The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1895-01-03
THE POST ROOM.
Within It's Sacred Precincts Are Recalled
the Promises Made by the Government to
the Soldiers.
BY PRIVATE DALZELL.

BY PRIVATE DALZELL.
The young generation, and so much OF the
old not in the war, have no conception
of the dignity and impressiveness of the pro-
ceedings In our Post-rooms at our weekly oil
monthly meetings. 1t is not at all sure that i
the vail of secrecy were drawn, and the public
admitted generally, as they are admitted tC
town meetings at church, that even
then they could fully understand and enter
into the spirit of stated meetings
But the trouble is that they think they
know, and know nothing about it. That is
why write about it now. i would, if could
correct the many notions abroad on this sub
iect. We are not at all the men we are sup
posed to be. Our meetings are not at all the
meetings they are supposed to be. Usually y,
the soldiers 90 about their business quietly all
the week. make no fuss, and certainly show nc
splendid feathers; for, MS Logan was wont to
say sadly, :" IL is the soldiers lot TO be poor.
The description of the 53l chapter of Isaiah
fits them admirably "despised and rejected OF
men," men of SORROWS aud acquainted with
griefs," wounded for our national transgreS-
sions and bruised for our national inig uites -
the whole chapter applies TO them class.
/ have certainly never seen any description in
print that so graphically described the SOL
dier's condition and character. Clothed in rags
many OF u.s. living in habitatioIs of poverty
most of US, going on from day TO day in hand
o-mouth sort OF way. holding Offices, own
ing no newspapers our place is cOnfessedly not
very exalted or impressive.
But what sort of men are they themselves p
for have been speaking only of their environ
ments, the outside merely. Essentially aud
truly what sort of men are these old ragged,
gray haired boys in blue, anyhow?
Go back TO the days of their prime. young
men, aud ask your mothers and grandmothers,
your fathers and grandfathcrs. what kind of
men these soldiers were when they enlisted to
fight the battles of the country They were
not gray then! They were not lame or bowed
down and crippled up! Their faces were not
scanned and furrowed, and wrinkled aud thin
and pale, and sad them
In the morn and liquid dew of youth I"
they were the flower of the land-its best men !!
Best in brain, best at heart, bravest, trnest.
strongest, for the invalids and towards all h ad
to stay at home. These be plain words, but
the time has come when no milder words can
be used to state the case of these despised and
rejected men in blue.
Best then and best yet; tried in the fire;
pure gold. No man not traitor or coward
afford to turn up his nose at one Of these
grand men, no matter bow poor or lame or
ragged.
Because the old soldiers do not loudly pro-
test at the manner OF their treatment in their
old age do not for one moment think they are
blind not to see il. They see and feel
sorely the difference in the treatment accorded
them when, in the strength and beauty of their
manhood, they went forth TO fight your bat
ties and the violence, insult and neglect that
attend their declining years, even IL they make
noise about it. All these things come up
and pass in review in the Post-roon when we
meet, not so much TO fight our old battles
over, but 10 fight the new battles of bread and
butter for fading years! The public are
all wrong about this; we do not live altogether
in the past by any means! Like other men,
we need orr daily bread.
We recall the promises made to US when we
doomed tic blue and stood between your homes
and wars desolation. Many of these promises
are broken, few of them yet redeemed. aud il
Is the Office Of the Post room TO agitate these
questions until the country returns To a sense
Of its solemn duty to Us, and redeems its SOL
emn obligations. This it must do. We have
the power TO compel it with our 100000 sons,
and our meetings in the Post-room are the lever
that will lift the world!
This is not politics, but it is the politics of
the Post room. There we have no use for can
didates or platforms. but we do have great use
for all the means IN our power to control the
Government of the United States, and we can
and will do it until it redresses all the wrongs
creases the pittances doed out so grudgingly.
aud places Oh the roll at fair rate the last one
and every one that wore the hlue-every man
We talk il all over in the Post-rooms. They
are the throne of power in this country yet,
and can control every Township from Augusta
to San Francisco-every one. DULY few pres
Sent, some very DID, some feeble and suffering
greatly. Yet no Senate or Convention is more
dguified, none half as sincere or cordial and
err ul M 4lzb flaP M frnlT liz
day is gone by. We arc old. earnest
men now. We are met 10 help each other, aud
We mean business. We are not geese to fy
after chat aud consider IL grain. We know
whats what, and never mistake friend for an
enemy. The best men OF this country-thc pick
of the hock-its brain and intelligence in 1861,
We are not idiots yet. We are not to be trifed
with or fooled by any man any party
Our friends can command US every one, for
above all things the soldier never forgcts
friend in need, but woe TO the party or the men
that strikes one OF US down.
emphasize and repeat ard 10 my latest
breath shall declare tho irreversible verdict of
history, that the best men the writer ever vet
saw in line oi-batile were the men who wore
the blue. No man who WOrthily wore the gray
will ever dispute the sober fact. 1t is sealed
in blood and enrolled eternal in the Nations
Pantheon. We are neither beggars nor robbers.
We stand upon the Nations bond, and, like
other bondholders simply claim our own We
have no apologies TO offer. We do not whine or
complain nor yet will go to our creditors to
beg for aims. We stand upright like men. and
neither fawn nor criBge. We beg nothing. We
demand our own only With all the power at
my command. with all the Indignation that i
feel. hurl back in the teeth of our adversaries
with defiant scorn the insolent falsehood that
we are not their superiors and masters There,
yon have glimpse of the Post-room now,
Earnest men here meet as brothers TO ex-
change fraternal greetings. breathe a mutual
prayer, sing song Of the fag and consult for
each others good. No hypocrits here, no liars,
no demagogs. no kDsves-all is open, candid,
square, nothing held back, nothing concealed,
all open as the day. No man can stand up In a
Post-room and utter lie! 1t is face to face.
heart TO heart, true az steel, and when the
council closes and the word goes FORTH the
Grand Army of the Republic closes up its ranks
aud moves forward rein forced by it's 1000 900
sons mighty force that no man or party uare
resist
Gained by His Daughters.
Sunday. Dec. lG, an event occurred that will
always be a bright spot in the life OF Capt. L. J.
Cutter, Of Marietta, o.. President of the Ohio
Association of Union Ex- Prisoners Of War, and