Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1901-01-07
He GETS BACK At EN-
GEN. ALGER REVIEWS
ARMY BEEF SCANDAL
Says Miles Liked the Publicity He
Sought--HiS Allegations Not
Based on Facts--Praises
Shafter.

in the North American Review, on
THE Food of the Army during the
Spanish War;" Gen. Alger takes up
Gen. Miles testimony before the
Dodge commission on December Fl,
1898, relative to ,ne beef furnished to
the army and says:
Although the commission had been
sitting nearly three months. the char.
ges with respect to canned and refri-
gerated beef were now made for the
first time; and, stranger and more in.
excusable and more unsoldierly still,
during all these months, with this pre-
tended knowledge of facts, which. If
they existed, should have been made
known to the Secretary of War for
the protection of the army, Gen. Miles
never mentioned the subject. Nor did
| ever hear n rumor of chemically
treated beef being purchased for the
army until the generals testimony
was given before the commission.
THE allegations that unsuitable
food. not a part of the legal ration,
had been furnished to the army under
pretense of an experiment, and that
refrigerated beef. treated with poison
Gus chemicals, had been and was be-
ing supplied to our army of 275OOO
men. were indeed serious. implying
as they did, criminal incompetence
on the part of ,le commissary depart
ment, II not wilful negligence and dis
honesty.
Upon Commissary-Gener Charles
p. Eagan the charges fell with the
suddenness and sharpness OF a blow
from an assassin's knife out of the
dark General Eagan had been an
officer Of the regular army for thirty
six years. He had risen from sec
ond lieutenancy to the highest rank in
the commissary department to which
his ambition could aspire. Gallant and
fearless on the battlefields of the civil
war and the hostile Indian plains of
the west he had a record for soldierlv
qualities of which any officer might
well be proud. With energy. honesty
and zeal, he had administered his de-
partment during the war with Spain.
fitting climax to long and honor.
able career in the service of his coun
try"
General Alger pays high tribute
to the energy and fidelity of General
Eagan, saying he was almost prostrat
ed from overwork. he adds:
THE charges Of General Miles,
made so publicly and so positively,
and the manner in which they were
for the first time made known, seemed
to General Eagan. in his nervous con-
dition, the more magnifled and horri.
BILE. Upon hearing them he pitifully
exclaimed: General Miles has cruel.
fed me upon a cross of falsehood and
Misrepresentation
General Eagan had already been
examined by the War Investigation
Commission when General Miles hear.
ing occurred, but when the testimony
of the latter appeared in the news.
papers General Eagan Immediately re.
quested re-hearing.
General Eagan read his reply to
the War Investigation Commission
from a carefully prepared typewrit.
ten manuscript. Lashed to the quick
| by the allegations contained In Gen.
eral Miles testimony and in his sub.
sequent interview which appeared on
December 23d in a New York paper
his Indignation exceeded the limits Of
his self'control and in his efforts Ia
deny the charges made, his language
became vituperative, extravagant and
highly improper. | believe that had
General Esgans health not been Sc
riously impaired by overwork and
anxiety, the two Objectionable para
graphs-of 300 words out of an aggre
gate or 1000 words contained in his
| reply-would never have been writ
ten or uttered.
Even yet, Invested Of its offensive
adjectives in the two paragraphs re
ferred to, his reply to General Miles
remains unanswerable in It's logic
and incontrovertable in its facts. The
allegation that ! had inspired or had
any knowledge OF General Eagan's at
tack upon the statement of Genera
Miles Is absolutely untrue. He did not
make known to me the nature of his
proposed answer to the charges. Had
General Eagan submitted his manu-
script to me he would undoubtedly p,
this writing stih be in full possession
OF the rank and privileges of the of
nee OF Commissary-General Of the
United States Army" '...
General Alger tells Of upbraidinp
General Eagan for ill-advised ut
terances and says:
His court-martial was not the out
come OF General Miles charges, but
the result OF Incorporate and unmil
itary language conceived In an indig
nation pardonable, perhaps, In its ex
istence, but unpardinable In It's mode
OF expression.