The National tribune., 1884-04-17
a Word of Caution,

Il Nord OF Caution.
A California comrade propounds the
query: What is an honorary member of
the Grand Army?" How is it," he in
quires, that some Posts are comforting the
honor on actresses, elocutionists and others
who may have aided to swell the relief fund
by participating in some local entertain
ment? If you think as / do in this matter,
You can aid the Order by making war on
all such tomfoolery"
We are surprised to learn that any mis-
apprehension exists among our comrades of
the Grand Army in regard to this question.
Article ~, chapter /, of the Rules and
Regulations, on eligibility to membership,
distinctly provides that only those Sol
diers and sailors of the United States army,
navy, or marine corps, who served between
April II, 1861, and May 8, 1865, in the war
for the suppression of the rebellion, and
those having been honorably discharged
therefrom after such service, and subject to
the orders of United States general officers
between the dates mentioned. shall be eGgi-
BILE to membership in the Grand Army
and that mo person shall be eligible to
membership who has at any time borne arms
against the Government of the United
States" It viii be observed that nowhere
is any provision made for the creation of an
honorary membership, and the conclusion is
irresistible that it was not the intention of
the founders that there should be any In
the absence of express authority, therefore,
1t is not within the power of any official or
Post of the Order to confer honorary mem
bership on anyone, no matter what the ma
ture of the service on account of which it is
proposed to bestow this distinction may be,
and in all cases where Posts have taken this
mode of acknowledging their obligation to
persons outside of the Order, their action
must be considered null and void.
AS to the presentation of the regulation
badge of the Order to persons other than
members, that is, of course, equally viola
ton of the Rules and Regulations, since the
badge is the symbol of actual membership.
and, as such, should be held sacred To
what extent this practice is prevalent in the
Order we have no means of knowing, but
every comrade must admit, upon reflection,
that its tendency is to lower the character
Of the Order, and on that account ought
not to be tolerated Posts which have rea-
son to be grateful for the aid rendered them
by private individuals can easily substitute
some other testimonial of their regard.
There is another matter in regard to
which it may, perhaps, be well to utter
word of caution. On several occasions our
attention has been called to cases In which
Grand Army Posts had been named after
living persons. Where this has been done,
II has been due, as a rule, we suppose, to
Ignorance rather than to any intention to
disregard the plain provisions of the Rules
and Regulations, yet it is hard to under
stand how such an error could escape the
notice Of the mastering officer. Article III,
Of Chapter ], wisely provides that no Post
shall be named after any Aping person, and
that not more than one Post in a DEPART
ment shall adopt the same name, and that
the name shall be approged By the Depart
naent Comm aader." The object of this pro-
hibition is evident 1t is an old saying that
no ones reputation is secure until he is
dead, and it would be rather awkward for
Post named after some eminent citizen. to
discover some day that the eminent citizen
was not the soul of honor he was supposed
to be. There are other good reasons that
might be urged and undoubtedly the safest
rule to follow is to perpetuate in the name of
the Post the memory of some gallant soldier
from the locality IN which the Post is stu
ated, who gave his life for his country. In
the far Western States and Territories which
have been populated since the close of the
war, this may not always be practicable.
but at any rate the list Of our dead heroes is
not so brief as to render it necessary to look
for shining name among the ranks Of the
living.
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