The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-27
NO MASCOTS IN
 PARADE OF ELKS
Grand Exalted Ruler Garry Herr
 mann Issues Orders to @ This Effect
Governor Woodrow Wilson to Welcome Visiting Antlers- Plans Completed For Handling 100000 Hello Bills"-At- lantic City Taking Pains to See There is no Overcharge For Hotel Accommodations

Atlantic City,. June 26.-No mas 2 cots of any kind will be tolerated in the greatest parade the order of Elkdom has ever held.
 -@ An order to this effect emanating : from Grand Exalted Ruler Hermann : has been promulgated here by Will liam J. Storek, chief of staff to Grand Esquire James R. Nicholson, of Bos- ton, who will be in command of the marching hosts of the antlered frater- ; nifty.
 sn The effect of this decree, of great interest to 300.000 Elks throughout : the country, will be to exclude from the spectacular procession on the : fourth day of the twenty-f1fth Grand Lodge Reunion in Atlantic City dur ! ing the week of July 10th, freaks of every description.
 Giants, dwarfs, william goats, pet ted canines and mascots of any and whatever ktnd are to be relegated to < the tall timbers. Grand Exalted Ruler Hermann has indicated the belief that the Benevolent and Pro tectfve Order has reached a stage where 1t is justified in insisting that the annual parade of the order, all demonstration, shall be exempt from sideshow specialties. Members may wear what ever unique garb they see fit and there will be no end of strik- ing novelties but the mascot will be Q thing Of the past.
 -e All Plans Complete.
 Atlantic City has worked out it's plans for reception and entertainment Of upwards of 100, 900 of the Best People on Earth" to the last stage of : perfection. Accommodations have been reserved for practically 35,000 and word has gone forth from the Ho- tel Bureau through acting Secretary Eaton. that no Elk should remain away through fear that there may not be room for him for Atlantic City has tested housing capacity for half million people. Hotel proprietors have deferred closing reservations for regular summer patrons until after the ElkS meeting in order that there will virtually be unlimited accommodations for the great army of Elksy and the promise made at Detroit a year ago that there would be no advance of rates if Atlantic City were named for this years convention, will be kept to the letter.
 Governor Wilson, of New Jersey, will do the honors for the State in ex- tending the glad hand of welcome to the hosts of E1kdom when the Grand Lodge convenes in session on the Steel Pier on the morning of July 10th. Elks will virtually own this great centre of amusement, for the local commit tee of arrangements has leased the structure Of steel and concrete for an entire week. Here the registration Headquarters will be located and in the largest of the three halls on th@ pier the 2,700 representatives of the Grand Lodge will be in session for three days.
 Prizes aggregating $3,400 in cash will be awarded, it was announced to- day, for drill competition, band con- certs and to the lodges making the finest appearance, turning out the greatest number of women and trav- cling the longest distance to take part in the procession.
 25,OOO To March.
 There will be sixty bands and it is estimated that the number of paraders will not fall short of 25,000 Texas will send the largest number of Elks that has ever attended a Grand Lodge Reunion outside of Dallas. Col. John P. Sullivan, of New Orleans. who is waging a strong fight for Grand Ex- a1ted Ruler. will come up from the . Crescent City with his own corps of boosters in a palatial special train. Texans will come to the shore in two special trains running through from Fort Worth with the Grand Exalted Ruler Boom of Charles P. Rasbury. Californians will come from Frisco ana PdSdu6nd III pdldlldl .SpeClalS IS Tun- ming through with all the comforts advanced railroading science can pro vide. Oregonians will come in spe- cial from Portland which wants the next Reunion. There will be specials from North Carolina and specials from Boston-more specials in fact. the records show, than any previous Grand Lodge gathering has ever produced.
 Three thousand bulletins posted in railroad stations throughout the coun- try have helped materially to stir in- terest in the great meeting Railway traffic managers have featured the Reunion to a greater extent, it is said than any fraternity convention that has yet been held.
 Atlantic City is already beginning to don its habiliments of purple and to bedeck itself in miles upon miles of bunting and thousands of flags to af- ford a proper stage-setting for the mo- mentous occasion. By the time the vanguard arrives the always gay and attractive city will be as pretty as the proverbial picture.
 Grand Exalted Ruler Hermann and the Grand Lodge officers, will open their headquarters on July 9th at the Hotel Strand, where ninety rooms have been reserved for them and their fam- flies. Peculiar interest is attached to the Atlantic City meeting because it