The National tribune., 1910-09-08
GRAND ARMY LEADERS.
Never VIII Have Another President
and Few in Places5of Powcr-Veter-
ans Losing Out-Nced Firm Head.

and Few in Placestof Powcr-veter-
ans Losing Out-Nced Firm Head.
Editor National Tribune: There are
cogent reasons, rockribbed in the ne
cessities of the hour, why the Grand
ARMY of the Republic should carefully
and prayerfully select its leaders in the
few wears remaining to It. In the hey
day of our populous power when as IN
dividuaIs we made Governors and Pres
lidants. dictated policies and dominated
nolitics il was not necessary to hesi-
tate in selection of our Grand Army
leaders We gloried in the fact that
there sat in the Presidential chair in
the White House one of our own, hrst.
the greatest General of the age as well
as the youngcst-Grant. Then Car
field, Arthur, Hayes, HARRISON ana NC
EinIev-siX veteran soldiers OF the war
of the rebellion, elected by the votes of
men who had followed them Ger a
powder- blaZed and bullet-strewn battle
line 1000 miles long.
They were comrades upon whom we
built an absolute trust which was never
shaken. Our course was safe while
they were in the White House.
we remember also that we had eight
wears of Grover Cleveland and four
Years of Hoke Smith. Those lapses Of
sanity came when veterans grown opu-
lent aand careless failed to stand by
their colors, and eight years of tragedy
ensued for those comrades whose pow
crs were failing and who had to ask
the cold charity of Cleveland's Pension
Office. How our comrades and the
widows suffered and are suffering from
the calamities of that horrible eight
years we all know.
With the passing of Mckinley passed
also the era of the old soldier. Never
again will a man who wore the blue sit
in the White House as the Chief Magis-
trate of the Nation, whose battles he
fought, whose enemies he conquered,
whose honor he helped to preserve un-
tainted and untarnished.
The boy of 10 who shouldered a gun
at Appomattox is 60 years old to-day,
and opportunity no longer knocks at
his door.
The thin blue line is trailing out into
the shadows over the divide.
The young man era Is on.
And yet the necessities of the ageing
veteran are more pressing to-day than
ever before. since Grant sent back to
the conquered South its leaders and
their horses to begin life over again
under a stainless, star-gemmed banner.
emblem of reunited country.
You know this, comrades. as well as /.
Look about you How many of our
comrades are Governors of States, May
or captains of industry anywhere? Take
of captains of industry anywhere. Take
a glance into the halls of Congress, Sem
ate or House. The fingers of one hand
will suffice to name them in the higher
body, and November will sweep all but
a paltry score or so from the National
House of Representatives in the next
Congress.
Then what of our needs and necessi-
ties?
Every moiety we have had for years
from Congress has been wrung from
reluctant givers, and year by year we
have lost from our own forces till there
are none left In power to urge our ne
cessities.
During the dark years of panic, when
pensions were mean and little and Con-
gress was weak-kneed and fearful of
enormous" appropriations there was
Just one newspaper in all this broad
land that stood by the veterans. and
that was The National Tribune When
all the other newspapers cried "a halt
to appropriations for erApensioHs or we
will go bankrupt" The National Trib-
une demanded justice for the country s
defenders and hammered hard for it.
It threw out the only life line, and its
anchor dragged the sea of viruperation.
calumny and criminal attacks till the
venom of the pension hatersy was ex-
hausted. Then the Soldiers Friend
rode into calm waters, badly disfigured,
but still recognizable. and reporting for
duty. 1t won the battle for better PEN
sions, and every sane veteran knows
that pension conditions would be intol-
erable to-day but for the body blows
dealt Congress by The National Tribune
in its mighty battle for adequate recog-
milton of the Nations defenders.
Those blows were dealt by John Nc
Elroy, who for more than 20 years has
written the pension and all the other
editorials in The National Tribune. He
is not a claim or pension agent, and.
as ! have positive knowledge, never
prosecuted a pension or any other claim
in his life, yet his home-driven edito-
rials have achieved splendid results for
the veterans, and they have him to
thank for prodding Congress to real
ization of the debt of gratitude due the
comrades He was always in advance
on pension legislation, and the Grand
Army OF the Republic Pension Commit
tee has always gladly availed itself of
his ideas and unselfish assistance. His
latest triumph in this direction is This
National Tribune pension bill. which he
formulated and put forward for Con-
gress to think over. Congress has
thought, and I have heard many MEM
bers say, including the Speaker of the
House and Senator Dick, OF ONO.
that a bill. broad like The Ma
tional Tribune bill, will probably be-
come law at the next session of Con-
gress. i know there are members of
the G.. A r. who have held its high
offices and sucked the orange dry, who
cry down The National Tribune pension
bill or any additional pensions; but
John McElroy stands for the fullest
pensions obtainable, and is so placed
that he commands instant attention
when his pen opens its batteries in the
columns of The National Tribune. Fur
thermore he has the confidence of men
high up in official position.
While many of our Grand Army men
are temporizing with treason and plead
ing for "a let-us-have-peace" placard
on the rebel uniformed statue of Lee
in the National Capitol and an immuni-
ty bath for Wirz, the dirty little fiend
of Andersonville, John McElroy has al
ways opposed both. Those who attend
ed the National Encampment at San
Francisco will remember the fight he
made in the Committee on Resolutions
for the adoption of the simplest kind of
a resolution of condemnation of that
then incomplete statue of Lee, and had
won at 3 o'clock in the morning when
he left the committee meeting. but
awakened a few)hourS later to find that
Grand Army men With business inter-
csts" had undone his work a brief half
hour later. Failing sin this, he has
thrown the columns of The National
Tribune wide open for all who wish to
discuss the crime. In my opinion John
McElroy stands to-day the embodiment
and the exponent OF all that the G.. A.