, 1889-09-05
TO THE HEROES.
Stirring and Patriotic Address to
the Veterans at Mil
Neukee.
Grand Fellowship of Men Who
Drank from the Sarne
Canteen.
Rapid Growth of the G.. A. RIA
Fervid Plea for Pen
sions.

twcnty-third national encampmcnt was
called to order by Commander-in-chi
Warner ut 1915 After prayer by Chap
ment, and brief intermission to allow
the delegates to seat themselves, Com
mandor Warner at l0:i5 began to read
his address. He com mencod as fol-
lows:
Comrades and shipmates: am here
to give an account of my stewardship.
The greatest honor ever conferred upon
me was my election us commanders
m-chief of the Grand Army of
the Republic. In taking the obligation
of tho office fully realized the import
ancc of tho trust you had coniidod to
me, and then highly resolved neither by
word nor act to do anything that should
drive deserving comradc from our
ranks, and to do all that in me lay to
strengthen the silver chords of comrade-
ship that trust will ever bind the sur
viving soldiers and sailors OF the Union
army and navy, one to another, as
br0tncrs tried. If ut the end OF my
term am enabled to place in the hands
OI DlN SUtNtSSoi NtlC Otliiiti VI pui ulNANi
illuniined with tho three great yirtacs,
fraternity, charity and Loyalty, my high
est ambition will have been graft
msndcr.in.chief should be in
the future ~ 1t has been in the past, u
position than which none is more hon
orGblc, II position 10 aspire TO which IL u
laudablc ambitiOn--a position that, Will
lend additional luster to amy name,
however great, If its duties are well per-
formed. rhe Grand Army of the Re
public is the grandost civic organization
the world has ever seen. Its list of
membership ~
THE NArIoN's ROLL OF HoHoR,
containing tho most illustrious names in
history he names OF the brave men
who, IN the darkest days of the rebels
lion, followed the stars and stripes ny
an emblem, not us u confederacy OF
states bound together by ropes OF sand
but as the emblem of an iudissoluble
union OF understandable states. They
followed that iiay whether in sunshine
or storm, victory or defeat, with more
confidence und reverence than did tile
children oflsrael the pillar of cloud by
day and of fire by night. Tho men WHO
compose this organization are those men
who. when others faltercd, "luid down
their lives, their fortunes and their sac
and union, that ~ government OF
the people, by the people, and
for the people" should not perish
from the earth. As the war re-
ccdcs the men who shared together the
privation, oi the frozen camp the harl-
ships OF the forced march, the dangers
of the battlefield, the suiieriugs of tile
the prison pen, long for the touch OF II
comrades elbow as of old, and seek the
tartan ar, not heard, The tGachings OF
the Grand Army OF the Republic nre SO
conervative, its practices 50 patriotic, its
comradeship SO universal, that
all honorably discharged Union
and 1865 who have done nothing in civil
life to cast Il stain upon their honorable
record in liberty's cause feel that they
are ut home when in the post-room, in
the house of their friends. 1t is there
that the general and the private, the
merchant prince and the clerk, the mil
lonairc and the laborer sit
SIDE ny SIDE AS COMRADES,
bound to each other by ties the tender
est yet the most enduring of any in this
world, outside the family circle.
"Thero are bonds of all sorts I'm that
world of ours,
Fcttcr4 of friendship and ties of flowers,
And true lovers knots | wocn;
The boy and the girl ar,, bound to kiss,
But there is never n Lond, old friend,
like this
We have drank from the same can
teen"
The membership of the Grand Army
of the Republic constitutes the great
conservative element of the nation tho
champions of civil and religious liberty
recognizing the dignity of labor but hav-
ing no sympathy with anarchy or COM
munism, recognizing no flag but thC
stars and stripes, believing that LOYALTY
is II virtue and that treason is II crime.
IL WIS this spirit of loyalty, love of lib
crty, revcruncc for the constitutions and
an Unborn respect for the law that ina,lc
the volunteer soldier and sailor of '6l
and 'G5 the thinking machine---thc model
soldier and sailor of all time; of these
to-day there are enrolled under thu
banner of fraternity, charity and
loyalty, 1l06s5 These comrades are
found in 67ll posts in iorty-two depart
mcnts. We have carried our banner
into every state and territory. On the
9th of this month We
SCALED THE WALLS OF FORT SUMTER,
there organized a Gruud Army post and
installed the officers on tho ramparts oi
that historic fort, erecting our standard,
with malice toward none and charity
for all, on the spot where the SEARS and
stripes went down in 81. The growth
of the organization has been steady and
healthy. Strong as IL H. II has never
been, and trust never will be, used for
partisan purposes or to crafty the per
sonal ambitions of any man or set oi
men. The greatest gain during the
car has been IN the Department of Mis-
souri,. Eight departments show gain
in membership in good standing of 15,-
S24, distributed us follows: Illinois,
1885, Iowa, l4l3i Nebras ska, 1909; Penn
sylvania, 17i6; New York, 1895 Ohio
2O03 Wisconsin, 2023, Missouri, 2652.
| The commander went on to say that
In 1876 the Grand Army membership in
good standing was 35,06l, while to-day II
| Is 3s2, ,59a---a net gain in n single decade
of 32i, 900. There can bc but one Grand
Army of the Republic" continued the
speaker. ''lt had its birth amid shot
and shell, was baptized in patriots
blood, and has grown with the years IN
| the sunshine OF peace. Whatever oi
success has attended my administration
Is due to the cheerful acquiescence of tho
comrades in all my orders.
1T Mas been my good fortune to visit
many OF the department. Wherever
have gone q, welcome warm and gener
Gus awaited Inc. | have been made Il
realize the truth OF the words of
THE woRLp's GREATEST POET:
'sThc friends thou hast and their adop
tion tired. Grupple them to thy sou
with hooks OF steel"
"If it has been my good fortune to re
comrades am rich indeed, although ,
| bankrupt In my ability to pay in kind
| tithe of the generous hospitality that ha
| ever bccn shOWcreu upOu ulc nv Them