The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-13
WATTERSON A WIZARD.
He Captures the Grand Army Mems
ElCdmpment.

AhboOALEs 1 a. Dtpl. ll.--l ne ueltkhLeS
TO the national encampment Of the Grand
Army of the Republic got down to solid
business basis this morning While 200
600 persons have left the city since the
last of the old soldiers passed in review
yesterday, there are still 200, 600 strangers
in town, ma ority of whom will stay
until Saturday and Sunday, while some
Will remain even longer. The national
encampment opened this morning in the
new grand opera house. The commander
ln-chief and delegates were welcomed on
behalf of the citizens executive board by
Chairman Dahiel G. Ripley and also by
w. {. Quincy, chairman of the committee
on invitations and reception Gov. Patti
son welcomed them on behalf of the state
of Pennsylvania, while Mayor McKeuna
of Pittsburg and Mayor Kennedy of Allie
gheny performed the same pleasant duty
on behalf of their respective cities The
serious business of the encampment
proper then began. The election tor com
mander-in-chief will not be held until to-
morrow. Since the withdrawal Of Judge
Charles d. Long of Michigan, the opinion
is rapidly growing that Col T. N. Walker
OF Indiana will secure the coveted honor.
The selection of the next encampment
city has also been deferred until t0-mor-
row. While surface indications are that
Louisville will have walkover, it is
limited that St. Paul has been doing work
IN quiet but very effective way.
STOLE A MARCH ON ST. PAUL.
The claims of Louisville for the location
of the Grand Army of the Republic en-
campment of 1898 were presented to the
national convention by Henry Watterson
this morning Just as soon as the wei
coming addresses were concluded a motion
to suspend the rules and give audience TO
the kentucky orator was adopted with
enthusiasm. He received a cordial recep-
tion. The speaker retired amid a storm
of applause. Then the doors closed and
the encampment went into secret session
to hear the address of Commander in
Chief Adams and associate national
officers. In the presentation of Col. Wat
terson at the opening of the session, the
supporters of Louisville stole big march
on st. Paul, and the advocates OF tho
latter are considerably disRruntled. Here
tOfore IL has been the invariable practice
to defer the nomination of the next en-
campment to the second or closing day of
the convention. Speakers for ST Paul
will be heard this afternoon or tomorrow.
The last parade of the encampment oc-
CURED this afternoon. when the union
ex-prisOners of war turned out 900
strong, every state in the union having
one or more representatives In the ranks.
When Henry Watterson was introduced
| to present the plea of Louisville for the
next encampment, the silver-tOngued
| escort of the "Star-eyed Goddess" was in
his best mood. Among his hearers,
from pit TO gallery, laughter alternated
with applause, and when, in pa
thetic moment, he allowed a few tears
to course down his cheeks, there was a
lachrymose response that would have
been appropriate to funeral Before his
perOration had been reached the success
Of the leading citizen of the Bluegrass
state was assured, and the orator retired
amid such an ovation as national en-
campment has rarely bestowed even upon
one of its favorite sons
Close attention was paid by the dele
gates to the report of the committee and
commander-in-chief and the frequent
references that it contained to the atti-
| tude of the congress and of the people of
the south toward union soldiers, and pa
triotic movements originating in the north,
were heartily applauded.
When the report of the committee on
| pensions was read cheers punctuated
every paragraph. 1t was signed by Com
rades II. r. Taintor, A. M. Warner and
j. n. Walker, chairman, and read as
! follows: Your committee would re-
| spectfully reiterate the sentiments
| and renew the recommendations touch
| ing the rights of the union veteran and
the duties of the government toward
| him embodied in our report submitted to
| the twenty-seventh national encampment.
After the adoption of that report by the
national encampment there was a change
| in the action of the pension department
! in its rules for suspension OF the payment
without hearing, and many of those
whose pensions had been suspended
under that unfair rule, have been
| restored TO the rolls. Your committee
| lie hnuavaf- nf tho Onipiou that tha..n ia
| still just cause for complaint in technical
| rulings. and requirements Of the pension
! department, which work unfavorably to
! the applicant, and result in unjust dis
| elimination against his interests; that
| doubts are unlustlY decided adversely TO
| the claimant, which under any reasona-
! BILE liberal construction should have been
| decided in his favor.
Order No. 300 from the department Of
the interior bureau Of pensions issued
| June 10, 1893, is especially obnoxious as
/ esta blishing needless and hard require
meuts in the preparation and forwarding
of testimony in support OF claims.
I'VE insist that evidence very often
produced after years of effort and at
great expense Of time and money on the
| part Of the applicant should not be thrown
| out for mere lack Of former want Of com
! pliance with any purely technical or
arbitrary rules, and we urge that this
| order be so modified as 10 provide that
all evidence presented be fairly examined
Your committee feels constrained TO
! call the attention Of the national encamp-
/ ment TO the fact that a large part of the
! appropriation made by the kifty-second
congress for the payment Of pensions for
the year ending June 80, 1894. was unused
| and turned back into the treasury while
| hundreds Of thousands Of unadiudicated
claims remained pending in .he pension
| bureau.
AT the same time credit is claimed on
| behalf of congress and the administration
| upon the grounds that the aggregate ap-
| preparations have been reduced, yet IL APP
pears the only reduction made has been
| effected by cutting down the appropri-
alton for pensions, so that union veterans
alone feel the effects Of this spirit Of
/ economy.
| 1T Is a significant fact that while
| period Of seventeen years elapsed between
| the ending OF our war with Mexico, and
| the close Of the war Of the union, yet the
amount now expended for the pensioning
/ Of the soldiers OF the Mexican war Is in
| creasing, while the amount now expended
! for pensions 10 union veterans is dimin-
! ishing.
we feel compelled 10 say that there Is
| evidently on the part Of both the legisla-
| tive and executive departments feeling
Of hostility 10 our worthy and suffering
| comrades. the wards Of the nation, who