The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-08-08
ARRIVAL OF MENUS
OFFICIAL OPENING
OF ENCAMPMENT
COmmander-in- Chief of Grand Army
Impressed by Splendid PrepGr-
GtiOnS- SteTTett Predicts
Large Attendance
STERRETT ON SITUATION.

:. :. :. :: = I. :. = = :. :. :. = :: = = >
:: I am prepared to say that ar no =
:: encampment in the past have the =
= plans been so carefully prepared =
!. and followed. out in their detail as =
:. they have been for the encamp- :.
:: ment which begins Monday. EV- =
:: erything points TO the encampment =
:, being a success in every way
- I have no reason to change my =
:. estimate Of the number who viii =
:. attend the enCampmeHt. believe =
:. there will be 10000 veterans here, =
:. and $4,000 people all told.
:. The decorations are the best that y
:. were ever seen at an eucampment, =
:. not even excepting the encamp- =
:. nent at Columbus. when the dec >
= OratiOns were pronounced the -best =
:. up to that time.
= . . . 3 = = = = = = = . - > = =
Colonel Frank NJ. steTett, executive
director OF the Grand Army encamp-
ment, the forty-third annual gathering
Of the veterans Of the war OF the states,
which will begin tomorrow. is pleased
beyond expression with the conditions
as he found them at 6 o'clock last even
ing.
81 am well satisfied" said Colonel
Sterrett, with everything. Indeed, 1
am quite surprised at the NUMBER OK
on. people who came in today. Here
tofore we have not had TO open our
booths until Monday morning, but we
had so many people today that We
opened them at o'clock. The booths
will be open all day tomorrow ana VIII
continue TO be open until they are no
longer needed. think we handed z,g0O
people today. L take this as an lndl-
cation that the number in attendance
will not fall below the figures previ-
ously published.
Twenty Thousand Veterans.
q have no reason to change my esti-
mate Of the number who wiz attend the
eucampment. 1 believe there will be 20
900 veterans here, and $4,000 people all
/ told, meaning by this people who do not
/ live in Salt Lake"
do the 10000 include others than vet
/ erans?"
ssNo; that is exclusive of the SINS Of
/ Veterans, Spanish War Veterans and
] the descendants of veterans. If you
/ have "a, 600 people here, it will be about
/ the proportion that always has exist
ed. OF course, the attendance Of vet
/ Grams will not be so large as at previ-
GUS encampments. There are two prin-
! cfpal reasons for this. In toe first place,
/ the distance IS great and the cost OF
| travel hieh. Our membership consists
/ largely of poor people. We figure that
/ 10 per cent Of our members are wealthy;
/ 80 per cent well 10 do, and the remain
! ing so per cent poor. These save a lit
tie from their salary each month Tor
the encampment. In the second place,
our members are growing old, and trav-
! cling ia fatiguing. The average age OF
our membership now is So years.
Plans Are Perfect.
What do you think Of the prospects
for the encampment2"
Il am prepared to say that at no en-
campment in the past have the plans
been so carefully prepared and followed
out in their detail as they have been
for the encampment which begins Non
day. Everything points TO the encamp-
ment being a success in every way. I
have been a member Of the executive
committee for sixteen years, during thir-
teen of which I have been practically
in charge Of all the arrangements. The
plans laid for this enCampment were
the most satisfactory 7 have ever seen,
and the details have been wonderfully
well worked out. We have good chair
men on the committees, and we had
only one OF two chairmen who were In
J different. These were on unimportant
committees. Your people have worked
! Continued on Page 3.