The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-08
SIDNEY HERBERT's LETTER.
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE 25TH GEN.
ERAL ARMY ENCAnIPMENT.

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE 25TH GEN.
ERAL ARMY ENCAMPMENT.
A Few of the Questions which VIII
Come Up for Discussion--An old
subject That Has Been often Con-
.idered-A Reference to DIR. Mary
WaIker-Men who Became Presi-
dents Under Names other Than
Their Own-A Mad Grand Army
Mama Printer Responsible for
His Mental Condition-Confeder
Generals in Misunderstanding
confederate Officers Who Were
overlooked I'm the wind Up of At
other Matters of General Interest.
Pine Crest Villa. Maitland. Fla,
sent. To-day, from Maine to Cali
fornia, the old Boys in Blue" are NOV
ing in the direction of Cleveland, O.,
where the thirty-fifth annual national
encampment of the Grand Army of the
Republic is to be held. Sunday will
be devoted to religious services and
Monday given UP to the reception of
the big delegations and their assign
rnent to quarters. Tuesday Is to be
made attractive by the naval parade
and Wednesday by the regular G.. A.
r. parade, and this promises to eclipse
the great Chicago parade of last year.
Thursday and Friday will be the days
devoted to business sessions of the g.
A. r., the Mexican War Veterans, the
Women's Relif Corps, the Ladies of
the G. A. r. and other organizations,
the headquarters of which will be at
the Hollenden Hotel, the leading hotel
of the city. Ample accommodations
have been arranged for all in attend
ance. and veterans short of funds will
have excellent free quarters given
them in the public school buildings.
The contest for commander-in-chief
lies between Gen. Thomas j. Stewart,
the accomplished adjutant general of
the state of Pennsylvania, and a for
mer G.. A. r. adjutant general of high
character. and rare ability, and Gen.
Dan Sickles, U. 8. A. (retired) of New
York, with chances in favor of Stew
art, who has the unanimous indorse-
ment of the Florida department. 80
Efforts have been made in the past
to elect Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and
Gen. Joe Wheeler, old Confederates,
honorary members" of G.. A. r.
posts in New Jersey and Massachu-
sets, but there was no such member
ship in the organization. Some posts
have Social Members" and on this
account the Department of Michigan
proposes to create an Associate So
ciety," the object being to interest out
siders in the work ana support Of the
G. A. r. But one clause in the first
section will create lively discussion,
as it excludes from membership all
who have ever borne arms against
the United States.' Now, with a
reunited people, a new National Sol
diers' Home, where this rule does not
apply, and with Gen. Joe Wheeler and
Gen. Fitz Lee in the United States
Army such a rule is simply preposter-
Gus.
Another matter for lively discussion,
will come from the Department of
Arkansas, but it is an old subject that
has been discussed almost every year
for nearly twenty years. 1t proposes to
let into the G. A. r. all the Southern
men who were forced" by public
opinion" or otherwise, into the Confed-
crate army, but deserted at the first
opportunity and Joined the Union
army. Now they are barred by the
rule that makes any person who at any
time bore arms against the United
states ineligible to membership. 1t is
proposed to change this rule so 1t will
not apply to any who "involuntarily"
bore arms against the United States. I
cannot imagine any new argument that
can be used at Cleveland in favor of
this change. If the G. A. r. had the
power of a genuine mind reader and
could test each case separately, it is
possible that portion of these North
Georgians and East Tennesseeans and
others might pass muster" but here
tofore all efforts, however, praise
worthy, in their behalf have failed to
open to them the, Inner door," so care
fully guarded, of the G. A. r.
Florida will not be largely represent
ed this year, yet good delegation is
anticipated. Commander F. G. Par
cell and party go from Tampa on the
Seaboard Air Line, via Washington
ana New York; Senior Vice Comman-
der S. Herbert Lancey and party go
from Sanford on the Plant System, via
Montgomery, the Louisville and Nash
vile and the big Four" Another par
ty goes via the Southern Railway to
Join the Georgia headquarters train
from Fitzgerald. All parties expect to
reach Cleveland on Monday afternoon.
The Florida headquarters will be at
the Lincoln Hotel, No. 525S Ontario
street, but Gen. Lancey, being special
aide to the commandment -chief, with
be at National Headquarters at the
Hollenden Hotel. Gen. T. S.
Wilmarth of Jacksonville, past
department commander, is a mem
Der of the National Council of
Administration, which is the gov
erning power of the organization. Com
rade j. A. Commerford of Marietta is
the member for the Department of
Georgia and South Carolina.
/ noticed in the "Woman's World"
department of the Morning News of
last Sunday that the notorious and
never-dying DIR. Mary Walker recently
In Chicago, had herself photographed
as she would appear laid out" for
burial. This grim idea reminds me
that / was one of many Union officers
IN the Civil War who would then have
been glad to have seen her Laid out"
for actual burial. A bigger nuisance
never infested an army. A
writer in the September Ladies' Home
journal revives the old story, often
given by me in these letters, that Gen.
Grant was not Ulysses Simpson Grant,
but he errs in saying it was Hiram.
Ulysses Grant" 1t was Ulysses Hi
ram Grant, and the congressman who
appointed him a cadet could not think
of his middle name-Hiram-SO nut I'm