The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-08-18
GOSS' MESSAGE TO LEGIONNAIRES ONE
 OF HOPE

A feature of the legion conyen- ton meeting this morning was an address by John H. Goss, of the Scovill Manufacturing company and vice-president of the Manu- lecturers association of Connecti- cut, who was introduced by Com- mander Breslin. MT Goss said in part as follows: MT State Commander,
 Members of the American Legion
 assembled in Convention:
 I stand here representing the manufacturers of Waterbury, and I may truthfully say also repre- senting the manufacturers of the state of Connecticut, inasmuch as have been. for seventeen years vice. president of the Manufacturers association of Connecticut.
 On behalf of the manufacturers IT extend to you q welcome and greetings. and best wishes for the success of your convention.
 For the manufacturers of Water bury I express our pleasure in the fact that you have selected Water bury this year for your convention, and we hope that you will in future select Waterbury again.
 stand here with justif1able pride as a citizen as we'll as a manufacturer of Waterbury and Connecticut, because I remembef the record you men and women made during the great war. (There was no better than that made by the soldiers of Connecticut and Waterbury in all branches of the service) but also because remem- Der what Connecticut and Water bury did through their industries and their workers to support you in the making of those munitions and supplies we were equipped to make and were called upon to make, and which you had to have to carry on. In this respect also there Is no better record than Con- necticNt and Waterbury made.
 So we may feel as we look back I repeat. a justifable pride in the war record not only of our sol diers and our industries but also o1 the workers in those industries Every worker was determined that whatever he was called upon to make must be of the finest quail ity. must be delivered on time. and in the required quantity: and here again there was practically 100 per ce-t performance.
 But I have another message than just that of welcome and greetings and best wishes "a mes- sage of hope and confidence, not only for but in you.
 It was relatively easy, to perform 100 per cent up to Armistice day. There was a different atmosphere, difference reason, than has exist ed since.
 am not so proud of what we have all been doing since. Most of us thought the war'was over on November II, 1918. We all now know that it was not over; that that day only ended the military phase of the war. Instead of con. solidating our positions and pre- pairing for the other phases of the war we quit, and started out or one grand spree. which developed into an orgy of damn foolishness the like of which has never beer known before. and lasted for clever long years. We were playing. al. though we did not realize 1t. direct. ly into the hands of the enemy. an6 the enemy was economic diversity Tn the fall of 1929 we received the shock of our lives and We have been on the run ever since-a com, plete economic rout. It has lasted now about three years. It has no' yet, thank God. broken down oul fo We cftv have enough of the old spirit. w can still fight it out and win. ant that is what we must do, and are going to do.
 The campaign will be different There have been casualties. ant there will continue to be casual ties. This camnaign is on the eco homie front. We are consolidating our positions. and must continue to con.olidate on that front b, marshaling and mobilizinE al those resources of men and pro grams that will make for success and discardinc all that will mol su~elv be helpful.
 We have both men and womer and the resources as no other coun' try in the world has them. and the rest of the world knows it and they are rightfully looking tt us to show the way ont and wifi this ~+aSe of the war. We must dt it. We can do it. We will do it It cannot ba done hy changing oul form of government or our socia order. We must change our con duct under them. Our government nnd rur social order aye not blame worthy. We as ind'viduc's and ~roups of individuals hove been a fault. All we have to do is to livt un to the ideals and princinles WI have rdopted and n!edged ourselves to. We have not heen practicinf or living up to them for fourtees lor~ years.
 What dir"rent result could VI expect? We have been gettins what we deserve. Can we take I like, men and women? I believe that we can and will. I believe still that we have plenty of tha good old sportsmanship spirit Ter in our makeup.
 This is my message of hope and confidence to you and in you.
 You are one of the large organ ized groups of men and women. as extremely important. group. You rganlsation is founded on pro gram of Ideals and principles tha YOU have adopted and to which vol have pledaed yourselves that ruI parallel to the idenig of citizenship set m in our Constitution. flaw your actions as individual mentberl ef tho iesion. have the formal hc tions of th6 legion and its EubdivI aions been consistent under youl pIedFesf If they have you can en, much more than the average citl .eIl can with respect 10 his con duct rsdr- Inc Constituuon that h' fa s.IaAe1 AA