Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-09-28
Were Decked in Gala Attire at
 Elm City To-Day
ORGANIZATION IS PROSPEROUS

Membership at Present is Nearly 150,-
 OOO-The Council of Administration
 Met. This Morning at Ten O'clock
 and Mapped Out Work of Conven-
 don.
 New Haven, Sept 2S.--Clad in uni forms of blue and gray emblematic of the reunion as comrades of men for merly separated by sectional strife, 1000 soldiers of the Spanish American war marched in parade today as q preliminary to the opening of the fourth annual assembly of the Nation al Army and Navy Spanish War vet erans They were reviewed by vet erans of the G. A. R., by state and city officials and by President Hadley or Yale university, while in the procession accompanying them as an escort were the Second regiment of the Connecti- cut National Guard, the naval battal- Ion. Governors Foot guards, mem bers of the Naval Veteran association \ the Knights of Columbus and other civic societies Fine weather following last nights heavy rain came as welcome surprise this morning to all interested in the coming of the yeter- mas, and the early indications were that the attendance of visitors from other cities of the state would be in creased beyond previous expectations. The rain gave bedraggled effect to the many decorations which were put in place along the line of march last week, but in most cases, hurried work this morning served to restore these nI<.v.x %@ &< fhnfF original beauty.
 The first assemblage of the day. aside from the many informal gather ings of old comrades in the hotels and on street corners was that of the coun- cil of administration which met at 10 o'clock at the New Haven house. This meeting was largely for the purpose of completing the details of the pro- gram for the convention. The coun- ell consists of Captain George T. Gas ton Michigan; Captain G. Leyburn Shorey, United States Soldiers home. D. C.; John IT. Hilton, N. J.; Charles Leimbach, N Y; Carl Gunster, Pa; John Fl. Wussow, Wis; James w Gar yer Me; H. l.. Suterly N. Y; Captain Daniel V. Chisholm, D. C.; H. l.. War ren, Mich; Honorable Henry D. Green, member of congress from Penn sylvania Reports of work accom- pIished during the year were submit ted to the national council, and were referred to the convention for accept ance
 The report of Adjutant General L., c. Dyer showed that the organization has made rapid progress during the past year. The increase of nearly 100 new commands during the year to- xyn&1inr x,l%Ia 3lae orea ~es iVa a.xa F1or ship Of commands already established has brought the membership up to about 10000. Eight new state organ izations have been formed together with seven provisional state organiza- fions As regards finances the asso- ciation was declared to be in good con dition, with no debts and with con siderable balance on hand.
 The amount expended for relief work by the various commands and corps during the year was nearly $100,O00.
 About 1O6 new stands of colors have been purchased by various commands for their use and many commands have uniforms themselves in the off, cial garb of blue and gray.
 In the organization of new com mands some trouble has been experi- enced by reason of the fact that there has been an effort to amalgamate the Spanish war veterans with the Span ish-American war veterans and other like organizations. good many have desired to hold out from Joining the spanish war veterans until this con- solidation was perfected All hin- drance to consolidation has now been removed and it is expected that by the end of October all details including the election of officers and the adoption of rules and rituals will have been ar ranged.
 Adjutant General Dyer makes sev- eral recommendations in his report regarding the equal division of work between his office and that of the quartermaster general He also re- quests that corps commanders and captains of commands be held more strictly accountable for the forwarding of reports