The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-05-12
LEGION DRIVE
FOR NEXT WEEK
May II to % Will See
Big Campaign but
Not for Money

intensive efforts of the last severa
| years, has cultivated fine tast'
in campaigns. 1t has come to b.
! able to spot a good drive from ont
that is poorly hoorly handled. i
can distinguish points of variety II
a campaign. 1t has become con
noisseur in appeal.
The public, then, will be quick tt
recognize the essential difference Of
this American Legion effort.
In the first place it is not 9
drive" but a push
Back in the dim days of the early
war publicity experts borrowed the
word drive" from the slang of the
day. Everyone who went out after
something fell into the easy habit
of calling his campaign a drive
Then, when it came time for the
men who really knew what a war
drive" was to go out after new
members for their Legion, they
found that the word drive" was as
punchless as a blank cartridges. They
had to dig themselves up a new
word. So they called their cam
paign a push" which is great
deal like drive" except that it
goes farther in implying relentless
effort and resistless force.
A feature that the great general
public should be quick to realize is
that they, members of the public,
will not be called upon to contribute
anything except good will. Positive
ly no money contributions will be
expected or received from them.
They will be expected to exhibit their
friendship, but not their checkbooks.
Only some three million men are
eligible to take active benefit of the
Legion campaign. The organization
now has enrolled more than a mil
lion and a half former service men
and women, leaving some three mill
lion who can belong but who do
not.
The push" then, is aimed at this
minority. All of the combined eff
forts of the million and a half of
their fellows will be devoted to
bringing the absent into the fold.
Which means that every Legionaire
will have to take on and convince
two comrades.
Only about one man in twenty is
eligible to join the Legion. 1t is
perfectly safe to say that hundreds
of thousands of loyal Americans
would give a good deal if they were
eligible, by reason of active army,
navy or marine corps service, to
come into the Legion. But they can
not, and it is only the three million
who are privileged to take advant-
age of the push"
But the Legion has no intention
of passing up the general public,
simply because it is not asking any
thing from the public. The Legion
keenly desires to interest every
America in its push because it be-
lieves it is to every Americans in
terest to be interested which is not
as ambiguous as it sounds.
While only one American in TWEEN
ty may be privileged to come into
the Legion, every American must
support in his heart the Legion's
platform, "For God and Country"
Leaders in every field of American
life have gladly and spontaneously
endorsed the Legion's aspirations. 1t
is widely recognized, although less
than fifteen months old, as the
greatest force for established order
in these Uuited States.
That the general public feels that
this is true is shown by the way pro-
minent citizens have come forward |
to lend their aid. General Pershing
has endorsed the campaign and urg-
ed eligible army men to join the Le-
gion. Lieutenant General Robert
Lee Billiard, Commanding the de-
partment of the east, has included
the same recognition in general or
ders.
Various welfare and civic organi-
cations have endorsed the push"
and have volunteered to lend speak
ers and equipment to help make it
success. So the general public shows
that it refuses to stay out. If cit
izen cannot come in himself he in
tends to see that the eligible men do
come in.
The Legion intends making spe-
cial efforts to capture those men
and there are hundreds of thousands
of them-who have every facility
for joining a post, but who are the
victims of inertia. These men
and women-know they are eligible
to become Legionaires; they approve,
the Legion's principles; they have
always intended coming in, but they
have simply put off doing so for the
same reason of inertia that keeps
men from taking out enough insur-
ance or making their Wills.
They belong in, and they know it.
The Legion plans to get them by
backing them into figurative cor
ner, flashing an application bland in
heir faces and painlessly extracting
heir names and dollars.
Efforts also will be made to get