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About The Maupin times. (Maupin, Or.) 1914-1930 | View Entire Issue (May 26, 1916)
WHEN THE GREAT THE PENSION CAVALRY GROUP FOR THE GRANT MEMORIAL T BUSINESS OF THE IS Wtmrn I ARMYOFTHEWES PASSED IN REvEW COUNTRY 1 SPEAKING of hia troops, who passed la grand review at Washington at the close of the great war, General Sherman says: "It was, In my judgment, the most magnificent army In existence 65,000 men, in splendid physique, who had Juat completed a march of nearly 2,000 miles in a hostile country, in good drill, and who realized that they were being closely scrutinized by thousands of their follow countrymen and by foreigners. Division after divi sion passed, each commander of an army corps or division coming on the stand during the passage of hia command to be presented to the presi dent, cabinet and spectators. The steadiness and firmness of tread, the careful dress on the guides, the uni form intervals between the companies, all eyes directly to the front, and the tattered and bullet-riven flags, fes tooned with flowers, all attracted no tice. Many good people up to that time had looked upon our Western army as a Bort of a mob; but the world then saw and recognized as a fact that it was an army in the proper sense, well organized, well commanded and disciplined, and it was no wonder that it had swept through the South like a tornado. For six hours and a hall that strong tread of the army of the West resounded along Pennsylvania avenue. Not a soul of that vast crowd of spectators loft his place, and when General Sherman. the rear of the column had passed by thousands of spectators still lingered to express their sense of confidence in the strength of a government which 'could claim such an army." The statistics of the Civil war are highly interesting in view of what is going on in Europe today. It has been carefully figured out ttiat there were 2,898,304 enlistments in the Union ar mieB during the war and approxi mately 1,400,000 in the Confederate armies. Reduced to the three-year period there were tho equivalent of 1,556,678 enlistments in the Union armies and 1,082,119 in the Confeder ate armies. The Union casualties were 67,058 killed in battle, 43,012 died of wounds, 224,586 died from disease, 24, 872 died from accidents and other causes; total deaths, 359,528; total wounded and recovered, 275,175. The Confederates had 94,000 killed or dead from wounds in battle and 164,000 lost by disease or other causes. Great Occasion Recalled. : The men who paraded through the streets of the country's cities and towns on Memorial day do not ask to be thought heroes. They are elderly citi zens who in their day answered the call just as their sons and their sons' sons would answer it if it came today The country gave the command, they obeyed. What makes the parade of these men a great occasion is the great ness of the occasion which it com memorates. Every one of the vet erans is a unit in the mass which made up fifty years ago the utmost strength of the greatest republic on earth, exerted to save itself from de struction and to wipe out from it the curse of human slavery. It is Impossible to exaggerate the importance of the work which the Union achieved for humanity or the beauty of the self-sacrifice which the soldiers of 1861 made for the ideal of liberty. It could not be easy for the spectators in Pennsylvania avenue to katp the tears from their eyes as the blue-clad ranks passed by. All Honor Sacred Dead. The entire nation lifts its hat on Memorial day to the revered dead; the entire nation lifts its heart to the Almighty who made and has kept the American people a nation. The entire country looks upon the wonderful out come of the sad strife and marvels at the deeper purposes of Providence in the ordering of the life of the na tion. Flowers will decorate all graves, flags will lift their miniature folds above them, prayers will sanctify these places of rest and rejoicing will place Its crown upon the memories of the dead. ARE coming, Father Abraham." Yes they are coming, the veter ans of the Union army, responding to the call from the Great Beyond; coming faster now than ever before. When Memorial day was new In the United States there were dozens and scores, yes, even hundreds of the vet Brans for each soldier grave to be dec orated. Today, half a century after the peace, the graves are legion, and those who would decorate them but a handful. How fast the "boys In blue" are pass ing!- In this year 1916 they are going at a rate never before reached since the war closed. The death roll of February averaged 116 a day; 115 a lay was the average for March, and In April it grew to 118. Official records show that 2,272,408 men fought under the stars ana Stripes in the Civil war, and that 349, 944 lost their lives before Lee surren dered. How many of these remain alive today? The records of the census office, while perhaps not absolutely accurate, may be taken as approximately au thentic. It is believed that since the act of May 11, 1912, granting a service pension to every man who served at least 90 days in the armed forces of the United States during the Civil war, no old soldier remains off the pension roll. If, however, there are any not pen sioned, they certainly are few in num ber. 1 The pension office rolls show that May 1, 1915, there were 401,796 veterans of the Civil war pensioned. It is safe to say that no more than this number are now alive. Rapidly, too, is the veteran of the Union army passing out of public life. In 1914 three veterans of the blue were sole representatives of the Union army in the house Sherwood of Ohio, Kirkpatrick of Iowa and Goulden of New York. The last named died May 3, 1915, and Kirkpatrick has retired, leav ing General Sherwood, so far as known, the sole Union veteran In con gress. On September 27 those survivors ol the Union army who were physically able to be present marched in grand review on Pennsylvania avenue, in Washington, reproducing the grand parade of half a century agone. It showed the thinning ranks, as did the grand encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, then In progress In the capital city. This was the last large encampment the order will hold. Truly, "We are coming, Father Abraham." With the Naval Veterans. Nowhere In the entire country is Memorial day solemnized with greater profundity of feeling than at the United States Naval home at Phila delphia where the gray-haired vet erans of Uncle Sam's sea fighters, many of whom have seen Bervice in the seven seas, are passing their de clining years in well-earned comfort. Their'Memorial day memories are Far ragut and Porter, Foote and Winslow, Cushing and Truxton, Dewey and Schley, of the battles of the Missis sippi river, the historic running of the batteries in Mobile bay, the epoch marking fight of the Kearsage and Ala bama, and In mere recent days, of the famous battle of Manila bay that made us an Asiatic power, and the battle of Santiago which ended Spanish rule in the western hemisphere. For the naval home houses veterans of all these battles so decisive in the shap ing of American destiny battles which make glorious chapters in the history of the United States navy. And the home has likewise sheltered naval veterans of the war of 1812. All Are Heroes. "Heroes are they who respond to the natlon'B need." Our nation has never asked for men in vain. With Spartan bravery moth ers give their sons, wives their hus bands and maidens their sweethearts when the country calls. Many of them will never return. Others will come back to lay their diseased and broken frames beside the hearths of their youth. Some as by divine protection seem to have enchanted lives and re turn as strong as when they left. They all are heroes If they have felt the thrill of sacrifice and never hesitated In the face of duty. A GREAT, angular red brick building, set in a green park, is the home of the pension building at Washington. It was built at a time when American architecture was Jn a formative period. A feature of the exterior of the building is a broad frieze, showing repeated groups of infantry, cavalry, artillery and seamen in bas-relief. In side a great, beautiful court, somewhat marred by being made to contain bat talions of file cases, is another attrac tive feature. In times past, when there were such things as inaugural balls In Washington, these balls were held within the court. It seems to be the fixed belief of the average citizen having business with the pension office that the commis- Main Entrance to Pension Office. sioner personally sees and answers all correspondence. Since almost 4,000, 000 pieces of mall a year go out of the bureau, this is hardly possible. In fact, it takes a force of about 1,300 employees properly to handle the business, these including doctors, law yers, expert accountants and other specialists. Every pension check now issues from this central office, and is received when due, instead of many days there after, as formerly when pension agen cies were distributed over the coun try. This and other economies which have been introduced, has greatly re duced the clerical help required, and the force of the office is gradually be ing cut down. Still, to handle some 785,000 indi vidual pension accounts and to provide for regular payments thereon Is no small task, even though the total now is being decreased from year to year by death. The appropriation for the ensuing fiscal year Is $164,000,000, and Commissioner Saltzgaber is of the opinion that it will be $4,000,000 less during the following year. THE OLD SOLDIERS! Our ranks are growing thinner, every year. And death Is still a winner, every year, Yet we still must stick together Like the toughest sort of leather And In any kind of weather, every year. Our comrades have departed, every year, And leave us broken hearted, every year, But their Bpirits fondly greet ub And constantly entreat us To come that they may meet us, every year. . Our steps are growing slower, every year, Pale death is still a mower, every year, Yet we faced him In the battle Amid the muskets' rattle, Defying showers of metal, every year. We are growing old and lonely, every year, We have recollection only, every year, And we bled for this grand nation On many a neld and station And with any kind of ration, every year. Many people may forget us, every year, And our enemies may fret us, every year, But while onward we are drifting Our souls with hopes are lifting To heavenly scenes still shifting, every year. The Stars and Stripes grow brighter, ev ery year, With labor burdens lighter, every year, By blood of soldier sages Along the rolling ages On freemen's holy pages, every year. In the May time of the flowers, every year, We have lived In golden hours, every year, And our deeds be sung in story Through the future growing hoary With a blaze of living glory, every year! General Butler's Way. Probably more stories were told about Butler than of any other man in the war unless, perhaps, it was Grant. To illustrate his habit of do ing things promptly and effectively, an incident is mentioned where a newspaper correspondent called to aBk him for something that had to be writ ten. Possibly it was a pass. At all events, there was no place to write, because the only table in the room was piled high with books and a great variety of other articles. Butler, without saying a word, simply tilted the table, cleared it by the simple process of spilling everything on tho floor, and sat down to write while a nimble negro servant picked up and removed the debris. In sending a pilot, who said he knew all about the location of torpedoes of the James river, to Admiral Lee, he dictated a letter In the man's pres ence, saying: "If he faithfully and truly performs his duty, return him to me at Bermuda Landing. If not, hang him to the yardarm." Then, turn ing to the pilot, he added: "Now, my good man, go; you have your life In your own hands." WIMai i rumfrilinm The cavalry group for the Grant Memorial in the Botanic gardens at Washington has been completed and put in place recently. It Is the second of the three most important bronzes mado for the memorial by Ilonry M. Grady, sculptor, of New York. HEWS-' -s52K The sinking of several Dutch steamers and other causes of complaint have resulted In preparations for pos sible war by Holland. The photograph shows a number of Dutch soldiers in one of the mobilization campB. SIXTH This photograph was taken just after over the Mexican mesa on its way south. AIDS TINY WAR VICTIMS Miss Carolie Dawes Appleton has "ome from Europe to Washington to start a campaign for the aid of thou sands of children who hav been left orphans and homeless by the war. She is founder and president of the Friends of Childhood society. Through dona tions the society has acquired several large tracts of land where schools and homes are being built for the recep tion of children from the war-ridden countries. In these communities the children will be reared and taught practical rocations by which they will become self-supporting. Hard to Please. "Some men," said Uncle Eben, "ain't happy unless dey's doin' sumpln fool ish; an' den dey ain't happy." wpiiiii gHg. ijjiiiiiii m win i in A tfxmmssBxm&mzKummimxxto. xi M I , vi 'A ; fop 'TV - Hk Wlx "'"- i"rh iiiiiiliiaifii jlf423iiJ ImlwmmMm: it: 4. fin &f ....w.. DUTCH SOLDIERS IN MOBILIZATION FIELD ARTILLERY IN the Sixth Field artillery had broken "HORRIBLE EXAMPLE" Here's the original dinosaur, "all armor plate; no brains," which lias been copied by the antipreparodness committee for use In a campaign to block the proposed army and navy increase bills. The model shown here Is In the Smithsonian Institution. It is 11 feet high and more than 20 foot long, while committee's copy is 15 feet long for transport on a motor truck through Now York, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Kausas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. FAMOUS SHIP tlMii i f-Z"f -VX.tk,x...MX, I Elf fast The U. S. S. Franklin, flagship of Admiral Farragut in 1867 and one of tho largest frigates afloat at that time, has been sold by the navy department for $16,787, and will be burned by the purchasers so that her copper and wrought iron may be salvaged. This photograph of the Franklin was taken at Ports mouth, Va. . CAMP MEXICO camp and was stretched In a long line OF PREPAREDNESS TO BE BURNED UJ!,mmZm.-MMr;iM.. 4 ipuuimi ii I' illfc 1 3lt l I