The Oakes times. [volume] (Oakes, N.D.) 1906-current, 1921-11-10
AMERICAN LEGION
ELECTS new HEAD
National Commander Hanford Mac
Nider of Mason City, lows, is
Young Man
is CHOSEN BY ACCLAMATION
Pledges Himself to Work for Measures
of Constructive Progress

Thirty-two years old and the leader
Of million fighting Americana. That
is the record of Hanford MacNider,
the new national commander of the
American Legion elected at Kansas
City, Mo-, last week at the Legion's
national convention.
MacNider was elected by acclama-
tion, following which he was carried
to the platform by the Iowa delegation
and "ordered" to make speech. He
said:
"You know the strength of the Le-
gion is in the men you represent in
your posts at home, not in the nation
al headquarters. There is where the
Legion is and there is where we shall
try to reach. We must build this
Legion of ours so big, so fine, 50 strong
and keep it so clean and straight and
American that when we ask for things
for the ex-service man, for the dis
abled man and for those who are finan-
cially disabled, our communities will
say: If the Legion is for it, we are
for it, For that service and with a
pledge to you Of every economy and
all measures possible for constructive
progress, stand at your command"
The vice commanders elected were
H. Nelson jackson, Burlington, VT;
George L. Berry Of Tennessee; Ray
mond o. Bracket of Massachusetts,;
John A. Mccormick, Colorado; Chas.
M. Hendricks, California. Rev. E. A.
Blackman Of Kansas was elected ma
tional chaplain. Mrs. Lowell Hobart
of Milford, Ohio, was elected president
of the Women's auxiliary.
New Orleans, La, was selected as
the next meeting place. That city has
pledged 100000 for entertaining the
Legionnaires there during the 1922
meeting next fall.
The presence of the distinguished
military commanders-Foch, Jacques,
Diaz, Beatty and Pershing-brought
the gaze Of the world on the Legion's
great meeting. Their addresses in
the convention started the Legion
naires' enthusiasm on a rapid ascent.
At the opening session the men
honored their late commander, Fred
w. Galbraith, Jr., with a memorial
service. John G. Emery, the retiring
commander, set off roar Of appliance
when he declared that the people Of
the United States demanded an ad-
justment of the economic balance be-
tween the man who went to war and
the man who did not.
The Legion's growth financially and
numerically was shown by the annual
report read to the convention by Ma
tional Adjutant Bolles. It was re-
ported that 1850 new posts had been
added during the year. Mr.. Bolles
outlined the Legion's campaign to as
sist unemployed ex-service men.
Major General LIE Jeune, commander
Of the Marine corps; General Robert
Mcbride, vice commander Of the G. A.
R., and George L. Berry, official rep
resentative Of the American Fedora
tion Of Labor, were speakers on the
opening day.
The reception for Foch, when &c.
600 men in navy blue and olive drab,
silhouetted by red fire, stood on the
steps Of Kansas City's new $2,500, 900
war memorial in union station plaza
waving their arms, was q dazzling
spectacle.
Another "high" of the three day
gathering was the annual Legion par
ade with endless columns Of marching
men, Legionnaire COW boys from the
west, Indian veterans in native cos
tune and many attractive floats. With
their former high commanders lead
ing the parade, the boys marched with
the old-time zip of A. E. F. days.
Governor Hyde Of Missouri and q
dozen governors from middle-western
states were in the reviewing box and
Vice President Coolidge, who as Pres
ident Harding's representative had ad-
dressed the convention, was an honor
guest.
"The convention has convinced me
that the American Legion is an es-
tablished power in the United States,
a power for truth and equality" de-
clared Marshal Foch before his de-
parture from Kansas City.