The Portland daily press., 1893-02-10
Encampment Of the Grand Army Of
Maine at Rock and.
DEPARTMANT COMMANDER DYER'S
REPORT AND OTHER ANNU-
AL STATEMENTS.
The Twenty-Sixth Encampment Now In
Session-A Gain in Membership-Lively
Contest for Communicable Order in
Other States
lSnecial to the Press.1


RocKLAND. February 9.-The 26th de-
partment encampment of the Maine
Grand Army met in convention at Far
we'll Opera House this afternoon, being
called to order by Department Com
mander Isaac Dyer OF Skowhegan. Pray
er was offered by the chaplain, Rev. G.
A. Southland of Thomaston, and the en-
campment was fairly underway.
The committee on credentials of which
Chas. F. Jones was chairman, reported
211 delegates present. The reports OF
the Department Commander and staff
followed.
Department Commander Dyer's Report
From the carefully prepared and ex
cellent report of Department Command
er Gen. Isaac Dyer of Skowhegan, the
following extracts are taken:
SIN reviewing the year that is past,
we find many blessings have been con
1 ferred, for which we should be devoutiy
thankful. Health and general prosperl-
Of our mem ners have been called to pass
on to that land from whose bourne no
traveller returns, yet as body we have
been highly favored. Pestllence and
want have been strangers within our
| borders. For these temporal blessings
we have great occasion to be grateful
for the .goodly land in which we
| dwell"
| A Word About Pensions.
The suggestion in the former para
graph touching our departed braves,
forcibly recalls the admonition OF the
martyred Lincoln, uttered midway OF
the war, ''to care for him who shall have
] horne the battle, and for his widow and
his orphans and reminds us who are
strong and are able to bear the burdens
/ of the weak, that we are destined in the
near future to be called upon to resist
with solid front and bayonets poised, the
assaults upon our governmental pension
| system. The lines are being formed Tor
the fray. and we must assume the posi-
tions of "guard against cavalry" and
prepare to repel the assailants While
there may have been some errors OF adj
ministration of the laws, our pension
system is based upon equity and justice
and can easily be defended. AS one has
well said. ssthe nations liberality to its
disabled defenders has no parallel, but
never had national life such defenders;
never were such results" A preserved
country is worth all it has cost; and these
manned and worn out lightning ma
chimes need not be abashed at the howlt
of their opponents at the size OF the pen
sion roll, OF the predictions of alarmists
as to direful effects in consequence
These same melancholy predictions have
been made before. But it is a matter o.
history that the liberal bestowal OF mon
ey among the people in pensions, tends tf
lubricate the machinery of the wheels O
commerce as will hardly any other oil
It is remembered that the passage OF th'
arrears of pensions act gave to this coun
try an epoch of financial prosperity iron
which it has never yet receded. Boys
Stand by your guns! Don't be unrea
sonable, but anywhere and everywher
insist upon your rights.
Our state has been very generous II
supplementing the pension bestowals o
the national government. The Depart
! ment of Maine has never asked in vain
, aud for the very good reason that
] never has asked what was not prope
and lust. Our department pension com
mittee, Comrades Franklin NJ. Drew, Je
seph o. Smith, Charles P. Mattocks
: Samuel W. Lane and Charles Hamilr
will no doubt have some communicate
to make upon this subject.
Our Anxiliaries.