The National tribune., 1906-11-29
THE NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT IN
NEW YORK CITY.

i NEW YORK CITY.
Editor National Tribune: Your time
! ly and valuable article relating to the
next meeting of the National Encamp
/ ment at Saratoga reminds me to ask
you why the National Encampment has
never been held in New York City, and
| whether we have ever received an in
vitation from any one authorized tn
invite us to hold the National Encamp-
If no invitation or request has been
received, can ss3u give some reason for
| the apparent hrgetfulness of those in
authority overthe greatest city on this
continent? A large portion of the sur
viving veterans have never seen this
great city, andSwOhld be glad to have
! the opportunity to spend a week there
if the railroad fare and other expenses
| Were no higher than usual at our Ma
tional Encampments.
Why send us to a small city like
| Saratoga when New York City could
| easily accommodate as large crowd
as attended the National Encampment
at Washington in 1S92?-J. Q. A. Ses-
sions. First Lieutenant, Co. ID, 7th
| Mich. Cav, Ann Arbor, Mich.
| Not to our knowledge has there ever
been a strong movement to hold the
National Encampment in New York
City, and for obvious reasons. Every
one has felt that 1t was not the place
for such a gathering. New York City
is not really city in the usual mean
ing of the word. We usually understand
city to be a community which has,
so to speak, an artificial personality in
which all of the people have much in
common, and they center around the
city's individuality and corporate life,
which they all have a certain share.
This is the character of the villages,
the towns and the cities in the rest OF
the country. They have as distinct per-
sonalities as individuals, and everybody
living in them has a pride and interest
in his village, town or city precisely as
he has in his family, church or lodge.
When a city in any other part of the
country invites the National Encamp
ment the invitation has something per-
sonal in it to every man and woman
living in the place. They all feel them
selves to be hosts of the veterans. Such
is not the case. and can never be the
case, in New York, because it is not,
as we said before, a city such as is
generally understood by the word. 1T
is more like a great market place or a
meeting point for work and business.
People go to New York and people live
in New York merely because it is con-
20
some other purpose, and they have mol
attachment for the place or interest in
it beyond the convenience It affords
There is no solidarity of public spirit;
very few feel any interest in the de-
velopment of the place and what public
spirit may be developed is at the great
est disadvantage in its encounters with
the food of foreigners pouring into thnl
place and the vast mass Of people from
all over the country who may happen
to come there and believe that theirl
stay will only be temporary. Wherever
else the National Encampment has met
every man, woman and child has feltl
the deepest interest in It, The meetingl
of the Encampment has been the great
est municipal event of the year, and
the majority of the people had more or
less direct connection with the Grand
Army from having had relatives and
friends in the great war of the rebel
lion. This is absolutely necessary to the
success of any National Encampment
giving that air of interest and hospital
ity which is vitally essential This would
be wholly lacking in New York City,
where SO large proportion of the pop
ulation are foreigners who have come
to New York since the war, and much
the bigger part of the remainder haze
had no interest whatever in the great
struggle and those who fought it. While
there are great number of good vet
erans in New York City they are but
an insignificant percentage of the whole
population, and cannot hope to make
their influence felt over the vast, strug-
Cling, selfishIy-pushing, periodically in
different hordes that have swarmed into
the country since the war to feast upon
its prosperity. In many important
things New York is the least American
of our cities. 1t has far more Jews
than any city in the world; it has more
Germans than any city except Berlin
probably more Slavs than any except
st. Petersburg and Moscow; more Bo-
hemians than any city in Bohemia
more Hungarian-Slavs than any except
Budapest; more Italians than there are
anywhere except in Naples and Rome
and possibly more real Greeks than
there are in Athens. In such a hodge,
podge of races the National Encamp-l
ment would be utterly lost and produce
no impression whatever.