Milford chronicle., 1919-10-03
AN AMERICAN LEGION
POST ORGANIZED RERE
0Concluded from first page)

lAAL EAEoAtHA HAMEAt 4OlEE LOI EuOu
- this country that will be known durin
&c our life time, or, perhaps, that thi
country has ever seen.
~ The idea of forming The America
VI Legion, although undoubtedly cOmmO
ls to thousands of men in service her
- and in the A. e. F., first resulted i
~ definite action by a group of officer
- and men in the A. E. F., who. in orde
to make this conception an actually
'e took it upon themselves to call am
~ arrange for caucus to be held il
IT, Paris on March Is, 1919, This cal
= met with such unanimous respons,
: that one thousand officers and meI
u gathered together from all parts o
! the A. E. F., and by the adoption o
II creed and OF a general form of Con
f sttution, put this nationwide organ
; ization on its feet The Paris Caucus
by thus conhning itself merely to the
general outlines Of the structure, left
z the way clear for the next step in or
ganization to be taken by its comrades
in service at home. This spirit of
consideration bore immediate fruit. A
national caucus was called together
= and held in st. Louis on May 8th, at
which over one thousand delegates
were present representing every state
in the union and the majority of its
territories The spirit shown at this
caucus beggars any description In.
order to illustrate this. let me tell
you Of two or three incidents that oc-
Cured
The first took place at the very op-
ening of the convention. Col. TheO-
I dOre Roosevelt strobe to the front of
/ the platform and called for nomina-
I tions for chairman of the convention
He had scarcely finished his sentence
when he was greeted by a roar of
acclamatiOn. The long and short of
it was that for forty-6ve minutes the
house resounded with tremendous I
cheers and with a demand that he act .
as chairman of the convention. Cen
tlemen, this looked like a one-man
proposition, didn't it? But NO. it was
not-it was the intense enthusiasm
among the delegates for what the
name of Roosevelt stands for, i. e.,
1000 Americanisml And Colonel
Roosevelt rightly stood firm, for he
knew that it was his part to show the
convention and the country at large
that The American Legion could not,
must not, be one man or a one party
organization, and he declined the nom
inatlOn. HumorOusly enough, and to
show that the delegates cared not at
all for party or creed, the chairman
ship finally fell upon the shoulders of
a Democrat from Texas.
The second incident occurred on the
second day. The Resolutions Commit
tee brought in recommendation that :
Chicago be chosen as the next meeting
place of the convention on November
l1th. The location of this city was y
deal and the vote was about to be :;
aiken when a delegate from Massa- -
,husetts jumped to his feet and in a y
hrilling speech, in which he brought
very other delegate to his feet, show p
ID that Chicago was not qualified and
lad no right to ask for a convention 8
II real Americans, being as it was a
lty which had as its mayor, elected
y the free vote of that city, a man IL
rho had shown himself by his private "
nd public acts to be undeserving of ~
he name of a true American. This III
'as strong meat, gentlemen, but the
onvention swallowed it with relish ",
nd intense approval. Let it be made p
lear here that no reflection whatso- -
yer on the soldiers and sailors Of IL Vi
nOis was intended for, as a matter SC
fact, the election of such man as
ayor would be the last thing that ne m
ley would stand for And. indeed. WI
e Illinois delegates were among the
st to renounce the man. The vote ia
as then cast and Minneapolis was
as the next convention CITY. ou
Another incident of which | want Is
speak to you occurred in connection ~
th something that, despite profess .ns !I
1ns to the contrary, we all think io rue
ry important, for the price of eggs IL.
e very high and we need money to ~
y them With The Committee on N ~
solutions submitted a recommends - -
N that a demand be made to Con- I1 IlS
ess that each man discharged from pol
service should receive six months @ =.
ira pay from his date of discharge. 10 i4oi
is seemed a simple little resolution, 's
t one man, two men, three men. Po-
nped to their feet and spoke to the 1es
solution, merely urging that the del Gou lD
ltes give careful consideration to nd
eh question. The warning was Spl
)ugh, for upon the vote being taken any an;
answer of the delegates came in w., w
oar of Nos, and behind the mos" ~ l.
S the determination to show the ~
lntry once and for all that the SER GU ~
e man is not home to see what he uie'
get out of the government but is SO. s.-a
e to do everything in his might to ~, -
wv that he is ready to put some 'op
ng into the government.
he story of the st. Louis convention
lld not be complete unless mention 4
S made about the Reds" and Dol Cha
visits" who are making the futile 18TH
smpt to bring upon this free land Rev
ours the cnrsc tihat mas recently will
n tearing TO pieces certain parts pres
Europe. There is no doubt that NOR
le5e trouble-makers had been pres Bish
at the st. Louis convention thev ann
I'D by now have all packed up their tobe
IS and gotten out of the country. one
the st. Louis convention let it be This
wn in unmistakable terms that affoI
re Is no room for anarchy in this do 81
ntry and that The American Le- of B
! is going to see to it that these theiI
lble-makers are driven out once serv
for all. And mind you, gentlemen. thes,
as the voices of the ex-sOldier and Sa
OF speaking at st. Louis, for YOU auto
nave noticed that in such isolated 1t
IS recently where there has been Son
BILE, the ex-service man is the very wint
to tighten up his belt and get M A
the scene to suppress it. ]. L.
ow what about the Legion itself? stole
t of all, it is a civilian organiza- Mr..
an organization rounded on prin- the {
IS to complete equality of all its them
lbers, where the rights Of the pri- Col
and the general, the seaman and ton S
are merged into one and mer's
equal. The point of view of the Get
on will be that of the citizen, and home
'ugh it will probably wish to ex- Mr.
S its views on the military and Dodd
! policies Of the country, its in parse
ITS in these particular policies will Mr.!
be greater than its in is Wis
t in any of the big civil problems Mr.;
b are before the cnnntru Of thn inin