Arizona republican., 1921-10-31
DISABLED VETS
 IF CITY FORM
 ORGANIZATION
Common Interests to Be Served by State Associa- tion Now Being Planned. Fifty Attend Meeting.

Fifty disabled war veterans of the Phoenix district met in the lodge room of the Ellss' club at 10 o'clock yesterday morning. formed tenn porary organization as a nucleus of state wide association and then ad- journed until next Sunday morning at 10 o'clock. The organization is to be known as the Disabled Veterans in Arizona.
 ProtectioTPof rights of disabled vet erans will be the chief concern of the new organization which will be independent in everything. It has no affiliation at this time with any oth-
 CT organization and the matter of
 becoming urit of some national as- sociation has been left to some future date.
 Grievances of all disabled veterans will be handled through the organ
 ization which eventually hopes to have representatives in all rehabil-
 itation centers of the state and at Washington. Claims of men. it is said, have been delayed so long in many instances that individuals have suf-
 fered deprivations. It is to facilitate the work of putting through claims
 that the men have joined in this as-
 sociation for their mutual benefit. Compensation Delayed
 Many of those present yesterday told of experiences in dealing with the war risk burea- at Washington. Compensation has been delayed so long. some of them said. that they actually suffered from hunger. IL
 was only through the good offices of the local Red Cross chapter that they were able to live until government
 warrants arrived, some of the men declared.
 We've got to protect ourselves. "' Livingston Whitney, one of the or ganizers of the new association, told those present. I've must stand on our own feet and fight our own bat ties. Patriotism was a great thing during the war, but the war is over
 and the general public is thinking in other channels now"
 MT. Whitney was elected chairman of the temporary organization with i out opposition. while A. O'Riordan
 was unanimously chosen secretary 1 treasurer. X committee of. five on organization was named as follows: | s. P. Randall, w. N. Brimhall, Har- " Valentine W. A. JolIey and Ar
 mold BlumeI.thal. Each hospital or vocational training center is to elect l one man to act with the committee.
 The chairman and secretary will be
 ex-officio members of the commit
 mittee.
 First meeting of the organization | committee will be held at the Annex l hotel at o'clock tonight A consti- | tuition and bylaws will be drafted l during the week and submitted back i to the organization at it's meeting next Sunday morning.
 To Establish Office 1 Establishment of an office from
 where work of the organization will be conducted is another matter to
 be determined this week. Question of | finances also was discussed at yes 1 terday's meeting. those present agree | ing thats disabled veterans could give whatever they could spare to get
 the thing started.
 It was agreed that to accomplish
 the greatest good the organization
 should be statewide in scope. Dis
 abled veterans in all sections of the
 state were invited to affiliate with
 the organization.
 In this connection Chairman Whit 1 ney told the meeting that there were l approximately 4.000 disabled veterans | in Arizona. Of this number. he said,
 which includes Whipple Barracks at Prescott. The Tucson district has more than TOO. he added.
 We must act immediately if We are to successfully combat the tend
 ency of the government bureaus at
 Washington to reduce compensation
 to disabled veterans" Chairman Whitney said. There is every req
 son to believe that the government l is even now planning to cut down
 compensation to war veterans. We
 must protect these men who need
 assistance, who need more than they
 are getting now"
 The veterans unanimously voted
 their thanks to the Ells for the use of the hall and the newspapers and
 theaters for publicity