The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-11-06
ELKS STAND FOR
 AMERICA FIRST
 LAST, ALL TIME

Irank L. Rain, Grand Exalted
 Ruler of all EIks was the guest of
 honor of the Boise (Idaho) Lodge, NO. i olV, recently, and was given a big ]; ovation. He delivered splendid tri- I pute on the order and it's work dur ]. ing the war. He also showed how ] this great American order stands on 1 Boishevism and other radical "isms'' i now sweeping the country. He point i ed out in strong language that the i order of Elks stand for Americanism
 nrst, last and all the time. It stands
 Tor the place our order played in win J ming the honor of the flag.
 What EIlxs Have Done.
 In the course of his inspiring ad-
 dress. the noted visitor sketched some { of the more important war work
 done by the Elks; he said the lodges i of the country bought S2OOO,OOO worth of Liberty Bonds, and the members of the order fully STE, 5,00O,-
 900 more, while $500.OOO was given i to the Red Cross. the Y. M. c. A. and other organizations doing war work.
 The work done, in establishing and maintaining hospitals was emphasiz- ed, but the brightest page in the his tory of the war work of the Elks, Mr. Rain said, was that of raising the great fund for the Salvation Army.
 The speaker gave an eloquent de- scription of the reception rendered to
 General John J. Perking on his ar
 rival from France. MT. Rain was in New York at the time and played an
 important part in the reception. That
 part of 1t extended to General Persh-
 ing by the E1ks as a brother Elk was of special interest
 Hay Their Part In War.
 We take great pride." said the
 speaker, "fn the fact that 65.0OO of our men were in the service of their
 country in the late war; that 13,0OO
 of them were commissioned officers
 and that the commander-in-chief of
 the American Expeditionary forces in
 France was General John J.. Pershing,
 a member of Lincoln (Neb.) Lodge
 No. 80. and an honorary member of
 Fl Paso Lodge No. 1S7. But while we rejoice over the part that the men
 of our order played in winning the : greatest conflict of arms in history, spect to the 1,O37 brave boys, mem bers of our Order, who made the su- premes acrifice, and who tonight are
 sleeping their last sleep amid the poppies and the forget-me-nots of Flanders
 Will Uphold Flag.
 'But the war is over, and thank [ God that 1t is; thank God that we no longer scan the list of wounded, miss ing and dead in our daily papers-the dove of peace is again .perched upon that beautiful banner of crimson and white, studded with g1ittering stars and long may she sit there peacefully and triumphantly. But new and | for solution, and see upon the hori- zon dark and turbulent clouds. If
 we can but preserve during the years of reconstruction to come that spirit
 which we gained during the war. I have no fear for the future, and if we can accomplish what we did as an order in the war, we can and will do as much more in the days of peace | and reconstruction.
 , "The Order of Elks is an American |. order No Indpa nf EllS0 has been instituted in country over which the tars and tripes did not
 wave. We have sworn allegiance to
 our flag and the Constitution of the | United States, and now that there ap- ! pears to be a worldwide movement 1 tod estroy ther ights given us by the | Constitution of the United States ] through actions and propaganda de- | structive to our free government, dan ger6us to our institutions, and in dis 1 obedience of our laws, our order; has l pledged itself to use all lawful {, means to check and prevent the ex- | tension of the dangerous doctrines 1 that threaten our free institutions and, | our flag and to drive from our minds | and forever exterminate all Bolshe- 1 vfks, Anarchists, I. W. W. or follow | CTS of kindred organizations, or any man who does not properly respect
 flag.
 i Seventy thousand men have joined | our order since the first of the year, $ and there are now 60,0o0 E1ks in good i standing in this country. Any man : can be an Elk who is 21 years of age, f who believes in the existence of a su- { preme being, and who is a decent, law ! abiding American citizen. We care not 1 what his religion is or what his poli- | tics is, whether he is rich or poor, but { we do insist that he shall be an i American citizen in all that the term
 sfRnifies-and with 600,000 such men . in our ranks, with the leading citizens { of nearly every city of over 5000 in- '. habitants in this country enlisted un- | der our banner, wep ropose to see that 4 the flag shall Der expected"