Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-06-11
COMMANDERS REPORT.
Interesting Paper Presented to Veter'
ans at Dubuque.


All old soldiers are interested in the
report of, General Davis, department
commander of the Iowa Grand Army of
the Republic. The paper is an inter-
esting one to those not members of
the order, showing as it does the pres
ent condition.
Following is the report in part as
read at the gathering in Dubuque,
where the encampment is being held:
To the Members of the Twenty-seyenth
Encampment Department of Iowa, Grand
Army of the Republic:
ored me by an election to the highest Of
fee in the gift of this department. l ap-
pear before you today, to render an account
of my stewardship, and to make such sug-
est of the department
On entering upon my duties as depart
ment commander ] canvassed the situation
as best could for the purpose Of ascer-
tanning in what way l could accomplish
the most good for the department. l saw
at once that something should be done to
increase its membership.
The report of the department In 1891
showed a membership of 2o,324. Since
that time our membership has been gr rnin
ally decreasing The Re report ,don Of the aa an
bershfp of II ,529-,a loss Of s,795. Of this
number 2,644 have been lost by death, and
6.151 by suspension and dropped. Just
what our actual membership was at the
time stated is not so clear on account Of
the imperfect condition of the reports made
by the posts. or rather failure on the
part of a large number of the smaller posts
to make reports. The practice heretofore
has been where posts have failed to make
reports to carry them along, crediting them
with a membership as shown By their last sst
shows only posts that have made reports,
posts not appearing upon this roll that
have not surrendered their charters have
only been. omitted from the. roll Of mem
bers to be taken up at any time whenever
they make reports
Quite number of small posts not Iap-
pearing upon the roster have not had
Years, hence it was thought advisable to
carry on the roll of members only posts In
good standing. As result, forty three
posts that were In the erl roster iast year ao
ed I''s statement of the membership of the
department at the present time
Fully realizing that every effort should
be put forth to increase our membership
in general order No. 4, I called the ntten'
tion of posts to this matter and urged up
on post commanders to, appoint commit
bers, and to see that they made, every ef
fort to induce them to renew their mem
bership. Later again made an earnest
appeal to the comrades of the department
| to make united iieffort to maintain the
Grand Army, of the Republic. In addition
to this l wrote. hundreds Of letters, ans
visited many posts, trying, as best could
| to encourage the boys in this noble. work
II do not claim for myself, the credit fol
the favorable results that followed.
| While our membership has increased
somewhat since June 80. 1900, 1t is due
very lareelyto the efforts of the comrades
| that feel an interest in our organlzatitn
and work manfully to that end The al
| jutant general, acknowledging the receip
Of the Consolidated report Of the assistant
adjutant general, shys; Permit me Il
Congratulate you on "a gain Of 1.947 mem
| beers in the department of Iowa Jus
what our increase has been since Deem
her 31st cannot he determined now, bu
will appear In the next report.
Department Finances.
The report of Mt. :scanlon,. assistan
auartermaster general, will show the tinan
| cial condition of the department, and tn
financial record of the past year
| From what has been said with referenc
to gradual decrease in our membershi
from year to year, as natural sequenc
our revenues must decrease in q CORES
ponding ratio. There can be no doubt bu
/ what the expense for running the depart
ment should not exceed the per capita taS
1 For several years the disbursements hay,
exceeded the amount collected from TIL
| l1-f-