Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-12-20


this hue and cry against me FOR saying
that it was to this end that the Grand
Army of the Republic rejected CIeve-
land and chose one of it's own members
to be president? To this end. say,
but more emphatically still, to this end
alonei!!
am asked to prove that 1.-The stars
do shine, that the sun doth move!'' l
am required tn prove an axiom in Amer
ican politics namely that the Graud
Army of the Republic is the ally of the
republican, party and that neither could
live moment without the other. Such
1 state to be the fact. I wonder that
ybody is crazy enough to doubt it,
fool enough to dispute it, or liar enough
to say that it is not true!
so! it is imprudent in Private Dal-
zell to raise the question. anyhow. It
will split the Grand Army of the Re-
public. If the Grand Army of the Re-
public keeps the republican party in
power by its votes, the democrots will
all pull out and leave the G. A. R."
This with few pet names applied to
me by demagogues who dare not tell
the truth, and who have constitution
al love for lying, is the only argument
with which my positions have been as
sailed. Soon afer the war the Grand
Army of the Republic grew up and
flourished for a short season like Jo-
nah's gourd. but it soon withered and
fell to pieces because it was domineered
over by shoulder-straps alone. The
boys were mustered out. They didn't
have to knuckle down to oshoulder-straps
and lick their boots any longer. Oh,
no! So the rank and file dropped out,
and left the officers standing there like
fools shepherds without sheep, SO to
speak.
And so it was organized gradually,
not at once, but gradually, until every
comrade was, as he is now, the equal
of every other, regardless of rank or
previous condition, SO long as we were
in the post-room. And now for the
part which bore in the reorganization.
1 did not do it by authority. 0 no! 1
needed none. When l get ready to
move, don't have to ask for authority
in, a free republic. I move independ-
emily, without fear, favor or affection,
or reward or the hope thereof! I had
my own plan, and pursued it. called
q convention to meet in Lansing in
1871 for the purpose Of organizing a
The day came, and the officers, alarmed
at the bold movement, came into the
halls of the House of Representatives,
which I had procured for the convention,
had hired for the purpose, took charge
of the meeting, organized it, and ad-
journed in jiffy sine die. / came
| home crest fallen. The movement had
failed and Private Dalzell was play
fully punched for weeks by the clever
gentlemen Of the daily press.
l speak by the book! Right here, if
anyone doubts it let him consult the
files of the Detroit and Chicago dailies
for January and February, 1871, and
read this story for himself. My space
is too limited to permit more than a
hint of it.
next year called similar national
reunion at Washington, D. c., where
the failure was even more dismal and
discouraging. But in 1874 called one
to be held at Caldwell, o., in the woods.
Gen. Sherman. who had witnessed all
my efforts in this line, kindly came
with his staff, and for three days we
deliberated in the woods here, so 900
of us, nearly all being of the rank and
file, with every state represented. 1t
would take volume to describe it. l
had room enough in my Personal
Memoirs to describe it fully and any
one who will may read the origin of the
Grand Army of the Republic as at
present constituted. We insisted only
that all rank determinations be elimi-
n2ted and it was done. All became
equal. This was the object of all my
reunions. Ten thousand reunions
have followed my original plan, as all
the world knows, and no man dare
dispute. Congress, by its unanimous
vote, gave me guns, cots, ammunition.
etc, in IS75-6-7-6, for these, my private
soldier reunions. This statement /
dare not make if the congressional
records, to which here refer, did not
bear me out fully.
| All this had its direct effect and
bearing on the Grand Army of the
/ Republic and unOfiiciallY and without