Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-28

/
GEN. w. @. vEAzEY. length OF the banquet
hall at wormley's Hotel, and discussed an elabo-
rate menu. after which they listened 10 some
charming vocal selections by the Nonpareil
Quartet, composed Of Msssrs. z. J. whipple,
W. r. Lapham. W. ID. Mcfarland and II. o.
simons The banquet was to have taken place
February IL, but was postponed until last night
on account of the death of Gen. Sherman.
large American flag over the entrance OF
the banquet hall was the only decoration.
After the interior decoration of the banqueters
had been concluded the speech making began.
Gen. S. s. Burdett past conunander-in-chiefo of
the GAR. was the toastmaster.
Maj. Urell made the address Of welcome. He
| said that they were present to do honor to
Gen. Neazey. commander-in-chief Of the Grand
Army OF the Republic. He was glad 70
them nn, especially Secretary Proctor. Assistant
| Secretary Grant, Gen. Bussey and Superin-
tcndent of Census Porter, the last Of whom
had been an especial friend Of the Grand
| Army.
The quartet sang 1.-THE Sta Spangled Ban-
ner." Gen. Burdett then introduced Secretary
Proctor. His name received with great
| applause.
SECRETARY PRocron's SPEECH.
The Secretary said: Il see by the announce
ment Of toasts that Senator Henderson is down
on the card TO respond to the toast have been
| asked to talk abont and as / understand he will
/ =
mere viii not burden you or steal his fire. As
| lar as the President is concerned, however,
can say that in the best and truest sense of the
word ne Is genuine comrade OF the GAR
nave never known him to forget his obligations
to his comrades. [hpplauseI l do not mean
| the mere perfunctory obligations, but those
which come from the heart. He never over
| looks his duties to his comrades lapplausel and
hundreds of times have heard him say when
men were urged for appointment, 'Is he a SOL
der? What is his war record?' Why only AZ late
as o clock this afternoon L heard him say,
when the names Of several persons were pre-
sentcd to fill O certain position. why don't you
get good soldier for the position?" Zap
plause.l Secretary Proctor then told, as he
| said, n campfire story Of Gen. Veazey, how he
met him many years ago, and what a close
friendship had always existed between them.
NI. n. p. PORTER on "oUR COUNTRY"
Superintendent of Census Porter replied to
the toast. Our country" in the place of Hon.
]. p. Dolliver Of Iowa He said that he was a
good friend of the Grand Army. and never let
chance go by him Of doing them a service.
When the enumeration of the census was going
on, he construed the law regarding the selec-
ton Of enumerators as literally possible.
When he found a soldier who came up to the
requirements, he did not look any further for
some one else to fill it better. Returning to the
toast Superintendent Porter spoke of the great
work Of preparing the census. He referred es-
especially to that part of the work which
was to contain the names OF the soldiers
and sailors who fought in the late war. 1t
would be great volume, volume which
the Grand Army men should cherish next to
the Bible. tApplause.l He said that he had
many applications for the positions Of watch
men from old soldiers, and whenever he could
appoint one Of them, he always did SO, for he
knew that the practice they haG had in watch.
fit them to all the position. tApplause.]
The quartet sang MY Country It's Of
Thee"
GEN. vEAzEY's REMARKS.
Gen. Burdett then introduced Gen. veazey to
respond to the toast, 1.-The Grand Army of the
Republic" He spoke Interestingly for half an
hour.
Gen. Veazey lost no time in eulogizing Sec
rotary Proctor, who, he said, was more familiar
to him and the people OF Vermont as Col. Proc
tor, title he had Justly won in the service of
his country. He thought that Secretary Proc
tors complimentary remarks were in the shape
Of an obituary which he expected to deliver
shortly, as the papers had cLronicled the fact
that he was down with pneumonia.
1--WE can say a good deal more when you
leave U.S." put in Secretary Proctor.
II sincerely hope SO" rejoined Gen. veazey,
'for / should hate to hear all the bad things
about me before / depart"
He referred to what difficult matter it was
for the comrades Of the Grand Army to secure
positions in the departments Of the city for ex-
Union soldiers who came here in search of
employment. Many obstacles were always in
the way. He spoke of the class of young men
who were continually grumbling that they
did not have a chance, the old soldiers were al
ways in the way. Exactly, they were always
in the way. They were in the way, he said,
when Early tried to take Washington; they
were in the way at Gettysburg-in fact, it was
their business TO be in the way whenever they
met the enemy. Was ii Just to those men to
shove them out of the way now? He thought
not. Gen. Veazey complimented in the highest
terms the service the ex-Union soldiers were
giving the United States through the depart
ments at Washington.
Senator Mcconnell. fecited poem, entitled
''The Man with the Musket" He preceded the
poem with few remarks, during which he
said that his feelings for the men who fought
on the other side during the late war had been
greatly changed since his connection with the
senate. He referred to the position taken by
q Senator from South Carolina on a bill for the
relief Of old soldiers. The Senator, he said.
had openly declared that he had been Q rebel
but thought it disgrace for the Senators to be
niggardly with the old soldiers who fought for
this glorious country and saved it.
Hon. John E. Lacy was to have responded to
the toast, ''The volunteer soldier" but on
account Of his absence IL fell to the lot of As
sistant Secretary Bussey. He entertained those
present for upward Of an hour with interesting
stories Of the war, and concluded his remarks
with q short talk on pensions. He maintained
that it did not cost this country one cent to nav
the pension roll That the money came from
foreigners for the privilege of trading in our
markets. and the more money that was placed
In the treasury the better able the country was
to pay the pension roll. II he had his way be
would first pension all soldiers and then give
them positions.
coMNIss1oNEn DOUGLASS.
General Burdett stated that it would be worth
fighting the war to live in Washington. Apropos
of this hs called upon Commissioner Douglass
to respond to the toast ''The District of Colum-
bia." Mr. Douglas said that, unlike the pre-
vious speakers who had toasts to respond to.
he was not only unaware that he was to be
called upon, but his toast did not appear
among the list Of toasts. He attributed this 10
the fact that the District was in such . fine
state Of advancement moving on lovely repre-
senting everything that 10 honorable, which be
attributed to the grand system Of municipal
government. He said that he had done some
thing for the Grand Army, but not Is much q
he would like 10 do. He was only part of
Q man 20 to speak-one-third Of q whole man.
We're he two-thirds he might do different, butt
then even that might be unwise. He closed
his remarks by telling story Of how he came
near being . Grand Army man. Assistant
Secretary Of War Grant told Of the battle Of
Gettysburg and the PROMINENT and daring psrt
Gen. Yeazey took in it which he said sho1ld be
. matter Of history.
Vice Commandsr-in-Ch ief G. B. Crssmer also
spoke and the banquet came to an end.
som or rHosG PRxsxxr.
Tho invited 1uertu vera C,Snrn~,S.~ l. MT