The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-08-13
UNION VETERANS.
They Organize a Society and Issue an
Address.


Address.
At meeting of the union veterans
yesterday new political society was
organized. 1t will be called the Vet
erans' Patriotic League of Kansas.
The following officers were then
elected:
A. W. Smith, president, Groveland;
o. H. Coulter, secretary, Topeka: VIM.
Sims, treasurer, Topeka; vice presi-
dent at large, u B. Pearsan, Lansing;
First district, Capt. Geo. K. Spencer,
Leavenworth; Second district, f. A.
Lyon, TT. Scott; Third district, George
Mckee, Howard; Fourth district, T. ].
Anderson. Topeka; Fifth district, F. P.
Burnel. Broughton; Sixth district, w
H. Mcbride, Osborne; Seventh district,
W. F. Hendry, Nickerson.
An executive committee consisting of
John Guthrie. Topeka; Theo. Botkin,
Hutchinson; Lewis Hanback,, Armour
dale; J. A. Gardner, Pratt; Ed F.
Jones, HoIton; NJ F. McKirahan, To-
pointed.
The following address which states
the object and purposes of the organ
1ZatiOn was issued:
To the surviving soldiers and sailors
in Kansas who served in the union ar
my and navy during the war of the re-
bellion: Comrades your country is
again in peril. Dangerous combina-
tons again threaten the integrity of
the government. Misguided and IN
scrupulous men conspire to bring dis
honor and ruin upon this nation once
saved by your ValOr The men who
once answered the call to put down re-
bellion and save the union have lost
none of their love for the country and
the devotion for the flag they fought
to uphold, and they see in the present
situation an attempt to tarnish the
good name of the republic and break
down its most cherished institutions.
The stars and stripes symbolic, to
those who offered their lives in it's de-
Tense, country united and powerful
respected at home, honored the world
over for its power, its justice and still
dealing.
Comrades. you believe in liberty I'M
der the law, in public order, in the
maintenance of our courts of Justice
and in national honor and in good
faith. You are unalterably opposed to
the red f1ag of anarchy and mob rule.
We believe that you resent with earn
eStnesS all attacks upon the executive
and judicial departments of our gov
eminent and commend all measures
which vindicate the supremacy of the
law and restore public order whenever
endangered.
Many of our great comrades have
been mustered out Lincoln, Grant
Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, Logan,
Mcclellan, Hancock, Burnside, Meade,
CARRIED, Butler, Mcpherson, SlOcum,
Farragut and Porter, and with them
more than one million of enlisted men,
through whose valor, privation and he
rOic devotion to duty the final victory
was made possible, have answered the
LIST roll call upon earth and are at
rlst.
Were all these living they would be
united with us in this crisis as they
were in the days of that holy struggle
homes. 1t remains for US, their com
rades, to guard the good work they up
held while living and to preserve all
they helped US gain for our country.
1--WE feel that the country is again
in the presence of great danger and
that it is the duty of the men who saved
it before to rally to its defense now.
Therefore, we urge you to form your
selves into an association to be known
as The Union Veterans Patriotic Lea
que of Kansas and do all in your pow
er as individuals and mem bers of the
league to secure the triumph of the
right. Plans for organization will be
furnished from this office. We ask you
to unite without reference to your past
party affiliations and come together in
partisan associations as YOU did in
those other days. The sons of the faith
ers who followed the flag from 1861 to
1865 should defend the blessings secured
to them by the services, the sufferings
and the valOr of their sires Therefore,
we invite all Sons of Veteran sires to
unite with US in this campaign against
national dishonor.
"Organfza tioas similar to this are be-
ing formed throughout the states of the
union, and there is a general movement
among our comrades everywhere to
once more touch elbow to elbow in a
battle by the ballot for what was at
such a great sacrifice won by the
sword w. Smith, president; o. H.
Coulter secretary
The next regular meeting of this lea
que will be held in Topeka, Septem-
BET %.