The Princeton union., 1900-08-30
ANNUAL MEETING.
Veterans Of the Grand Army Hols
the First Business Session Of
the Encampment.
Address of. Welcome BY Mayo,
Harrison and a Response
by General Shaw.
Most Of the Day Devoted to Re
ports of the Various Officers q
-. and Committees. !.


the G. A. r. have turned their atten-
tion to business The annual meeting
was formally called to order in Stude-
baker hall at l0:30 o'clock by. Com.
mander-in.Chief Shaw. The hour orig.
inally set for the meeting was 10
o'clock but so many Of the old soldiers
were late in answering the roll call it
was found impossible to commence on
time. After prayer by Chaplain Grimm
Mayor Harrison came to the front of
the rostrum and formally welcomed the
soldiers to Chicago. His address was
happily received. Commander.in.Ch Chief
Shaw replied to Mayor Harrison for the
members Of his organization, express.
ing the thanks of the army for the hos
pitality shown them. J. M. Longe.
necker, commander Of the department
Of Illinois, then greeted the visiting
veterans in behalf of the soldiers Of
Illinois. He made happy little speech
which evoked much applause. Gen.
eral Louis Wagner, who responded for
the members of the army, was no less
felioitious in his reply, expressing the
gratitude of his comrades to the men of
Illinois.
Various Officers Read Reports.
The convention reassembled at 2
O'Clock in the afternoon and this time
there were no preliminaries. Action
was opened at once by General Shaw,
who read his annual report
Following the address of General
Shaw came long list of reports sub.
mitted by minor officials and the vari.
GUS committees of the organization.
The reports read were those of the ex-
ecutive committee, council of admins
tration, Adjutant General Stewart,
Quartermaster General Atkinson, Sur
geon General Baker, Chaplain-in. Chief
Grimm, Judge Advocate General Tor
renee, Senior Vice Commander.in-C Chief
Robbins, Junior Vice Commander.in-
Chief Minton, Custodian Holcomb, In
spector General Cummings, committee
on legislation Of veterans in public serv-
ice and the committee on pension leg
islation. 81
At the conclusion Of the reading Of
the annual reports of the various officers
recess was taken until $50 pAm.
when consideration of reports was 5re-
sumed in executive session. Many of
the delegates visited the stockyards. at
the invitation of the packing interests
and were shown throu gh the vast
buildings. e
Falling OFF in Membership.
The report Of Adjutant General
Thomas J. Stewart shows that the total
membership of the Grand Army of the
Republic in good standing June 80,
1899, was 6,9O5 posts with member
ship of 287,368; on June 80, 1900, GIFTS
posts with membership of 276,662,
loss for the year of 1919 -:
The report of Surgeon General Will
lam H. Baker shows the number Of
deaths during the year ending Dec. 81,
1899, were 1857, divided as follows:
Number who presumably died of
wounds received in the service, 1858;
number who presumably died of disease
contracted in the service, 1895; number
who presumably died from other
causes, 5,19S. The total money value
of medical service and supplies fur
nished during the year was estimated
at $36, 1919.
The committee an legislation for vet
erans in the public service ''regretfully
| reports little progress