The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-09-16

salute Of So guns was fred by the chief
Of artillery. The report of the cannon
resounding through the woods gave the
camp the appearance of vcritable war
camp. At 1850 came the order to fall
in and escort Graham post, q. A. r.. of
Moline, from the Peoria railway crossing
At IL o'clock the veterans were drawn up
in line TO receive the Rodmau Rifles
The camp would present the busy APP
pearance of war were it not for the mum
Der Of ladies present, and the lack Of guns
for the veterans.
About 10 m, the Rock Island Il PEG
ria road began renning excursion trips.
aud people poured in by hundreds and
thousands. At p M, the old soldiers
formed IN two lines in front of the
speakers stand TO receive Generals
Sherman and Logan. Owing to some
unforeseen difficulty. they did not arrive
until 4 p. m. At last the long looked for
generals arrived, and were escorted
through the lines by the Rodm an
rifles. As they made their way
through the dense crowd the woods re-
echoed again and again with the shouts
of welcome from the old soldiers. After
they assembled the and they were cheers
ed again and again. After quiet had
beed restored. Col. Bracket arose and
introduced Gen Sherman. As the old
general arose he was received with the
greatest enthusiasm. Waiting until the
noise had ceased, the general said, he
came here not as soldier but as mem
Der of an army association to visit the
citizens of Rock Island aud transact such
business as might come before the asso
citation. He was glad that they did not
meet as they did from 81 to '65. lie said
he had not come to make a speech, and
that there was another person present
whose voice was stronger and who could
make a better speech than he. This
person, he said, was John A. Logan, who
was then introduced, and said:
We come here today to meet one ans
other as old comrades. and to meet our
old commander, Gen. Sherman, whom
you all know. He is a man who has
made his mark in the history OF this
great country of ours, and one whom we
all delight to honor. Not beng in the
habit of making speeches, do mol know
what am to talk TO you about.
We have today the proudest govern
ment on earth. We have flag the en-
blem of unity. of strength, aud of glory
We have country with all the diversi-
fed interests known to man. We have
an intelligent and energetic people, and
development OF which every man should
be proud. We have today 5000, 900
square miles of territory, populated from
the Atlantic TO the Pacific and from the
frozen north to the land of everlasting
flowers, and our population is composed
of the brightest people in the world.
We have the grandest accumulation of
wealth and everything that makes
country and people greatest of any coun>
try in the world for the time the energies
of the people have been eXcrted. la 1860
and this | have repeated ofen-we had
accumulated from the time the Pilgrims
first landed only one third of what we
accumulated in the twenty years follow
ing the time when treason struck our
flag.
After some further review of the pro>
gress of the country. the general turned
10 a criticism of some acts Of the dcmo-
cratic administration He said that la,
winter congress concluded it had right
to pass few pension bills, and 1t did so.
but before these became law they had to
pass the pearly gates, not of lHa New
Jerusalem, but Of the new administration.
1t was stated there hadn't been time to
examine them all, but all were vetoed, SO
that they probab y vetoed all they exam
ined Speaking further of the greatn. s.
of the country Gen. Logan said: We
are honored at home, and should be
abroad. But our ministers t. foreign
nations were, with only four or five ex>
ceptions. men who fought against our
flag and tried to destroy our country.
He did not believe in that. He believed
in the country being represented by 10y
al men, and not by people who would
trail the stars and stripes in the dirt. He
treasured up no enmity against repentaEt
rebels. but he would like to see some
tokens or repentance and some of the
meet food for repentance before elevating
such men to be the nations accredited
representatives TO other nations. Anoth-
er thing he didn't believe IN was apolog,
izing 10 England and then jumping on
some little state He concluded by urg-
ing every one TO do his duty always as
good citizen of the greatest country on
earth, the brightest star that shines in
the galaxy of nations.
The announce ment was then made
from the grand stand that the train was
in readiness to leave and they said good
bye. There has been a lack of discipline
displayed during the camp, but on the
whole it has been success. at least 10, 900
persons being here today.
OUR GOVERNOR,