Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-04-14
GRAND ARMY SQUABBLE.


| hot"f anu VINO WI nave
tho Position of Honor III Parade?
A special from Washington says The
District Of Columbia seems to be III peck
Of trouble over the entertainment OF the
y. a. b. during their annual encampment
to be held here during this fall.
Congress is greatly agitated over the
| question of All appropriation for the enter
tainment of the old veterans, and there
seems to be some reason for their agita-
ton.
II is an extraordinary proposition that
Congress should be called upon to appro-
pirate money for such a purpose. Similar
expenses when the grand army encamp-
ments have been held in other cities
have been borne by the business
men of the community and by the city,
but somehow there seems To be habit in
Washington to call upon Congress for as
sistance upon the least provoeation.
70 be sure, there is no local government
here and no city treasury from which an
appropriation might be drawn as else
where all the funds of the district being
in the treasury OF the United States, at
the disposal of Congress- But this fact
does not seem to excuse the proposition
than appropriation of 100000 should be
eminent.
There is probably no great desire, and
never has been, on the part of the mass of
population that this encampment should
be held in Washington. But the hotel
keepers. real estate boomers and others
whose business is such as to give promise
OF profit with such an nssemblage here ex-
erted themselves to the utmost to secure
the encampment, making great promises,
some of which seem TO lave been Thought
lessly made, and having succeeded, the as
sumption on their part seems to be that
their duty has been done, and that the old
soldiers should come here now as the guests
of the nation.
Congress will probably decide that If any
money is to be appropriated il shall come
entirely out Of the District funds, and this
Will not be entirely acceptable to the every
day. citizen who pays his taxes and will
suffer the inconvenience Of high prices
and a crowded city without enjoying any
of the benefits which accrue to divers
hotelkeepers and the like.
There seems also to be some discomfort
among the representatives of the G. A. r.,
and altogether it promises that there will
be good deal of squabbling before the
matter is settled and the encampmcnt done
with.
some of the old veterans arc not at all
pleased with the idea of Congress being
called upon to appropriate money for their
entertainment when they come here with
the expectation of being entertained by
the citizens Some of the shrewder of the
old soldiers recognize the fact that the gov
ernment is doing a good deal for them
now in one way and another, and that ii
IS to their interest TO contine their de-
mands to such matters as will be of a
direct advantage to them, and not TO ex-
pect Congress to provide them with free
lunches and banqnets.
Some protests have come in from sol
diers from different parts of the country
Ia. .l.s.,. ~
House and Senate and to the appropria-
tions committee. Private Dalzell, who is
always ready letter writer, has written
to the House committee on appropriations
II letter, on the back Of which were the
words, by way of postscript:
I'D like TO have the floor 10 minutes il
this fool bill comes up. Private Dalzell."
The letter reads:
Gen'ienlen: see il Is proposed to appropriate
sll0,000 toward tho National q. A. X. Encamp-
mant nt Washington In September next.
Quld nunc?
10 You not know that every ono OF US has
already boon taxed 10 cents per capita to paw
this bill and that We have paid It and the
money isnow in the hands of tho qunrterinas-
ter-general of tho q. 4. h. II amounts to s15-
UU0 90 more, and Is quite sufficient, and, in my
opinion, FAR too much.
II |, VINO have spent my life on such matters,
DO not know, please tell me who does? II we
the rank and file, had dollar, n cent even, OF
this Sl5dQO, or OF your 100000, spent for our
benefit this letter would not be written.
y all goes, as YOU know, for tho oillcers, big
chipmuuks, and nonsense of the privileged
lew, every cent. We poor privatos pay our
own car fire and hotel bills. Not ono cent of
your Si0O,00O or of the funds of tho G. "A. X.
ever comes back to US.
II cannot possibly benefit any ono oxcept to
hire horses for few big "lnjnsn 10 parade the
avenue win, buy their wines and flne cigars
NIX up their parlors and headquarters, so
called. II Is all nonsense, an offence, n nom
sense and waste. Let thcm pay their own
bills, as we have always had to do, and II they
want TO work show and sensation, let them
do II at their own expense. The million boys
have no part nor lot In such nonsense, and are
not in II at all. Pah 1t stink-. We are sick of
this everlasting toadying to soldier straps and
overlooking tho boys who did the fighting. all
OF IL. Yours, PRIVATE DALZELI
A soldier who served from 81 to '85
writes protest from Philadelphia. lie
protests that the veterans will get no bene-
fit from such an appropriation as Is asked
for, and that il would be spent merely for
the purpose of banqueting lot of lazy
loafers.
THE same committee who want this
money from Congress- he says ''are now
engaged in extorting $4,000 from the hotel
and business men of Washington, and that
the money will not benefit the veterans in
any way, shape or form"
lie says that, on the contrary. to make
up for their donations, the hotel keepers
uIt luCItuSlllS tuclT IulcS so IIIb tIe
money will eventually come out of the
pockets of the veterans who come here at
increased charges.
"All the soldiers" he says, ''who pro-
pose to attend the Washington reunion
must pay their own expenses or stay at
home. This has been the practice at re-
unions heretofore held, and it is pretty
well understood
tits expected that there will be very
considerable irritation growing out of the
controversy rs 10 the possession of the
post of honor in the parade. which is
going on between the Sixth Massachusetts
Regiment and the $50 men from Penn
sylyania, who are disputing with each
other the honor of having been the first to
reach Washington in 1861.
Though historians have given the Sixth
Massachusetts, the credit for being the first
here, the records show that the Pennsyl-
vania companies were ahead of them, and
it appears that they will dispute very
stubbornly the right of the Sixth Massa-
cliusetts to occupy the position at the right
of the line, and 1t is regarded as probable
that they may succeed in inducing the
authorities to change the order.
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Nnti al