Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-01-03
'ALGER NOW
GETS EVEN
SCORES GEN. MILES AND DE-
FENDS GEN. EGAN.
IN A MAGAZINE ARTICLE
Former Secretary of War Writing for
North American Review Makes
Sensational Statements Concerning
Army Beef chanses-speaks His
Mind Very Freely.

New York, Dec. 29.-The North
American Review in it's next issue will
contain an article on Food of the
Army During the Spanish War by
Former Secretary of War Russell A.
Alger. In the article Alger defends
Commissary General Chas. Z. Egan
and roundly scores Major General Nell
son A. Miles, and styles the latter's &C
ton and charges concerning canned
beef as inexcusable and unsoldierly.
The former secretary says that Gen.
Egan was retired not as the outcome
of Gen. Miles charges but as the re-
sult of Incorporate and unmilitary
language.
The secretary continues: The al
Legations that unsuitable food, not a
part of the legal ration, had been fur
nished to the army under the pretense
of an experiment and that refrigerated
beef, prepared with poisonous chemi-
Gals, was being supplied to our army
of 275,006 men, were indeed serious,
implying, as they did, criminal incom-
petence on the part of the commissary
department, If not willful negligence
and dishonesty. Upon Commissary
General Egan these charges fell with
the suddenness and sharpness of a
blow from an assassin's knife out of
the dark.
No other supply bureau of the army
had excelled the commissary depart
ment in promptness, efficiency and
successful administration during tho
Il
anxiety for the soldiers in camp and
field was so great that his efforts in
their behalf, during the long, weary
days and nights of the hot summer,
nearly resulted in his prostration from
over-work. he had already been ex-
:. amined by the war investigation COM
mission when Gen. Miles hearing &C.
Cured, but when the testimony OF the
latter appeared in the newspapers,
Gen. Egan Immediately requested Il
rehearing. Lashed to the quick by
4 the allegations contained in Miles
testimony and in the subsequent in
Q terview which appeared in New York
newspapers, his Indignation exceeded
the limits of his self-control and III his
= efforts to deny the charges made, his
= language became vituperative, extrav-
. agant and highly improper.
). Gen Miles should have known that
II neither the secretary of war nor the
o commissary general could legally alter
A or add to the ration of the army.
!, The ration is fixed by law and its
q components can be changed only by
the president of the United States. If
, Gen. Miles did not know that canned
fresh beef was part of the army ra
ton, then he displayed ignorance in
an important matter of his profession
that is to say the least most remark
e able. If he did know canned fresh
beef was a recognized part of the ra
ton, then his allegation to the con
trary was so much more reprehensible
, The allegations ofMiles that canned
; fresh beef was not part of the army
ration and that it was issued as the
q pretensc of an experiment, were not
only contrary to fact, but were made
, absolutely without a particle OF evil
= dence or of excuse. Fresh canned
beef was preferred over corned
. canned beef because of the fact that
> the salt In the latter produced thirst,
| decided objection in a tropical coun-
a try, but the timed beef should have
q been used only when cooked with vege-
q tables and properly seasoned. In this
statement lies the secret of the course
of the complaint about canned fresh
beef. The only fault found with the
, ration was that IL was unpalatable
q when served without additional cook
, ing and without vegetables and condi-
, ments.
After these charges were made by
Miles, the most expert and scientific
men in the country were therefore EN-.
ployed by the government to further
the investigation-such physiological
chemists as Prof. Il. II. Chittenden OF
Yale, Prof w. o. Atwater of Wesleyan
university as well as DR.. w. ID. Bige.
= low, chemist in the bureau OF animal
husbandry In the department of agri.
culture. What did this
tribunal find? That there was no
foundation for the charge that canned
fresh beef was not part of the ration,
or that II had been furnished as the
pretense of an experiment, or that II
r was pulp from beef.
Astounding as this statement may
seem Miles did not base his allega-
lions upon personal experience or sub
init any proof In support of them. His
startling and scandalous accusations
! appear to have been based entirely up
on the verbal statements OF Dr. W. H.
DAILY, volunteer major and surgeon
upon his staff during the war with
Spain, and upon a single letter subse-
quently sent him by this volunteer"
In conclusion, the ex-secretray says:
The army had won it's battles in
, Cuba and the Philippines; Porto Rico
had peacefully come into our hands,
after few skirmishes, the protocol
had been IN operation for over four
months, even the treaty Of peace had