The National tribune., 1907-09-19
THE nsr NATIONAL ENcAMpMENT.

| ftSE NAIIONAL
Whoever was filed with misgivings
as to Saratoga and the 41st National
Encampment was happily disappointed.
After all the months of labor and anx-
iety by the Commander-in-Chief and
the Council of Administration;
| After all the exasperating wrangles
with the railroads;
After all the annoying squabbles with
the small. perverse fellows who form q
considerable proportion of the popula-
ton of Saratoga, as they do of every
town, and tried to nullify the good ef-
forts of the more enterprising citizens;
After all the disturbing doubts and
fears from highest to lowest in the
Grand Army of the Republic as to Sara
toga being a proper place to hold Ma
tional Encampment-
We have been there. held the 41st
National Encampment with signal sue
cess, and everybody has come away
glad that he was there, and generally
satisfied with all that happened
Even the torrents of rain which fell
on the day of the Grand Parade had
their rich compensaions. Since the
National Encampment at st. Louis, 20
years ago. we have had fine weather on
parade days. and the march has been
magnificent pageant. AT Saratoga the
deluges fell as If they would never stop.
and any other organization in the world
would have at once abandoned all
thought of parading. Not so the veter-
ans. The old war spirit possessed them.
They had no more thought of abandon
ing the parade on account of a little
dampness than they used to have of
lstOpping a movement which had been
ordered. They could not break habits
| of mind formed in the SOS in their
lusty youth. Every Department formed
on time, with full ranks, marched out
thru the pouring rain to its appointed
place, waited there uncomplainingly un-
| til its turn to take its place in column,
and then, with fairly ordered ranks,
marched steadily and squareIy over the
designated route, saluting the reviewing
officers as it passed the grand stand.
All the same the veterans had a Re-
union to which they will look back with
pleasure. They really got much closer
together than was possible in much
larger cities. Everything in Saratoga
is gathered in about the compass of a
Western village. The great hotels join
one another, and the main street, upon
which every thing is consolidated. is
not much over half a mile long. The
headquarters of most of the Depart
ments and Corps were on the ground
floors, and the spacious verandas, cor
ridors and parlors offered facilities for
Everybody to meet everybody else.
Groups would form here and there, talk
themselves cut, and disperse to form
other groups. In this way, in the IA
cility of intercourse, in meeting all those
whom one wanted to meet, and in get
ting into touch with comrades from all
over the country, the Encampment was
far more successful than any previously
held, except, perhaps, those at Wash
Iington, D. C. This alone. will make long
continuing pleasant memories of Sara
toga.
AS for the other great features, the
railroads handled the crowd unusually
well. There was far less than the usual
complaints of long and annoying delays.
The train service everywhere seems to
have been good. The passengers were
carried directly into the heart of the
town, instead of being unioaded some
where out in the suburbs, as has been
too frequently the case, and notably at
the last Encampment in Washington,
where some of the trains did not get
nearer than two miles from the depot.
The validating nuisance was reduced to
la minimum. The crowds We're taken
out of town with the same ease with
which they were delivered into it.
There was some complaint that Sara
toga being on a branch line, difficulty
was had in getting reservations and
making connections, but these COM
plants were at least not more numerous
than they have been in the past.
From all that those present said, they
had been able, without trouble, to Sc
cure good quarters at reasonable prices.
and were satisfied.