St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-09-07

ing. The question of the disposition of
the Grant cottage at McGregor will
come before the encampment.
Some months ago it was decided that
the national encampment would no
longer supply custodian for the cot
tage, but would turn it over to the New
York encampment. The New York de-
partment, however, objects to this, and
Past Commander -in-Chief Palmer said
today thatit was due to the giver of the
ground and cottage that the national
encampment either control it or deed it
back.
Tomlinson hall, when the encamp-
ncnt met this morning, was magnif-
Gently decorated with flowers and pat
Iiotic designs, Gov. Matthews, in be-
half of the state of Indiana, welcomed
the veterans, and Mr.. Sullivan per-
formed the like service for the city,
while Col. Eli Lilly, chairman of the
executive committee, added a few
words to what the others had said.
Commander-in-Chi Weissert made the
response in behalf of the &. A. r., and
the encampment then went into eXecu-
:ive session TO hear the reports of the
officers.
The report and address of the COM
mander-in-chief. Weissert, was delv-
cred this afternoon. In an Introductory
way, he reviewed the
PROGRESS OF THE ORDER
during the past year, and made an ap-
propriate ailuSion to the death during
.hat time of two ilustrious comrades,
rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin F.
Butler. Continuing, he said:
"While our leaders are fast passing
away, there has been an unusually
large death loss amcng the rank and
file of those who carried the gun and
6napsack during the late war, and post
charters throughout the order have
been repeatedly draped with the in
sigma of mourning. The loss by death
in the q. a. X. during the last year is
1902. This is in excess of any previous
annual mortuary return. Add to the
figures the estimated loss among veter-
ans not members of the order, amonnt-
ing by conservative estimate to
$500, we have total loss
by death among the Union veterans
of 1902. In the returns for
December, 1892. there was an increase
of 5000 over the June previous in good
standing. and a larger increase was con-
fidently looked for in June, but the de-
sired result was not obtained. After
earnest efforts made by headquarters to
increase the membership in good stand
ing, loss from June, 1892, of over 1000
must be reported. The determination
to weed out all members who are prac-
tically dead weight to the order, to-
gether with the pressure in financial
matters, throughout the country, from
official reports, largely the cause. | am
pleased, however, to be able to report
etbe delinquent list for the same period
reduced by almost 1900. The total
membership Of the G. A. II. is 443, ,554, of
which 397, ,229 are in good standing, sus.
pended, 41,661; by delinquent reports.
4,670. The gain by muster during the
past year is 24,954. Many OF the delin-
Quent posts have reported since the
department returns were received at
national headquarters, and
SUSPENDED MEMBERS
are constantly being relnstated.
The commander-ln-chief said there
were four posts of the G. A. k. in Can
ada, one in the city of Mexico, one in
Honolulu, and he had received applica-
tion for one in Lima, republic of Peru
During the year just closed there
have been more calls for relief than in
years past, and the same was literally
given. The Official reports show that
$l77,845.25 was disbursrd Uy the various
posts on the work. The WOmen's Relief
Corps has distributed for the relief of
comrades, the families of destitute conf
rades and the widows and Grpnahs the
sum OF S5S,62O.37; amount turned ovel
to posts curing the year, s34, 4C6 80
amount for Memorial day, S14, ,331. SO
making total amount expended fol