New-York tribune., 1919-03-18
w Ounded Men
TOCet Tickets
Of Politicians
Hylan Committee on Parade
Reverses Opinion Under
Heavy Storm of Protest
''Soldiers First,'' Is Order
Aldermen Must Return the
Blocks of Crandsta1id
Seats; To Halt Scalpers

Wounded soldiers first; politicians
can wait
This, in a nutshell, is the story of
yesterdays victory Of wounded SOL
diers in New York hospitals over the
group of politicians who thought they
had cornered all the available seats
in the arst-Hylan reviewing stand
to witness the parade of the 9th
Division.
All OF tho 1000 convalescent SOL
diers in New York hospitals who are
not comfortably provided for in busi-
ness houses along the line of march
of their triumphant buddics will be
given seats in the big grandstand on
March 25. In order to do this Mayor
Hylan's associates en- the welcoming
committee, city, state and Federal
politicians, will be forced to return
the large blocks of choice reservations
that were made for them.
This decision of the Mayors Com
mittee of Welcome to Homecoming
Troops of the earlier action
Of that body-was made yesterday
after a conference with representa-
tives of the Marine Corps, the Red
Cross and the various army hospitals
in which wounded soldiers are being
housed. Just what occurred in the
conference that caused the committee
to agree to change it's original plans
and disappoint politicians who had
their lists of ticket holders already
prepared, was not explained.
Attention Called to Protests
1t is known, however, that attention
was called to all Of the protests of
soldiers and Red Cross officials, as
published in The Tribune, and the OBJ
vious effect of stubborn adherence to
the rule under which it was proposed
to force wounded men to stand on
curbings, or perch on tops of buses
while politicians occupied tho seats
erected by taxpayers at an expense
of $4,000
Grover Whalen, secretary to Mayor
| Hylan, presided at the conference,
which was held in the Offices of the
welcoming committee, on the sixth floor
| of the Hall of Records. Those who par
ticipated in the conference included
General Hospital No. 1, Debarkation
Hospital No. 1, at Ellis Island; No. 81,
at Eighteenth Street and Sixth Ave
nue.; No. d, West Fifteth Street; No. 5,
Grand Central Palace, and the stations
at Messiah Home, Hotel Albert, La
Fayettc House, and East View, at
White Plains.
The Federal Board of Vocational
Education and other organizations in
| in, finn ~ bo
men who had been injured in combat
with the Hun presented arguments in
their favor and gave the numbers of
men who would be able to attend the
9th Division pageant
To Take Care of 1000 Men
1t was then agreed to take care Of
1000 wounded men here who are not
connected with the eth Division in
this way:
I In windows of business houses
and >rcsdenccs along the line
of march of the parade, as many as
can be seated in this manner. They
will be given space in places as
near to the hospitals at which they
are patients as possible in order to
avoid unnecessary travel.
> On the tops of buses provided
80 by the Fifth Avenue Coach
Company until this source OF sup
ply is exhausted.
2 In seats in the big reviewing
'>' stand. All wounded soldiers in
hospitals here, regardless of thc
contingent to which they belong,
who are not seated under one of
the two preceding arrangements, will
be given seats in the reviewing stand
heretofore allotted to city, state ard
Federal officeholders and their
friends.
Under the original arrangement of
the Mayors committee approximately
$1,000 tickets were required for the
relatives of the men of the division
who will take part in the parade, for
the wounded of the division and for the
relatives Of those killed in battle.
$4,000 Were for Hylan Men
The remaining $4,000 tickets were
to have been distributed among mem
bers of the Mayors committee-such
as had not resigned because of the
continued membership of William Ran
dolph Hearst upon it-city, state and
national officials.
One of the interesting features Of
the new arrangement is the probability
that aldermen who had refused to con-
tribute any of their forty or fifty
tickets to the wounded men now will
find that their allotment of tickets
probably will be scaled down to a
paltry ten or fifteen each.
A poll of the city's Aldermen, taken
by The Tribune Sunday, revealed the
fact that but one Alderman was ready
to name any definite contribution of
tickets from his allotment that he was
ready to make to the wounded. men. AL
derman Joel j. Fowler, of Richmond
Hill, mentioned "two or three tickets"
as his idea of pretty generous con-