The National tribune., 1897-03-18
NO SUSPENDED COMRADES
Seward Post, of Auburn, n. Y, Has Abol-
iShed All Dues.

Seward Post, of Auburn, n. ", Has AboI-
ished All Dues.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: never notice
an article in your columns from Past Chaplain
in-Chief Hagerty that do not read with great
pleasure because it seems to me that he means
what he says and says what he means, and is
always interesting. His letter in reference to
suspended comrades is good. and it is for the
purpose of keeping the subject of the Chap
lain's letter before the comrades that venture
into print. The subj sct of suspended comrades
has undoubted been the concern of many OF
tho Posts, and there may be some that have
found solution to the problem. but if there
are any of them that have taken the bold
stand that we have / have not heard of it.
Our scheme is not patented, nor will il be.
and we really believe it is success. At any
rate, it has been for the last two years. and we
have nailed our flag to the staff and burned
the bridges behind US; in other words, We are
pledged to keep 1t up.
Every Order has its active and its Indifferent
members. The GAR. is no exception, al
though it would be dj fficult to find a. comrade
who failed TO have pride enough not to want
to he counted at sometime or other. IL rules
are to apply. they must apply TO all +; and who
does not know that in our membership we
have so many different classes that no rule can
fit all, 1t would be 9 waste of time to attempt
to enumerate all the causes that keep lots OF
good comrades out of the Posts.
Some three years ago VIC wrestied over this
problem, and it was not in any haste or hurry.
We argued, and sometimes We found ourselves
on one side and then on the other. We had
comrades (goOd ones, too who were always IN
liue), who have demanded q discharge or trans
fer because the Post remitted the dues OF
another comrade, who, in the Judgment of the
former, was able to pay dues. We had all the
elements of the average Post, and it was, as
have said, after very mature deliberation that
we abolished all dues absolutely.
lam aware that someone will now say that
we will not have the funds to run the Post,
and / cannot better answer than to give our
experience for six years. In 1880 We were
badly in debt We could not raise the money to
settle in any other way than to have fair. and
all this work was left to less than 20 per cent.
of our then membership.
We have paid the debt; aud two years ago
while the present Senior Vice Department
Commander was our Post Commander, we
adopted the plan of "no dues" Since that
| time we have nearly doubled our membership,
and more than doubled the attendance at Post
meetings and trebled the interest in the
affairs of the Post. We have never seen the
time that we had any claims presented to us
| that we did not have the funds to pay them.
! OF course. we had to be prudent, and did not
| have any swell banquets, but if We did want q
| Campfire we could set up good spread y
| as the boys used to get up for themselves.
| We have comrades who are not able to pay
! such dues as were levied by the Post, but who
| have pride enough to pay the Quartermaster q
sum equal if not in excess of what the pei
capita is to the Department; others who car
and do pay q little more than this; Others
| who pay as much as they ever did, and not
few who are able and willing to pay much NOR.
| than they did under the old system. So thai
| with the increased membership, which adds
practically nothing to the expense. we are able