The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-16
AMERICAN LEGION ID PROVIDE ESCORT FOR THE PRESIDENT
One Thousand Men in Uni form to Be Guard of Honor. Bowie Talks on Semi
 Centennial

1000 members of the American
 Legion for President Harding
 when he visits Birmingham in
 October were launched at n meet
 ing of Birmingham post, No. 1,
 of the legion last night In the
 cafe of the Civic Association fol-
 lowing talks by sydney J. Bowie.
 general chairman, and ErsLine
 Ramsay, chairman of the finance
 committee. in charge of plans for
 the semf-ce ntennial and the visit
 of the President.
 The committee named to secure the necessary men for the guard of honor from the American Legion posts of Birmingham and throughout the state consists of A. G. Conoley, chairman; Horace c. Wilkinson. Mer- vyn H, Sterne, Leon C. Bradley, Wal ter s. Brewer. Frank Nj. Dixon, Joe A. Yates, S. c. Bowman, Julien Ca heen, Ben Meyer, and Miss Davis, president of the women's auxiliary The plans call for delegation in uni form from each of the so or more posts of the state and the balance of the 1000 men desired to be re- cruited from among the eX-service men of Birmingham and vicinity who are members of the local post. Guard of Honor
 A detailed statement of all the plans for the. celebration and for the entertainment of the President was made by Chairman Bowie and Mir Ramsay announced that the neces- sary financial requirements would be met. The suggestion of Chairman n Bowie that a guard of honor of not less than 1000 former service men be provided by the legion to escort the President on the occasion of his visit met with an instant response from the members. It was decided that this number of men who saw ser ice could be secured in uniform and ar engagements were authorized for a suitable legion insignia to be worn in addition to the divisional and other insignia of the army. The help of the state department of the legion in get ting suitable delegations from every post in Alabama was assured and work on these plans is to begin at once.
 Tentative plans call for the 75 or more disabled men in hospitals as well as the several hundred disabled men taking vocational training to have a special place in the parade and automobiles are to be provided for those unable to march. Chairma n Bowie assured the members that this would be one of the features of the parade and that suitable accommo- datons and arrangements would be made by the central committee.
 Postpone Election
 A resolution was adopted asking ha fn ho irn1 do1 in, hi call the matter of postponing the city elections, so that the ex-service men could be enfranchised. it not being known at the time of the meet ing that he had postponed the time for holding the session. A resolution was also adopted requesting the city commission to postpone the election on the bond issue for a city market until the soldiers could be given the right to vote.
 The proposition of Henry Ford for Muscle Shoals was indorsed for inn mediate action. The question of inn proper use of the American flag for advertising purposes was brought up and Crenshaw Chamberlayne and Leon c. Bradley were named to in- vestigate and call the attention of the firms making improper use of the flag to the law against this practice. The misuse of the emblem of the American Legion and the wearing of the badge by those not entitled to it resulted in the appointment of Major O'Bear and John Griffin to handle the matter.
 Frauds Exposed
 Attention of the members was called to the fact that many men who were not in the service had been discovered in the American Legion, having obtained membership through various fraudulent methods and a committee was named to investigate the credentials of all members or the local post and to require undis- puted documentary evidence before accepting members in the future, either by transfer from other posts or joining as new members. Frank NJ Dixon. chairman, Briggs Rogers, William Sell, James Simpson and Tom Williamson were named on this committee.
 Attention was called to number of frauds practiced in Birmingham by men who had forged membership cards or other credentials who had never been in the service, some of whom were professional criminals. Several members reported being vlc- timized recently by man from Texas with forged membership cards, this man having forged number or checks, some for large sums. His arrest was finally brought about through activity of the legion