Evening star., 1936-04-30


our country. Already, these ideas are
corrupting our people. They have even
permeated the ranks of the Amer
ican Legion. The menace is the God
dess of Liberty, who for SO years, un-
suspected by the easy-going people
of the United States. has been hold
ing aloft in her hand a lighted torch.
Citizens! This is the symbol of So
cialism! There Is room in that torch
for a squad Of revolutionists to hide
And w. p. A. funds have recently
been paid to renovate this menace.
It has no place here! Let her so
back to where she came from!
Liberty has become Red Scare and
threatens to rend the ranks Of the
American Legion. 1t came about thus:
The Americanism Committee OF the
Legion of New York County was en-
trusted to get out 7-minute speech
for educative purposes amongst the
members Of the Legion. Mr.. Cyrus lie
Row Baldridge, who served the stars
and Stripes In every major engage
ment of the last year Of the war to
make the world safe for democracy,
was assigned TO the task. He wrote
about a thousand words on what ne
considered Americanism TO be. He
took his cue from the Bill OF Rights
and the Declaration Of Inder 1dence.
He asserted: "Americanisn is ex-
pressed in the determined struggle to
achieve democracy. justice and lib
erty." He maintained that democracy
means equality Of opportunity. and
Justice means equality Of all before
the law. Liberty, he said, means op-
portunity for self-expression and self
development. And 1t means freedom
Of religious worship, and above all,
freedom of speech. He argued that
the Americanism ideal presumed that
man was on a constant search for
truth and therefore must have con-
tinual access to opportunities for in
curry. He believed that tolerance was
an American virtue. 1t was un-Amer-
lean to resort to violence, because
America opened the channels for the
use of persuasion. Americans" he
said, stand forever opposed to dicta-
torship by person or a group"
American patriotism is 100 per cent
belief in democracy. justice and lib
erty," and the duty Of the patriot was
to participate actively in the political
life of the Nation for the attainment
Of these ideals.
How Pamphlet Was Distributed.
The Willard Straight Post, Of which
Mr.. Baldridge is a member, liked these
ideas and suggested that they be put
into a pamphlet. Mr.. Baldridge is an
artist and he designed the pamphlet
In the colors, red, white and blue.
He decorated it with what he thought
were some American symbols. Since
the committee had little money, the
press which printed it and the COM
pany which furnished the paper con-
tributed labor and materials. And
the pamphlet went out and copies
were sent to other posts. and event.
ually a copy fell into the hands of
the chairman of the Americanism
Committee for the whole country, H.
/. Chaillaux.
Meanwhile it also came into the
hands of reporter for a group of
newspapers who are engaged at this
moment in roofing out subversive
influences in this great Nation and
discovering the radical influences that
are boring from within. Apparently
there was shortage Of menaces this
particular week until the enterpriSing
reporter discovered the pamphlet.
Now, the pamphlet seemed to suggest
in some vague way, that not every
patriot must necessarily agree in
every detail with every other patriot
and that all is not always patriotism
that expresses itself in the largest
and blackest letters. And being a
well-trained sleuth of subversion, 1t
struck his eye Immediately, first, that
an eagle appearing on the cover was
red: secondly, that the American Le-
gion emblem was printed in red; third
that the f1yleaf displayed the radical
symbol of hand holding a torch;
and, fourth, that the paper had ema-
mated from a japanese paper concern.
AL Of which was sufficient to prove
that we were being undermined by the
Erbfeind of California and threatened
by revolution. Haven't you noticed
these things?" asked the reporter. No,
his Mortified auditors had not noticed.
"This pamphlet suggests that there