Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-17
Congress Recognition of
Anthem a Mere Form
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star;
| We of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
read with great deal of interest the
various discussions on The star
Spangled Banner" bill. Anything worth
doing at all is worth doing right, and
since THE Star Spangled Banner" Is
recognized as our national anthem, ana
has been so recognized by executive Or
ders of Presidents Taft and Wilson, 1t
fwould seem that Endorsement of 1t by
the Congress of the United States should
| be mere Formally
/ It would also seem that proper credit
should be accorded to the individual and
to the organization responsible for this
move The movement to make The
Star Spangled Banner" the official an
them by an act of Congress is the origi-
nal idea of Capt. Daddy" Joyce, ma
tfonal patriotic instructor of the Vet
Grams of Foreign Wars. Years OF I'M
ceasing effort marked Daddy" Joyce's
campaign, in which he was backed up
by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the
United States as an organization. 1t Is
strictly a Veterans of Foreign Wars
project, and was so placed before Con-
gress. The official singing of the an
them at the congressional hearings was
by Mrs. Elsie Jorss Reilly. member OF
the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary
and the solo soprano of the Overseas
Military Band of the Veterans OF For
eign Wars.
All of this in favor of 1.-THE Star
SpanRled Banner" is done with motive
in these days, when the younger genera
ton is being led to believe that an
apology is almost necessary for old-time
patriotism and old-time songs.
Spreaders of foreign propaganda are
leading many of our youngsters to be-
lieve that internationalism is the thing,
and it is such organizations as the Vet
Grams of Foreign Wars which make it
their sacred duty to combat this per-
nicious and undermining influence. That
is the reason for THE Star Spangled
Banner" campaign. and the more pub
licity patriotic newspapers give this
movement the greater will be the sue
cess of the campaign.
Another part of this campaign that
the Veterans of Foreign Wars is put
ting over is to urge upon all American
citizens to memorize the words of all
four verses of THE Star Spangied
Banner" You will find very few Amer
leans able TO do this, and it takes a
good shot to snap them into the realiza-
ton that their national anthem Is
something worth learning and memo
rizing.
1t might be of interest to recall a
how an American who does not know
his own national anthem can be cheap
ened by this fact. In 1906 I was a
member of the crew of the u. S. s.
Maryland, when that fine, big, armored
cruiser went on a trip around the world,
in company with the Pennsylvania,
Colorado and West Virginia. Our first
port of call was Gibraltar, Spain. The
English soldiers and sailors there made
elaborate preparations to give us real
welcome. They staged fine theatrical
performance, boxing bouts, and at the
end of the program their band struck
up THE Star Spangled Banner" Every
Britisher in that audience stood at at
tention and sang all four verses of The
Star Spangled Banner" which our gal
liant Americans hummed and "la-la'd"
the melody. After this the British
struck up God Save the King" and our
jolly tars sang My Country, It's of
Thee" at the TOP of their voices. The
| next day there was a great rush on the
ships library, with all hands memoriz-
ing The Star Spangled Banner"
HARVEY l.. MILLER,
Department Commander.