The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1938-03-10
THE LEGION

Probably no organization in this country, possibly in the
world, has 50 broad and extensive a program as The Ameri
can Legion It t~rathfully may be said to cover the entire
field Of public service, from care OF our battle-scarred vet
Grams to financial relief for underprivileged childhood.
II the average reader has any idea that the primary in
terests Of The American Legion are concerned with questions
Of bonuses and pensions. that is not the fault OF the Legion.
Regardless Of who is to blame for such misapprehension, how
ever, it is q mistake which should be corrected without de-
lay.
1t is unreasonable to expect that every person in the
country will agree with everything, The American Legion At.
tempts to accomplish. The Legion itself does not expect
100 per cent approval for all Of its acts, its leaders have SAFE
as much, many times II is both unint Z and ad unr Ss-
cause You do not, p~erchance, like one or two things
There we're marked differences Of opinion over paying
1 n.ns, s s9@s were .sss.S Sp T;,s 4s 70 R Ray,as s1 LEGION Gsn's H.. ct. t a, was sna q
debt past due and should be paid. Each class, IN its own
sphere. under our form Of government, had . perfect right
to its opinion. Who was right or wrong is OF no moment
now. A vast majority, Of the peoples representatives. IN
Compress agreed with the Legion and under our form Of
Government the majority prevails.
Since the passage Of the bonus law we have heard much
talk about impending general pensions for World War vet.
Grams. The singular thing about such talk is that none OF
it originates with the veterans themselves; 1t all seems 70 come %aae
from those who opposed the bonus most vigorously. Inc
Legion leaders have been most emphatic IN declaring tnat
there was no organized movement within their organlza!aon'
the largest Of all veterans associations, Tor general penspun . ~
Let us have done with such worries until there is somethlng 70
worry about. We have enough wrinkles In our pro" al
ready.
The nOint OF all this, however, is q VIC AnSn
do sosae budget balancing and see where the weight Q favor
lies-with or against the American Legion. Let US agree,
inst. for the sake Of argument, that we oppose the bonus
and that we oppose the general pensions.
Neither Of these objections can possibly argue that the
American Legion is wrong in demanding adequate govern
ment protection for the battle-scarred veterans, IN spending
more than a million dollars a year OF its own funds to reheve
suffering chilren, in working for greater government protec.,
ton for underp7ivileged children, in spreading the gospci d
Amcricanism, in promoting law and order, IN flghting 70 pre-
serve peace for America and save our children from the nor
rors Of war. in broadening Community Sevice efforts. III cam
paigni,.e for Highway Safety, in for ring community disaster
relief corps. and all Of those many other things 1T does-every-
one Of them far above the stigma of selfishness.
Weighed in the balance, the scales definitely are on the
side of the Legion, even if we concede that everyone was
against the ~bonus-which they most emphatlcaly We're
not. else our Congress would not have passed the law. %
we come back to the original argument, with the decision
1t is unintelligent to denounce everything because OF one
or two things. There is no doubt that some World war
Veterans themselves disagree with possibly one, or two, OF
the Legions detectives. All the more reason that sacn ve.e,
rams should join the organization. The Legion Is mpueu
with the same democratic ideals as our government-the ma
iority rules. Mr.. World War Veteran, if you don't Ike wnat
the Legion is doing, get in there and change things. Don
stay out and contend yourself with throwing mud. II !e
majority is with you, you will win if you are q mmorits'
YOU will and should lose.
That is the American way Of getting somewhere.