The Portland daily press., 1898-02-25

nave TO be returned twice, while fepoi u
| from some Posts are not sent until ca
for several times.
The Department of Maine is in good
| condition, all it's Posts in good WORKING
order. and as believe that the comrades
composing its membership are well quaiil-
| fed to manage their affairs under the
r rlles and regulations, I have no recon
mendation to make.
| John H. Mctiregor medical director, IN
| his report says:
| / have the honor to submit my second
annual report as Medical Director of the
| Department. for the year ending Decem-
ber 81, 1897, as follows:
| The whole number.of Posts reporting
June 80, 1897, 124.
The whole number reporting December
| 81, 1897, 1870.
1t will be thus seen that forty-threo
| Posts failed to make any report for the
| year and forty-seven for the last hall
year. The number of deaths reported TO
| this office, one hundred and ninety
| OF these, nine presumably died of wounds
received in the service; one hundred and
thirty -four of disease contracted in tne
service; from other causes, hfty-s Foss
surgeons report sixty ex-soldlers ana
| families of ex ex-soldiers treated free OF cost,
| and the surgeon of Post 165 reports tnat
| he is in the habit Of treating many COM
rades and their families without charge,
| and making no report OF the same. Ine
| money value of gratuitous service " -.
ported as $3l6 90. There has also been
furnished by physicians, posts, etc., medl
| cines aud relief to the amount OF S2oU.Si.
The whole amounts to $567 81.
Chaplain j. W. Webster in his report
says regarding Memorial Day:
There are obvious reasons why the
showing of Memorial Day observAnces is
somewhat unsatisfactory. The day COM
ing on Sunday created quite division OF
interests, as some Posts observed Saturday
and others Monday, both Of which days
were more or less stormy all over tne
state, which interfered very materially
with the exercises, more especially Win
the parades, which were much reduced IN
numbers, and in some instances aDan-
doned altogether. The absence OF organ
izations outside of the Grand Army OF
the Republic and the school children is
hereby accounted for But while we feei
measure of regret that we cannot make
q better show in q this year. yet we DO not
| understand that this falling off indicates
that the sacrifice of the Union soldier is
being overlooked or forgotten by the peo-
pie Of our state. While it is deplorable
that so many of our citizens seem totally
Indifferent to the claim that Memorial
Dayshas upon every one who lives under
the protecting folds of "Old Glory" yet
as the passing years carry US fartner
! away from the ''great struggle In Wnlcn
our comrades fell we believe that their
heroism and self sacrifice is more highly
appreciated by the better classes of people,
| pledge to us that when the Grand Army
of the Republic lives only in history the
people of Maine will never get SO busy
as to forget her soldiers, and that the
solemn and impressive services OF Memo
rial Day will be perpetuated, growing
| more sacred as the years roll on.
| From a condensed statement OF the WORK
| of one hundred and sixty Posts the fol-
lowing is taken No reports were re-
ceiyed from Posts Nos. III, 1873, 1875, Ia
| and 147:
! Number of cemeteries visited, 1,372
Number of graves decorated, 16, 5Se
Number Of graves never found be-
fore, oos
Number unmarked by proper head -
stones, oSi
Number of comrades died since
/ last report, s-,sSs
Number of comrades not members
OF G. A. R., 81
| Number of soldiers buried in pot
ter's field, Va
MONEY RAISED FOR MEMORIAL
DAY.
From cities and towns, S7,7e1
From Posts r,00l
From other sources, 30l
s9,os4
| EXPENDED.
Paid for speakers, 81, ,46e
| Paid for other expenses, 5,72e
| s7,196
Reports have been received from one
hundred and sixty-one Posts, for nine
of which am indebted to Comrade l..
sci ct,,r, y1f GnnQraJ
which enables me to make nearly full
return of all the Posts in the State, four
only being omitted. Whole number OF
| deaths as per returns, two hundred and
thirty-four. The oldest comrades in the
| list are James A. Durgin of Post 106,
Yarmouth, .and. Samuel Parker Of Post
S5, Bluehill. Each. h.ofsthesescomrades was
eis els Sty seven years old. The youngest
was Comrade Ambrose Fl. Stover, Post
46, Bluehill, aged forty six years. The
average age is fifty-seven years, three
months.
The report of 1856 gives one hundred
and seventy five deaths MS against two
hundred and thirty-fo for 1897 which
| ipcrease'of fifty-nine deaths forcibly re-
minds us that the soldiers of the "GraDd
| Army" are swiftly passing away. This
should be a strong incentive to bind uf
closer together through the ieeting years,
and it is my prayer that when the sum
mons comes TO us that we may be az
ready as were those who died in defence
of the Old Flag.
In his annual address, Department
| Commander Carleton referred briefly te
the work Of Memorial Day. the loss OF
members by suspension and death, the
details of the 31st encampment at Buffalo
and from this passed to consideration
of pensions. He said:
| at is with great pride that we refer &c
the record of the State Of Maine in the
matter OF state pensions. Maine has pa1o
out by way of state pensions since the
close Of the war, 81 ,475.oOo for the desti
tute, needy soldiers, their widows and or
phans; nor is this vast sum grudginglJ y
appropriated, but willingly, freely, and
has always been wisely distributed in the
spirit in which it was raised, perhaps
never more SO than by our present state
pension agent, Comrade E. e. Milliken.
'sNor had the General government been
niggardly in the matter of pensions. The
history Of civilization fails to disclose
the existence of any government that hai