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THE MICHIGAN SOLDIERS' HOME.

The Michigan Soldiers' Home is situated on the Grand river, one and one-half miles north of the city of Grand Rapids, in Kent county, Michigan, and is intended as a home for disabled soldiers, sailors and marines in the State of Michigan.

Admission to the Home is secured by application on a blank furnished for that purpose when requested, the conditions of admissibility being clearly set forth in Section 11, Act 152, 1885, establishing the Home, which is included in the following circular published for general information:

CIRCULAR No. 1.

HEADQUARTERS MICHIGAN SOLDIERS HOME,
Grand Rapids, Mich., Aug. 1, 1888.

In many cases applicants for admission to the Michigan Soldiers' Home neglect to read the circulars printed on the back of each blank application, resulting in sending incomplete papers to this office, which are invariably returned for completion, thereby involving vexatious delay, and parties making application for admission are advised to read the circular carefully.

The conditions of admission to the Home are very simple.

FIRST.-The applicant must state his case under oath; make application for admission; and also make a pledge under oath to abide by the rules and regulations of the Home.

SECOND.-The Certificate of Identification must be signed by either the Supervisor of the Township or Ward in which the applicant resides, the County Clerk, or Judge of Probate of the County in which the applicant resides, or any member of the Board of Managers; this is to indicate citizenship.

THIRD. The Medical certificate must be filled in, to indicate physical disability. It is useless to send incomplete papers to this office, as they will be returned. Discharges or transcripts of service in the army must accompany each application. Where the Discharges have been lost or are in the hands of pension attorneys, a transcript of service can be obtained by writing to the Adjutant General of the State in which such applicant enlisted.

It is also necessary to give the Postoffice address, with the County, and also the nearest railroad station. In fact, to supply this office with the necessary information to enable it to understand the case and the best route to bring the applicant here, if admitted.

The blank must be filled in as indicated by the blank spaces.

The following section of the law creating the Michigan Soldiers' Home is appended to show the conditions of admissibility:

"All honorably discharged soldiers, sailors and marines, who have served in the army or navy of the United States in the late war of the Rebellion, and who are disabled by disease, wounds, or otherwise, and who have no adequate means of support, and by reason of such disability are incapable of earning their living, and who would be otherwise dependent upon public or private charity, shall be entitled to be admitted to said Home, subject to the rules and regulations that shall be adopted by the Board of Managers to govern the admission of applicants to said Home: Provided, That no applicant shall be admitted to said Home who has not been a resident of the State of Michigan for one year next preceding the passage of this act, unless he served in a Michigan regiment or was accredited to the State of Michigan."

The Attorney General of Michigan has decided that the inmates of the different

National homes are in the enjoyment of an adequate means of support, and they are therefore ineligible to admission, so that no applications from any of this class will be considered.

Honorable discharge from the service is indispensable. No deserter need apply, for they will not be admitted.

Persons of unsound mind cannot be received. The proper course to pursue is, in such cases, to make application for their admission into one of the insane asylums of the State. If they have been Michigan soldiers, this application should be made to Col. E. Crofton Fox, President State Military Board, Grand Rapids, Mich. If they served from another State, application should be made to the Judge of Probate of the county where such applicant resides.

The Michigan Soldiers' Home is one and a half miles north of the city, to which place all accepted applicants should report.

No person should be sent here for admission until he has been duly notified that his application has been approved.

By COMMAND of

GEN. B. R. PIERCE,

Commandant.

JAMES W. LONG, Adjutant.

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REPORT OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS.

To the Governor of Michigan:

MICHIGAN SOLDIERS' HOME,
June 30, 1890.

In conformity with law, we have the honor to make this, our third biennial report.

The appropriations made by the Legislature of 1888-9 for the years 1889-90 for the Michigan Soldiers' Home, were as follows:

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Electric Light Plant, (act No. 66)..

6,000 00

Purchase of Whitney & Saunders property, (act No. 268). -

4,000 00

We

The report of the Treasurer, Dr. L. W. Bliss, to which your attention is invited, shows fully the condition of these funds at this date. concur with his suggestion that the entire amount necessary to defray the expenses of the Soldiers' Home be appropriated by the Legislature. By the last method of appropriation the fund of the Soldiers' Home became the creditor of the U. S. Government for at least one-half and oftener more of disbursements already made without any adequate revenue to supply the deficiency thus necessarily created, which deficiency is shown on the quarterly accounts current, and has existed until the government has sent a remittance.

BUILDINGS.

Plans ond specifications were advertised for the four buildings contemplated, and at a meeting held May 6, 1889, the plans submitted by F. W. Hollister, of Saginaw, were accepted.

In response to an advertisement, the following bids for the erection of the buildings were opened at a meeting held May 20, 1889.

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