The Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 191?-19??, 1919-05-17
THE AMERICAN
LEGION STARTS
ST. LOUIS MEETING OUTLINES
THE GREAT WORK OF RE-
TURNED SOLDIERS
THE CONSTITUTION is ADOPTED
LEGAL Chapter To Be Pu, On Fess
In The Near Future By Meet
ing To Be Called.
THE CONSTITUTION IS ADoPrED


nation wide organization for civii;al
soldiers and sailors. engaged in q fes
tival Of yells and songs at the Shu
bert-Jef'erson theatre before the for
nal opening of the gathering, which
! continued through Saturday.
College ballads ard yells mingled
with the songs of the doughboy, as
one state delegation after another
showed its enthusiasm for the new
organization. Minnesota started
things with a yell in which the words
Lets Co." conuld be distinguished
and Wisconsin, Minnesota's old.time
rival in university football, came
with a "U-rah" cheer. Ohio and New
York, sitting on the stage contended
vocally, each asserting that it indiv-
idually won the war.
Lieut.. Col. Theodore Roosevelt
was nominated for temporary chair
man after the meeting opened and
although he protested that he did not
wish to take the place, one state dele
CATION after another shouted, eve
want Teddy" At his request, how
ever, another candidate was nominal
ed and elected, Maj. D. H. Lindsey,
of Dallas, but the roar in behalf of
Col Roosevelt continued.
At the very outset it was apparent
that Col. Roosevelt and Col. Bennett
c. Clark would have difficulty in con-
fning the caucus to organization
measures and restrain a plunge d.
rsctly into the national problems on
which the returning soldier is known
to have definite views and a strong
desire to make them known.
The second meeting Of the caucus
Of the Legion proved almost as tur-
bulent in its rejection of Chicago as
the place for the November conven-
ton as it was on the preceding day
in according Col. Theodore Rose
welt ovation after ovation in an at
tempt to force him to take the chair
manship of the caucus. After a pro-
longed fight against Chicago the eau
Gus chose Minneapolis as its meeting
place in the fall.
The caucus early showed that any
thing that smacked of Bolshevism or
un-Americanism had no chance to
be adopted by the delegation. The
opposition to Chicago was based on
the opposition to Chicago's mayor, to
whom the delegates showed keen dis
like because of his reputed lack of
Americanism. The temper of the
meeting toward Bolshevism and the
/. w. WIS was evidenced by the ex-
clusion of the Soldiers and Sailors
Council of Seattle after it had been
charged that the l. w. WIS were
admitted.
The only basis Of the fight on Chi
cage was the election of Mayor
Thompson whom, it was charged, is
not 100 per cent. American" One
of the Massachusetts, delegates in
denouncing Chicago said in part:
Massachusetts will not agree will
ingly to have a convention of sol
diers, sailors in the great war, go to
city that has its first citizen by
vote, one who can not measure up nj
any small part when the test is
100 per cent American. The liter
ature circulated through the con-
vention reads Chicago pledges it.
self to go one better on anything
this convention requires The con-
vention first requires that Chicago
reach the standard different from
being the most despised city in
America, and when it reaches that
standard, it is then in position to
say it will go one better. / has not
yet reached par. Until Chicago
reaches par Massachusetts votes no."
At the conclusion of this speech the
greatest uproar Of the meeting
broke forth, and the banners of the
Illinois city were torn from the walls
of the theatre.
In its final session on Saturday
the caucus passed resolutions which
demanded of Congress an investi-
CATION of those officials of the Gov
eminent agency, who permitted the
release from prison and honorable
discharge from the army many hun
dred of persons who shirked mill
tary service by hiding behind the
conscientious objector clause of the
selective service act. It demanded
of Congress the enactment of a law
for the deportation of alien enemy
slackers, who refused citizenship to
escape military service or who re-
nounced first papers already taken
out, and the deportation of all enc
my aliens interned during the war
as unfit to enjoy the benefits of
peace in America.
In the original form of the fore
going resolutions the word request
was used but after the first reading
one Of the delegates arose and said:l
"HJe ere powerful enough that we
do not have to request anything Of