The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-07-26
A Magnificent Result"

paid the following cordial and appreciative
tribute to the value of THE TRIBUNE's
work in connection with the building UP of
the Order:
AT the outset of my administration THE Ma
TToSAB TRIBUNE published q stirring editorial
to veterans outside Of organization
to take steps to organize Posts. The response
came during the year from every section and up
to date they have referred to National Headquar-
tiers applications for 10 Posts Nearly all of these
have been organized and are in good working
order This magnificent result calls for the hearty
appreciation of every comrade
desire here and now to return heartfelt thanks
to the publisher OF this splendid paper, George to.
Lemon, for his earnest unselish services, given
without one dollar of expense to the Order. The
generous support and warm appreciation shown
towards me personally, have greatly cheered and
encouraged me, and would be ungrateful if / did
not place on record my genuine gratitude
Entirely unsolicited as this handsome
acknowledgement is, and coming from the
one above all others who is in a position to
testify of his own knowledge as to the worth
of The TRIBuNE1s services, we should be
less than human did we not feel proud of
the distinction thus conferred upon this
journal. This simple Well done, good and
faithful servant" is an ample reward for all
the labor and time and thought of the past
year. But we should be unworthy of this
honor did we take it wholly to ourselves.
1t belongs quite as much to our readers and
subscribers, who have acted upon onr coun-
sci, responded promptly to our appeals, and
stood shoulder to shoulder with us in
the cause from beginning to end. They.
no more than THE TRIBUNE, will be con-
tent we are sure, to pause now in the
work. What has already been accomplished
is but an earnest of what must yet be
achieved. Substantial as are the results
SO far recorded, they are small and few
compared with the opportunities for work
which still remain to be improved. 1t is
but recently, indeed. that the Grand Army
has come to realize the yastness of the field
which it occupies-what small percentage
of our surviving ex-soldiers are members of
the Order, how many towns and counties are
yet awaiting the arrival of the mastering
officer, how few of our veterans who reside
where Posts have already been established
are as yet members of them. According to
the statistics presented by Commissioner and
(,op,rada TludIaxr 0Tbera ,,,4c+ ba NOW s,,r
viving and remaining to be recruited and
enrolled in the Grand Army of the Republic
about /, 100000 citizen-soldieTs who rendered
honorable service to their country and re-
ceived the Nations plaudits," and as accord
surviving twenty years hence three quarters
of million of veterans, the grand climaeteric
of the Orderisy etmany years off. There is no
reason why the growth of the Order during
the next year should not equal, if not surpass,
that of the year which has just ended, pro-
viding our comrades display the same zeal,
the same interest, and the same persistence
in propagating its principles, recruiting its
membership, and extending its organization.
The Posts which THE TRIBUNE has been
instrumental in establishing, have, for the
| most part, been organized in places where ii
was not easy for our veterans to commune
| cate with Department officers but the effect
| of THE TRIBUNE's enthusiastic advocacy OF
the principles of the Order and its weekly
reports of Encampments, Musters, and Camp
fires, has been quite as deeply and largely
| felt in sections of the country where the
Order was already deeply rooted. We have
been censured at times for being too Jealous
and too enthusiastic in our efforts to build
up the Order, but surely it is much better
that the Grand Army should be alive to the
possibilities of growth which everyone now
recognizes as open to it, than that it should
| drag out its existence in the duh and torpid
state in which it was but few years ago.
And now we come to the vital question o
| the moment: Shall this great and gloriou.
/ development of the Order, this universal ex
| tension of its protecting wings over the vet
eran, the widow and the orphan, this weld
ing together of the scattered and disorganizet
remnants of great army into an organiza
ton competent to secure and maintain then
| in their rights, under the laws of the land
shall the Order, in short, go forward, or shall
| it be permitted to decline and fall away from
the point of greatness to which it has now
attained? It must do one OF the other-i
cannot stand still. But, being what it is
with such possibilities of usefulness and be
neficence, ii must and shall go forward! Al
for THE TRIBUNE, it has put its hand to thu
| plow and will not turn back During tn,
last year it succeeded, with the help of it
readers and subscribers in establishing on,
hundred and seventy Posts. Let us double o
treble or quadruple that number, comrades
during the year that is about to OPEN Witt
your help it can be done. Let every sub
scriber to THE TRIBUNE who resides wher
no Post of the Grand Army has yet beer
established, notify us at once to that effect
| opd Iat ayory ono xpbo Knows yybara 4bapa |;