The record-union., 1899-05-08
REPORT ON BEEF
INVESTIGATION.
Continued from First Page.)

CONTINUED from First Page)
''That no reports of unfitness or un-
suitability of the beef sent from the
United States were forwarded to the
War Department by any general Off
Ger serving in Cuba or Porto Rico
while the field of operations were in
progress, nor We're there any such re-
ports received until more than one
month after hostilities ceased.
That, barring some defects in meth
DDS of inspecting the beef on it's de-
livery to the Subsistence Department.
the deterioration Of the meat in ship
ment was due to the fault of no one. !"
The charges of General Miles, as
made in newspaper interviews, as we'll
as those made before the War Investi-
eating Committee, are referred to at
length, among them being the inter
view with the General sent out from
the New York office of the Associated
Press on January 31st, in which Gen
eral Miles was quoted as saying that
he had Overwhelming evidence that
the beef was treated with chemicals
to preserve it, and that he had affida-
Wits from men who saw the beef un-
dergoing the embalming process" The
court notes the denial which General
Miles made ON this part of the con-
versation as it was printed in the New
York Herald but prints the charge
as a part of the allegations, saying on
this point:
The testimony of both Mr.. Reid and
Mr.. Berry of the New York Times
agree in the verify 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 inves-
tigation.'
Summing up the results of the in
vestigations by the chemists employed
by the court, the court says:
The contents of all the cases. which
consisted of boiled rather than roast
beef, We're 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 injurious effect as
10 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
that any of the canned fresh beef sup
piled to the Subsistence Department
since April %, 1898, has been chemi-
cally treated or subjected to the action
OF personalities 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 sin
no case did the number of sweIled or
tainted cans greatly exceed in amount
one per cent. of the entire number ex-
amined.''
Several pages of the report are de-
voted to the consideration of the allega-
lions made by General Miles that the
refrigerated beef was treated with pre-
servatives, but the statement is made
upon the threshold of this question that
but little testimony was submitted by
him in support of this contention"
The inference drawn by the court
from the absence of such testimony is
adverse to the existence of the practice
alleged to prevail by the Major General
commanding.
Attention is then called to the fact
that the testimony bearing upon the
characterization of the beef deals with
it only at the time of it's issuance to the
troops, and analysis of this testimony
is made with the result of showing
considerable difference of view as to
the substances used and the mode of
their application
Considerable attention is given to Dr.
Days testimony concerning the refrig-
Grated beef on the transport Panama
and also to his report concerning the
beef supplied to the immunes stationed
at Ch1ckamauga- Referring to the doc
tors analysis of residuum from beef
secured on the transport, the court calls
attention to the fact that he approved
the finding of the Board of Survey, and
that Notwithstanding there were other
medical officers on board, no reference
was made by him to his suspicion that
the meat had been chemically treated.
Referring to this and to another in
cident, the court says:
The testimony shows that the beef
treated by the Powell process, which
was declared by DR.. Daily to contain
bcracic and salicylic acids was in fact
tread by fumigation, and the mate
rails employed contained neither bora
cic nor salicylic acids. The beef from
which the broth was made on the Pan
anna has not been positively identified
as refrigerated beef, and the connec-
ton between the residuum of the sam
pie taken from the ships cauldron and
that analysed by Dr. Clark has not
been esta blished 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 inn
possible to conclude that either the
canned fresh beef or refrigerated beef
appeared to any appreciable extent as
causes Of intestinal diseases
Speaking of the ration as a whole,
the court says:
AS 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 supplied.
without modification, to the troops
serving in the West Indies, was by no
means adapted for use in a tropical eli
mate. If this be true, the unfitness of
the ration should have manifested itself
by its failure to keen the trOOD9 which