Arizona republican., 1914-08-24
ALL READY F0R
 OLD SOLDIERS
Detroit to Entertain the Thinning Ranks of Laurel Crowned Veterans of the Great Civil Conflict, Au- gust 31 to September ,
ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATCH1

ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATCHl
 DETROIT, Mich, Aug. 23-All arrangements for entertaining the Grand Army of the Republic at the expense of the Detroit taxpayers for the forty-eighth encampment of the old soldiers here on August 31 to September , have been completed, with the prospect that the veterans will find themselves the object of un- usual attentions on every hand
 For several months since the city council acquiesced in a proposal by Mayor Oscar B. Marx that a special tax levy of cents on every thousand dollars of taxable property be made to raise funds for entertaining the veterans, a score of committees made up of 200 leading business and pro- fessional men of the city has been at work with headquarters in the mayors office working out details of entertainment
 The souvenir programs and badges, which alone represent an outlay of over $12,000, will be handed over to the veterans gratis To avoid the ap- pearance of operatiig on profit making basis, the city has refused all advertising propositions. Both re- quests for advertising space on the programs and all applications for per mits to sell souvenirs or souvenir badges of all kinds have been refused.
 It will probably be the first time in the history of encampments that the G. A. R. men have been free from bombardment by street hawkers.
 The plan of street decorations in cludes large white columns p feet high, in the heart of the city. Large oil paintings of men of valor will be suspended from these columns, and the whole will be ornamented with flags and electric lights. Throughout the city local commercial organiza- tions will help to carry out an elab crate scheme of decoration and illu imitation.
 Notwithstanding that the ranks of the G. A. R. are thinning rapidly each year, the reception committee is pre- pairing to welcome one of the largest gatherings in the history of the or
 
 Michigan will be almost fully repre- sented, each with several thousand veterans.
 It is estimated that in all there will be some 25,O0O visitors In addition to the G. A. R. gathering, the Wom- ans Relief Corps, the Daughters of Veterans, the Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War, the Sons of Veterans, the Sons of Veterans Aux Hilary, the National Association of Naval Veterans, and the National As sociation of Union eX-Prisoners of War
 Commander in Chief Washington Gardner of Albion Mich, who repre- sented Michigan in congress for F years, will establish headquarters here on Saturday. the 29th inst. Patri- churches on Sunday with addresses | by comrades of the G. A. R. | Monday the encampment will be | fully established. The day will be | largely given over to business meet l ings All of the old soldiers and their companions will be treated to lake excursions on Tuesday afternoon. l All of the available steamers have been chartered for this trip and it is said that the fleet of pleasure transports will be the largest ever gathered in the great lakes. Governor Ferris will welcome the soldiers at the first big meeting on Tuesday night
 The parade day is Wednesday. with line of march not over one and one half miles in length over asphalt pavements. The day of the long pa rade for G. A. R. men is gone. The city has made provision for several hundred automobiles for the maimed and disabled veterans who are un- able to march. Every precaution will I be taken to care for the aged who
 overreach their strength in trying tc walk.
 The parade will be headed by the mounted officers, escorted by the De-
 troit post, and the line will be made |up of all the A state departments
 represented in the order of the de-
 partment's seniority.