New-York tribune., 1921-03-18
Harding Backs
Patriot Rally
At the Garden
Sends Wishes for Success
OF Legion's Mass Meeting
Tonight in Revealing
True American Ideals
Indorsed ON All Sides
Greatest Display of U. S.
Spirit Since War Expect
ed; Ready for Vast Crowd

MS personal approval to the all-Ameri
can mass meeting which is to he held
at Madison Square Garden tonight
under the auspices of the American
Legion.
More than 10000 tickets to the meet
ing and to the overflow demonstrations =
have been issued. Legion officials who
arranged the meeting as protest
against the city administration per-
mission for the holding of the recent
Horrors on the Rhine" demonstra-
ton believe the Garden will be the
scene of the greatest patriotic event
since the war.
president Harding was invited to be
one of the speakers, with General
Pershing. On account Of the pressure
OF official business the. President was
unable to be in New York, but he sent
to Colonel F. w. Galbraith, national
commander of the American Legion.
yesterday this letter, indicating his
warm approval:
my dear Colonel Galbraith:
| 1T is pleasure to comply with
your request for a word of greeting to
the all-American meeting to be held in
Madison Square Garden on the evening
of March 18.
am not unfamiliar with the pur-
poses of the gathering, and am glad to
give them my cordial Endorsement.
Il hope you may have a great out
pouring that shall voice the best and
most determined ideals of American
patriotism. Very truly yours,
WARREN G. HARDING"
The program was completed yester-
day. Robert Grier Cooke, chairman of
the committee of arrangements, will
open the meeting ct 1915 O'Clock. He
will introduce Henry j. Ryan, national
director of the Legion's Americanism
committee, as temporary chairman.
Colonel Galbraith will be chairman and
the first speaker.
Noted Men to Speak
The other speakers, in their order,
will be Martin w. Littleton, Hugh
Frayne, Colonel William j. Donovan,
United States Senator Frank B. Willis
General John j. Pershing, the Rev. DR..
Ernest M. Stires, rector of St. Thomas's
Church, and the Rev. Father Edward
j. Higgins, of All Souls Church,
Brooklyn.
The committee yesterday urged all
holders of tickets to appear at the
Garden as soon as the doors are open,
which will be at $3.50 O'Clock. Arrange.
ments have been made for holding as
many outdoor meetings as the crowds
unable to get into the Garden seem to
warrant
plans have been arranged for many
American Legion parades to precede
the meeting. The posts will be divided
into groups, according to their locali-
ties, and will march to the Garden.
The Manhattan and Barbara Fritchie
posts will awemble in front of the
Public Library, at Forty-second Street
thousand legionnaires from the Bronx
will assemble at Fifty-ninth Street and
march down Fifth Avenue at $3.50
o'clock Other posts will assemble as
follows: Captain Belvedere Brooks
Post Thirty-third Street and Madison
Avenue; Infantry Post, Fourth Avenue
and Fifteenth Street; Murray Hill
Post, Fortieth Street and First Ave
nue.; Jane A. Delano Post, AZ East
Twenty-third Street, and Frank Corps
No. 715, 1T West Forty-sixth Street.
VI. n. W. VcttTdHS Will dDScmDle III uHe
69th Regiment Armory, Twenty-fifth
Street and Lexington Avenue.
Two hundred disabled soldiers, who
are still confined in military hospitals,
will be guests of honor. They will be
brought from Fox Hills Hospital, the
Brooklyn Naval Hospital and the Poly
clinic Hospital by Red Cross nurses
The entire Red Cross motor corps will
be placed at the disposal of disabled
men. The soldiers will occupy seats
near the stage. In an adjoining Sec
tion will be seated 500 gold star moth
ers, who will be guests of the Victory
Hall Association.
Meeting Declared Timely
Suggestions that the meeting express
its disapproval Of hyphenated propa-
ganda poured in from many quarters
yesterday. The City Club Post of the
Legion, from its headquarters at 55
West Forty-fourth Street, issued this
statement:
"The call is timely and the specific
purpose is clear. This great meeting
will demonstrate that interracial agita-
ton is not compatible with the growth
of an all-American nation. it will
demonstrate that in all the land there
is no fertile soil in which malevolert
agltators, of whatever racial division.
can sow dissension. Finally, it will
demonstrate that true Americans are
neither deceived nor Influenced by
hyphenated propaganda, particularly
by that type of propaganda which for
sinister purposes exploits racial hatred
under the thin disguise of humani-
tarjanism.
'The City Club Post urges that the
all-American meeting take such action
rs will leave no doubt on any of these
points in the minds of any individual
or group"
The Psi Upsilon Club, in connection
with the demonstration, made public
letter it had addressed to Governor
Miller. The letter said:
"At an informal meeting of the club
the members unanimously protested
gainst the Horrors on the Rhine
meeting held recently in Madison
Square Garden. We condemn this
meeting as un-American and contrary
to the best interests of the United
States and our allies. Our entire
membership will support any move
ment you may designate as disapprov-
:ng of this insidious propaganda"
| Among those who have accepted in
vitations to occupy seats on the speak
ers platform are James G. Pershing
and Miss Pershing, General Billiard
commander of the Department of the
East, and staff; Admiral Huse, CON-
mandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard
| .x~Sf. C.rncoy IoLr nyD,,n~