Report of Samuel Fallows,
Chaplain-in-Chief.

JERE. T. DEW,

Chicago, August 7, 1908.

Adjutant General, Grand Army of the Republic.

Dear Comrade:

I have the honor herewith to transmit to you and through you to the Forty-second Annual Encampment, my report for the past year.

It was with great thankfulness for the honor done me in electing me to the position of Chaplain-in-Chief of the Grand Army, that I at once entered upon the important duties connected with that high office. I endeavored to place myself in communication with all the various department chaplains and to convey through them to the numerous Post Chaplains my deep interest in their posts, as well as in their personal welfare. What a privilege it would have been to take each one by the hand and to express the fervent "God bless you," coming straight from my heart.

It has been an unspeakable pleasure to correspond with so many of my comrades, in response to a comunication I sent to "The National Tribune," on the subject of their health and happiness. It was next to coming face to face with them. The precious ties of comradeship were strengthened and hallowed by the tender and endearing bonds of a common faith and trust in the One Heavenly Father, as we looked to Him for the help He alone could give to the body, mind and soul in their urgent needs. Some of these beloved ones were "waiting, only waiting, till the shadows are a little longer grown."

But they still were praying to be able to render devoted service to their fellow men and their God to the very end of their lives.

It was the same undaunted spirit which animated them in the memorable struggle for the nation's supremacy and glory. It was the reflection of the valor, the courage, the determination, the heroic sacrifices of the hundreds of thousands of their comrades when with the ardency and freshness and patriotic impulses of youth they kept the flag of the Republic proudly floating in the heaven.

I am glad to state that with two exceptions I have received reports from every department chaplain in the Grand Army. This has required almost continuous and earnest correspondence to bring about. Many post chaplains from one reason or another have not made prompt reports to the Department Chaplain, and so delay has ensued in his report to me. Sometimes the post chaplain has overlooked the necessity of making a report at all, and thus complete

figures and facts were not in the possession of the Department Chaplain.

One department chaplain of a great state says only 95 out of a total of 223 have reported. Another states that he has received only five reports out of twenty in the department.

Another department chaplain states that "out of 110 posts only about one-half report, although every one of them must have noticed the requirements contained in the blank of the itemized department chaplain's report sent them."

Another chaplain thinks some of the questions ought to be cut out of the printed report. He states that while he never knew, as a department chaplain for thirty-seven years, a more devoted class of men than his post chaplains, he cannot get a report in time for the Chaplain-in-Chief's report.

"A word to the wise is sufficient." I may say to my brethren and comrades in the post chaplaincies as the department chaplains wish me to say, "Be not weary in well doing."

And now after this little word of exhortation let me refer to a few of the eloquent and significant features of these reports.

Nearly 6,000 public schools engaged in Memorial Day services and nearly 400,000 pupils participated in them. Were all the schools and scholars reported probably the number of pupils would be more than half a million. What a splendid lesson in partiotism do these memorial services afford! What an honor is paid to the old veteran and the old flag!

Nearly all the department chaplains refer to the intense interest taken by the children and their teachers in these instructive and inspiring observances.

One department chaplain advises "that the services of veterans and others be secured to address the public schools." This is done in many departments. Perhaps a place in the department reports should be made for the number of such addresses.

Another "would also secure the best declaimers of the schools to recite good stuff. This can be done by previous co-operation with the teachers.

The reports in almost every instance tell also of the increased participation in the exercises of these memorial seasons on he part of the great body of citizens. Many of them refer to a growing tender. ness among the comrades, and of a more thoughtful appreciation by the public of the living old soldiers, and of a more hearty feeling year by year in remembering the dead.

In several reports to the department chaplains mention is made of the gratifying fact that Confederate Veterans and Sons of Confederate Veterans marched in line with our comrades, and took part in Memorial Day tributes to our Union dead.

From one of the Southern departments comes the very pleasant statement: "Here in our home town is secured the sympathy of our

city fathers; and by proclamation of the mayor, all business houses were closed and the people turned out en masse and went to the cemetery and listened to able addresses."

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One department chaplain says: "It is a source of deep regret that Memorial Day is so largely made a day of social dissipation, but it is gratifying to know that in some localities at least, the people show by their words and actions that they are not in sympathy with these dissipations." This complaint is echoed by other chaplains and the desire is expressed that in some way the alleged evil may be overThis subject has been discussed by our Commanders-in-Chief and others before previous National Encampments, and the practice of holding ball games, circuses and the like on Memorial Day, condemned. Still, as on every holiday, multitudes of people will seek amusement, may it not be practicable in every community to have all these objectionable features suspended during the time of Memorial observances, and not project all its solemnity over the remainder of the day?

The further we recede from the closing year of the war, and the fewer the number of the mighty hosts of freedom left by their presence to remind the living generations of the mighty deeds of our heroic dead, the more difficult it will become to suppress these discordant features which we deplore.

Can we not make the Sunday before Memorial Day by its appropriate religious services stand for the deepest things connected with the patriotic devotion and providential departure to the heavenly rest and reward of our comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in this way help neutralize the effect of the amusement features of Memorial Day?

Another department chaplain says: "He would like to see the local military attend the exercises and not march away after they had escorted the Grand Army to the place of meeting. I feel quite sure that with the proper presentations of the desirability of such attendance and with suitable persuasion connected with it, they can be induced to remain. He also gives us chaplains a hint which is well worth noting, "to make Memorial services more specific." It is of equal value to those who are not chaplains who have to do with the inauguration and conduct of these services.

Another department chaplain refers to many comrades who have departed from right living as coming to the city where he resides from posts in other localities. They have been taken ill and died. But they have been laid away to rest with all the tenderness given to comrades who are members of local posts, and are known and widely respected. He truly says, "this is a kind and Christian service which cannot be over estimated." I sincerely join with him in the suggestion "that this reverent and kindly attention to our unfortunate comrades be earnestly maintained."

The reports received probably embrace the largest number of cemeteries in which graves were decorated ever made known to

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