
cofimissary of subsistence at Washington,
gave immediate instructions to investigate
the complaint and mot to send more until
further orders"
Colonel Darlington found 1t impossible to
definitely determine the amount of canned
beef destroyed, but he collected considera-
BILE data on this subject, finding out that at
least S1S pounds were acted upon by
boards of survey or inspectors and that
of this amount 5000 pounds were destroyed
and worthless and 5,744 pounds sold.''
He refers to the fact that the soldiers
threw away much of the meat. "They had
the alternative of eating this beef or going
hungry"
Colonel Darlington groups the opinion of
the officers and men on the refrigerated
beef as follows:
"Good or excellent" 76 officers and s
men, 'far or good if trimmed 1856 off,
GERS and S5 men; mostly bad" 40 officers
and 26 men; bad or unfit" 9 officers and
IA men.
From this summary he concludes that
about rs per cent. of the opinion was ia
vorable to refrigerated meat and % per
cent. unfavorable.
Colonel Darlington also devoted considera-
BILE space to the processes for preserving
beef. giving the details concerning the ex-
pertinent with the Powell processes. He
also gives all the facts going to show that
the commissary officers in Florida mani
tested disposition to assist in this expert
ment by having the meat tried by the
troops.