The National tribune., 1906-09-20
SARATOGA FOR THE NATIONAL IN
CANPNENT

|
CAMPMENT.
At the time that Saratoga's candidacy
presented itself TO the Nationa! En-
cam pment at Minneapolis most Of :he
comrades felt grave misgivings as 10 me
suita bility of Saratoga fer such a gath
ering. Undoubtedly Saratoga is an eX-
cellent place for relatively small meet
ngs such as those of the knights Tenn
plar and similar bodies. What is de-
sired for National Encampment is not
a number of fine hotels which Saratoga
undoubtedly possesses. The need is for
a host of good, comfortable. clean. low
priced rooms at about 81 day to ac-
comm odate the great mass of comrades
and their wives who desire to attend a
National Encampment. This IS the first
and greatest requisite. a com mparative-
| ly small number of those who attend
the National Encampment will go to
the hotels. and they Will find probably
better accommodations i'll Saratoga than
has been the rule at most places at
which the Encampment has been held.
Comrades Shots and Snyder. in pre-
senting the claims, of Saratoga. laid
particular stress upon this fact SAYING
that at one of the great hotels all the
headquarters upon the ground floor,
and there would be no necessity of go
ing from cellar to garret to hunt the
| different headquarters. These head
quarters would look out upon pleasant
parks. and be in every way more desir-
able than the rule in other cities. An
other hotel could give similar head
quarters. on the ground floor. for all of
the w. X. c.. Ladies of the G.. A. r..
Sons of Veterans and allied organiZa>
tions. This is all very nice and desir-
| able, and it had great weight with the
National Encampment. Now comes the
still greater question Of the lodging and
entertainment Of the great mass of the
| comrades who want more modest quar-
ters. In larger cities than Saratoga
| these have been amply provided by peo,
pie who have modest homes desiring to
make little money. during Encamp-
ment week by letting some of their
rooms The people of Saratoga are quite
willing to do the same. but there are
only $4,000 permanent residents il.
Saratoga, and the amount of spare
room that they may have must neces-
Sarily be quite limited to accom- modate
possibly 100000 visitors. A comrade
who lives near Saratoga. and for that
reason does not desire to have his name
mentioned, writes:
Saratoga is a nice place and lust
large enough for State Encampinent
but for q National Enca mpmcnt il is. in
my opinion, an impossiblity. l may be
wrong, but, at any rate the Command
er-in-Chief and the National Council Of
Administration should look into the
matter. There is not a paved street in
the whole village nor street railroad
in the village proper. ] have spent my
vacations in Saratoga for several sea-
sons. and was there the first 0 days Of
last August. Nobody mentioned any
thing about an effort being made 10 get
the National EncamDinent 20 meet
there Saratoga has one small Post and
no Sons of Veterans Camp"
This subject should be tloroly con-
sidcrcd and ct once. II is better 10 do
il nov. before preparations have pro-
grcssed so far that any change will re-
suit in loss to the people of Saratoga.
In many instances in the past where
the preparations. the terms. ct".. were
not at all satisfactory to the Command
erin Chief and Council of tdministra-
ton, they have nevertheless felt reluc-
tant to make a change because of the
disappointment to the comrades Of the
city ard the loss to those who had con
tributcd to make preparations. So many
of these things occurred that two or
three wears ago the National Encamp-
ment adopted resolution making il
mandatory upon the Commandcr-in-
Chief and the Council Of AdminiStra-
ton TO change the place OF holding tn"
Encampment unless the railroads and
hotels granted absolutely the desired
terms. Nothing has as vet been done n
Saratoga toward preparing for the 41st
Annual Encampment, and therefore ""
should take up at once and earnestly
canvass Saratoga's adaptabiiity for
holding the great gathering. so that If
II is finally decided that . change will
have to be made there viii be no Hnan-
cial loss to the city and only mild dis
appointment.