The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-04-26

The undersigned hereby applies for membership
In the Society OF the Army of the Potomac.
Name
haIik...'..".
company
Present p. o. Address .........................."
We will see that prompt acknowledgment
is made of its receipt.
The Tribune and Grand Army Recruiting.
In another column of The TRIBUNE,
this week, will be found letter from Past
Commander James F. Fits, of Sprout Post,
Lockport, n. Y, and Past ]. Y. G. of the
Department, in which he takes The
TRIBUNE severely to task for advocating
what he is pleased to term indiscriminate
recruiting in the Grand Army. So far as
THE TRIBUNE is concerned, it could well
afford TO dismiss the matter at once with
the remark that THE TRIBUNE has never
advocated any such thing but inasmuch as
Comrade Fits takes the ground that all
recruiting is indiscFiIninate, in declaring
that the recruit should seek the Post not
the Post seek the recruit" we cannot let his
statement 60 unanswered. And first, as to
urged the importance of carefully scrutiniz-
ing applications for membership, &c. To
this we reply that THE TRIBUNE in its issue
of March Is devoted an entire column tc
this subject, and in calling attention to the
requirements of the Rules and Regulations of
the Order concerning the admission of candi-
dates expressly stated that it regarded the
safeguards thus provided as essential to
the preservation of the high character of the
Order" and that comrades should always
bear in mind that the question is one of the
applicants actual worthiness to undertake
the obligations of the Order.n
Second, as to the charge that THE TRIB-
UNE took its cue in this matter from Com
mander-in- Chief Van Dervoort, and that his
system of recruiting, promulgated in Gen
eral Orders, No. /, is "a deplorable mistake"
To this we reply that the results accom-
plished by that system fully justify the
Commander-in-Ch Chief in recommending it
and THE TRIBUNE in adopting it, Com
rade Fits has perfect right to entertain q
contrary opinion if he chooses, but the fact
that since the last National Encampment
over twelve hundred neac PostS-and we do
not suppose that even Comrade Fits viii
maintain that it is of much use for the re-
cruit to seek the POST when the Post
doesn't exist-have been mastered, is sub
stantial proof, in cur judgment, that the re-
cruiting which has brought this about was
anything but "deplorable mistake" In
fact, the logical result of the system which
Comrade Fits fayors would be the early
that the Grand Army takes the position that
it is sufficient unto itself, that moment it
viii cease to be the fraternal, charitable
organization that it now is. IF the day ever
comes when its members no longer care
whether their fellow-soldiers who are not
within its ranks are gathered about its
Camp-fires and admitted to its privileges
and benefits, that day will witness the decay
alike of the Grand Army's strength and
usefulness Conrade Fits says he predicted
the mischieVous effects of this "indiscrimi-
nate" recruiting AS he calls it-when
Order No. was issued, and that the results
as far as he has observed them, are fast full
filling his prophesy. We do not know what
his opportunities of observation have BEEN
but this we do know, that from his own
State and Department appeal after appeal
has come to THE TRIBUNE for aid in the
establishment of Grand Army Posts in
localities where, with a large soldier popu-
lation, not the first step had ever been taken
towards organizing any! We 1mpute no
blame to the Department authorities-they
have done their best; but we do say that
the spirit which would prompt any member
of the Grand Army, under these circum-
stances, to protest against the sort of recruit
ing which THE TRIBUNE has been doing is
neither fraternal nor charitable.
Comrade Fits maintains that the recruit
should seek the Post; with equal sincerity
we hold that the Post should seek the re-
cruit and for what seem to us, at least, the
most convincing reasons. In the first place,
the Grand Army, as an Order, stands in the
relation of q protector and guardian to our
ex-soldiers; it looks to their welfare, not to
its own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. For that reason.
therefore, it should seek to bring as large a
number as possible within the circle of its
benefcent influence. In the second place.
the Grand Army has need of aid itself. It