The National tribune., 1883-04-26
GRAND ARMY RECRUITING.
Protest Against the Course Of The Tribune sn tia
Natter.


Protest Against the Course Of The Tribune IN tia
Natter.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE
There is nothing that the Grand ARMY needs
so much, in my opinion, as to have its attention
called to the dangers that are before it in con-
sequence OF this untempered zeal IN recruiting.
My criticism upon the course OF The TRIBUNE
in this respect is based upon the general tone
and course of the paper for the past year.
Your battle-cry has continually been Swell
the ranks of the G.. A. R.-bring In every vet
eran." If you have at any time in this con-
nection urged upon the Posts the necessity Of
carefully scrutinizing applications and reject
ing the dead beats, the loud-H.Outhed liars who
were never within ten miles of the front, the
militia of such States as New York, which were
never invaded, and which militia never left the
State during the war, but thousands of whom
are eligible on account of muster into the Uni
ted States serviee-if you have urged the re-
lection of all such applicants as these as we'll
as the vicious, the deprayed, and the criminal
classes of whom the veterans, unfortunately,
have thousands mOre-then have not been so
fortunate as to read such caution although an
attentive reader of the paper. In brief Mr.
Editor, you have taken your cue in this matter
from the present COMMANDMENT Chief: and
while all my criticisms as to the latter shall be
eOuehed in that respectful language which his
position, his services, and his own high char
acter demand, / must say here what I
have not ceased to say since he assumed
command that his system of recruiting. pro.
mugated in General Orders, No. /, was a
deplOrable mistake, and one which will
not fail to work inealeulabie mischief to
the Order. The Grand army Of the Republic
Is, and has been for some years past, on solid
ground 1t does not need these frantic and i'll
conceived efforts to swell its ranks. 1t should
be a high honor to be enrolled in its ranks,
and an honor that should not be lowered so far
70
Let the recruit seek the Post, not the Post
seek the recruit would be q general express
sion Of nay platform on this subject. Yet we
are urgently admOnished in General Orders to
bring In the recruits. Estimates are made for
us as to the exact number OF eligible veterans
/ still outside OF the Grand Army, and the al
most-incredible policy is adopted Of offering
prizes for success in recruiting. pTOphesied
/ the mlSehieyOUs ELECTS OF such policy when
/ General Orders, No. 1, were issued, and the
| results as | have observed them, are fast veri-
! flying my prophecy. No Post adopting this
/ system is thereafter in position to reject
4 recruit. The Post virtually says TO the
/ comrades: :" Go out into the highways and
/ byways; bring in all the old soldiers you can
/ lay hands on-the more the merrier fetch
them, with their proposition fees, before the
| altar, and we will put them through. And the
one of you that bags the most game shall have
| prize" And the more jealous and less re-
| fieeting of the comrades go ON their recruiting
tours intent only ON names and dollars not
careful or caring about character, and not
over particular as TO eligibility. In their red
hot zeal they recruit the dropped, the sus-
pended and the rejected of other neighborinS
Posts, and pick up fellows who, though they
may have had an honorable discharge from the
army or navy twenty years age, are disgrace
to any Post These are precisely the things
that are happening every day under this sys-
tenn, and my assertion is founded on my own
experience and observation within the past
year. And it is not 10 be expected that the
Post adopting this system viii "go back on
the Industrious workers that it has sent into
the field with promises of reward for successful
work. The Post will be as Indifferent to the
character and fitness of the recruit as is the
comrade recommending him One more name
ono more dollar and the Post continues in
the path of progress" Such are the views
which were instantly taken by the Post to
which have the honor to belong Charles P.
Sprout, No. 76, Department of New York;
upon General Order, No 1, and we shall con-
tinue to adhere to them. For myself / may be
permitted TO say that / find my warrant in
making my protest on this subject in the facts
that / was in active service almost four years !;
that am pensioner for wounds received in
battle; that my connection with the Grand
Army dates back well towards It's beginning /;
that an ardently attached to the organization,
and am sincerely fearful that IN the wholesale
business of this last years recruiting large
percentage of the unworthy has been taken in,
thereby weakening the Order and lowering its
standard Those who best know my record
in the war would never accuse me of lack OF
! sympathy for the rank and file, or Of charity
for the weaknesses of many of them, but I do
feel bound, on behalf Of the whole Order
everywhere, to raise the warning" Stop ths
indiscriminate recruiting"
Yours, in +, C. and T.,
JAMES T. FITTS,
Past Commander Sprout Post No. rs, and Past
]. V. c., Department of New York.
! LOCKPoRT, n. Y.
I'm our editorial columns VIII be found The
| TRIBUNE's reply TO this singular protest-ED.l