Daily Republican., 1879-10-14
PRoH yEsTERDAY's LATE RDITIOy. |
GRAND A.RMY DAY.
Tho philadelphia Veterans CeIe.
bratinE tho rhirtoenth AnnSyer.
sary Of their Order.

The philadelphia veiessss CeIe.
bratinE tho rbirteenth AnnSver.
sary Of their Order.
Propitious weather greeted the Grand
Army veterans on Saturday at the Gel
ebration of tie thirteenth anniversary
of the establishment of the Order. The
events comprised street parade, a re-.
union at the Permanent Exhibition,
and banquets in the evening at the
headquarters of the various city posts.
The procession formed at nine O'Clock
on south Broad street. In two columns,
and they reached from Walnut street
to Washington Avenue. The comman
der 'in-chief was William Earnsbaw, Of
Philadelphia.
All the Posts in the city of Philadel-
phia turned out In full, and the nun
Der in the parade was swelled by dele
cations from Posts in the interior and
some from New York and other sur
rounding Posts. Nearly all the Posts
carried torn and soiled battle flags
After the grand procession Of the Posts
marched by it was followed by carriages
containing a large number Of distin-
guished citizens.
After these came several carriages
containing members of the Grand Army
who, In consequence of the loss of a
limb in the army, were unable to walk.
The streets over which the procession
moved were lined with thousands Of
spectators, and there was an almost
universal decoration of buildings. The
Permanent Exhibition was reached by
a march through the Park. The pos t
had erected tents within the buildings
and set mp cooking apparatus, and after
review on the skating rink and a
speech from Commander Earnshaw, the
members were dismissed for dinner. A
theatrical performance OF The Ger
man Volunteer was given for the bene-
ft Of the ladies and children.
The Brooklyn regiment made dress
parade at five o'clock, and then march
ed to the Pennsylvania depot and took
a train for New York. A great camp
fire was held in the evening, at which
Commissioner of Pensions Bentley de-
livered an address on the subject Of
pensions. He said that at the com
mencement of the rebellion there were
only 1886 pensioners, requiring only a
little over sS0O,000 annually for their
payment. On the Both of June last
their were 244, ,54S pensioners, drawing
annually the sum total of $50, 100000
The whole number Of separate pay.
ments is nearly 100000, or 5000 per
day. There are now in the office at
Washington over 10000 unsettled
original claims.
The great number OF unsettled claims
shows that something Is wrong. The
principal trouble does not lie at the
door of the Pension Bureau nor upon
the failure of Congress to make the ne
csssary appropriation for clerical ser.
vice as has been charged. The chef
cause of the delay is the system of
gathering evidence to establish pension
claim, which is now wholly ex parte.
1t is gathered by the claimant or some
one for him, and is not of such a ma
turs as to satisfy the officers Of the bu-
reau that the claim is just.
MIR. Bsntly proposed system of divi-
ding the country into districts, and
commission consisting Of
two persons, physician and a lawyer
for each, who can visit the principal
towns and cities in their districts twice
a year, and there formally examine the
claimants. A hop terminated the fes-
tivities. 1t was estimated that fully
20, 900 persons entered the building.