The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-01-07
GRAND ARMY potiTlcs.



Tuttie. Etc, BY Loyal vetersns-
President Cleveland was not mis-
taken In his estimate Of the Union vet
eran when he considered him as ami
mated by the desire of aiding and re-
specting the Government he helped to
save. OF course there are exceptions.
such as the blasphemcr. Fairchild; the
ex-cotton grabber. futile. and the
crank, Vandervoort, as during the war
there were bummers in Sherman's
army and outlawed guerillas every
where in the track of the Union and
Confederate forces. The Grand Army
Of the Republic, as an organization,
must be commended for the decided
manner in which it sat down on the
partisan dcmagogues who wished to
put it on record "a openly insulting the
President of the United States. Every
thing that malice and ingenuity could
suggest was put in operation to secure
the official sanction of the order to the
infamous conduct of Tuttlc. whose
mouthpiece. Vandervoort expended all
the blatant eloquence he was capable
of in the attempt to bolster up the ex-
cotton grabber. But thanks to the
healthy public sentiment which has re-
vealed itself in all parts of the country
and to the better and more patriotic
element in the Grand Army ITSELF an
unqualified rebuke was administered
to futile, Fairchild and their adher-
ents. 1t has been officially determined
that the Grand Army of the Republic
does not countenancc BLACKBOARD at
tacks upon the President of the United
States, even though he be of different
political faith from that upheld by that
organization.
For the Grand Army has distinctly
shown its allegiance to the Republican
party in the attitude it assumed dur
ing the recent cncampment. Politics
took up d great portion of its time, and
It served notice on the party with which
1t affiliates as to what its choice would
lie during the Presidential year. One
of the most prominent and gallant
Union commanders, General Slocum,
who was the principal candidate for
tho position that Fairchild disgraced,
was rejected for an obscure Minnesota
lawyer, simply because he was DEM
ocrat There was something more
than mere buncombe in the expression
which one fool partisan member of the
organization is reported to have made.
that ''there never had been Demo-
cratic Commander-in-Chief, and, by
the Eternal. there never would be"
The fact that it is Republican organ
ization, emphasizes the more the re-
fusal of the Grand Army to counte-
nance attacks upon the Democratic
President and testiies that Union vet
Grams, whatever their politics may be,
can not be seduced into disunion pol
icy at the beck of inscriptions dema-
gogues. Vandervoort's resolution.
urged with all the vehemence of ma
lignant nature, was defeated by such .
decisive vote that we will likely hear
but little for the future Of Tuttleism.
Fairchildism and Forakermania in the
ranks of the Grand Army. A great
deal is due to the wise and temperate
councils and wholesome influence Of
General Sherman in bringing about
such a satisfactory result
The defeat of the much-discussed
service pension measure by the National
encampment was a singing rebuke to
those degenerate members who would
turn the order into mendicant body
and play into the hands of the most
outrageous lobby that ever cursed the
halls of Congress. 1--WE will continue
to ask for aid until no wall of sorrow
is heard from destitute and disabled
veterans hypocritically exclaims
PALSY" Fairchild. knowing as he does.
that the government is now paying
$40. 600, 600 year to the 40. 600 PEN
sioners on its rolls Another beautiful
specimen Of the pension shark was one
Comrade Stephen j. Burrows. of Mans
field Post No IS. of this State. who
naively stated that the surplus should
90 to the veterans and 1.-THE taxpayers be
damned" We also have one Gem
eral Bennett Of Richmond. Ind, who
puts the matter in this modest light.
The annual surplus reaches $lS6. Co.,
600 Give the boys the SOC. 00O, 900;
let the thieves keep the $40, 600. 600
remaining" Such expressions show
what disreputable element the de-
cent members Of the Grand Army had
to contend against The buster and
fury of such an element will have little
effect now that the organization at its
highest council deliberately and effect
lively sat down on them. 1t is a pity,
however, that narrow-minded partisan
ship should have been carried so far as
~ v.oSoof sr,oh a 1ss<;v, rrs.s cho1 oc1Jso~