| Show iiAsrIE T AN I1ftll Fi y MEN AND VOM N Old Soldiers i Pittsburg the Heroes of the Hour BIG DECREASE IN MEMBERSHIP SHOWN SONS OF VETERANS WILL CARRYON CARRY-ON THE WORSt 01 Duty of the Old Soldiers and Sailors Is to Conserve the Safety of the Nntlon Armor Plate Fraud Come Tip Henry Wattersons Eloquent Plea in Behalf of Louisville an the Next Place of Meeting Pensions For Nnrses The Poltlcnl Situaton Mixed Pittsburg Pa Sept 12Whiid 200000 personshave left thecity since yesterday yester-day there are still 200000 strangers In town The national encampment of the G A R opened this morning in the new grand opera house The delegates were welcomed on behalf of the citizens executive ex-ecutive board by Chairman Daniel C Rlpley and W C Quincy Governor Pattlson welcomed them on behalf of the state Mayor McKenna of Flttsburg and Mayor Kennedy of Allegheny on behalf of the cities I The election of commanderinchief wU not be held until tomorrow Since the withdrawal of Judge Charles D Long of Michigan the opinion Is rapIdly rap-Idly growing that Colonel I N Walker of Indiana wU secure the coveted nonor The Womans Relief corps of ladies of the G A R and Daughters of Veterans Vet-erans are also holding conventions The staff of Captain Jack Adams relieving i commanderinchief presented him and I his wife last night with diamond souvenirs sou-venirs Mrs Adams was honored by I being elected honorary member of the I staff She is the second woman to receive re-ceive such a compliment the wife of General Alger being the first I Annual Reports I The annual reports of the national officers were read CommanderinChief Adams reported c total membership of 369084 against 397J223 a year ago Each succeeding year he said will show a decrease The interest in the order however has grown stronger When the last comrade Is mustered out the G A R should cease to exist but the Sons of Veterans would carry on its work The pension department of the order had Investigated all cases of alleged I al-leged pension frauds Very few frauds I were discovered and they were the work of dishonest agents Adams complained that the pension office in i violation of the intended liberality l l gi 1 ei nf8 erality of the act of June 27 18SO rejected re-jected every claim about which there was the slightest doubt The committee on legislation reported that the greatest indifference seems to be shown on the part of our national j 1 i lawmakers toward the veterans and j I urged the G A R members to use i their influence with their senators and I j i I representatives to give preference in 1 every public employment to survivors j I of the war i Major A H BIruhfield on behalf of i the citizens I presented the commander I inchief with a gavel made of wood j from Fort Sumpter Appomattox Gettysburg Get-tysburg and Libby prison and bound with metal from a historic cannon A reception was given to General Daniel E Sickles by members of his old corps the Third I Duty of Old SoItHcr General Charles H T Collins of New York In a brief speech said I I was the duty of the old soldiers and sailors to conserve the safety of the saiors nation and they should train their sons to carry on the work Then he referred to the alleged armor plate frauds and insisted that the investigation should not be allowed to drop and i the authorities au-thorities failed to act the veterans should take such action at the next election as would remove the delinquent officials and put more zealous and patriotic pa-triotic men In their places General Collins presented the matter In the form of a resolution I was declared de-clared out of order The last parade of the encampment occurred this afternoon when the Union exprisoners of war turned oat 10000 strong every state In the Union hiving one representative or more in their ranks John H Hancock was the marshal Louisville Ky was unanimously selected se-lected as the place for meeting of the next G A R encampment IVntternons Welcome I Henry Watterson was Introduced to the delegates and in presenting the claims of Louisville for the next encampment en-campment he said I have come with a message from your countrymen who dwell on what was once the other side of the line but whose hearts beat In ready response to your hearts and who bid me tell you that they want to see you Candor compels me to say that there was a ilma when their d not waat t see j you There was a time when without I any invitation whatever either writ ten or verbal without so much as an I Intimation of hospitality you insisted upon giving us the honor of your company com-pany and as i turned out when we were but illprepared to receive you I I was a pity now that we are prepared pre-pared now that the lid is off the pot and that the latchstring hangs outside out-side the door you should refuse us the happiness of entertaining you not with bloody hands to hospitable graves but as friends and brothers fellow citizens who learned to value one another an-other amid scenes that left no time for equivocation and transactions applying apply-ing to human virtues the very highest test testMrs Mrs General Custer sent to the national na-tional encampment for use during the present sesslpn the table upon which General Lee signed the articles of capitulation The table was originally the property of General Sheridan but he gave i to General Custer Pensions For Nurses Pittsburg Pa Sept 12The Wo mens Relief corps held its first session today National President Mrs Sarah I C Mink in her report said the movement move-ment to obtain pensions for army nurses had been pushed during the year and referred to work in securing a general observance of memorial day The report of the national secretary Mrs Sarah E Phillips shows Number i Num-ber of corps 26S6 amount expended for relief during the year 6415159 I amount turned over to posts 53018171 i amount expended for Memorial day 1382737 amount expended for W R I C homes 582481 distributed to army nurses not In home 450 expended In pension work 2o96S expended in relief re-lief from national relief fund 150 i total cash expenditures 11481516 Amount of relief other than money l ifa tt 1 i 5573910 Total amount of expend tures during the year 170054 Total amount of relief since organization organiza-tion 103156025 The national chaplain reported 299 109 soldier graves decorated May 30 1894 at a cost of 1265472 The Daughters of Veterans held avery I a-very brief session this morning and adjourned until tomorrow when they elect national officers II I I Political Situation MIxed I Pittsburg Sept 12The political situation of the G A R is very much mixed The friends of each of the candidates for commanderinchief claim to have enough votes pledged to elect their man and have regularly organized campaign committees which are hard at work No point Is left uncovered un-covered As there are but two candidates candi-dates the canvass is all the more vigorous I This evening the Walker men revised I their returns and claimed that they had a majority of 128 They say they have Maine Montana Indiana Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania New Jersey Massachusetts Delaware Ohio all but three half of Michigan and all of Nebraska Kentucky Ken-tucky Washington Alaska California Potomac Mississippi Department of sslslppi Louisiana Texas and the majority of < Wisconsin I their claims are true Walkers election Is certain but the Lawier people claim to be able to beat him out with New York solid New S Jersey all but two or three Maryland practically solid New Hampshire Illinois nois Iowa Minnesota North and South Dakota Washington Oregon and Montana S Wisconsin voted 18 to 12 in favor of I j Lawler but its unit vote may be fore jed i j-ed and given to him Lawler claims i I the majority of Michigan all of Connecticut Con-necticut Vermont Rhode Island Dis nectcut trict of Columbia a little less than half of Ohio all of Kansas Ohio Florida and probably half of California In the Pennsylvania caucus Walker had 42 to 41 for Lawler The Lawler Ites think they can force the unit rule I On account of these conflicting claims the final vote will be required to set tie the matter By custom the state in which the encampment Is held Is given the national senior vicecom manderlnchief A P Burchfield of I Allegheny City will have no opposition I opposi-tion for the position I |
