Imperial Valley press., 1939-12-18
HEMdKR
THE LEGION
MARCHES AGAIN

Young, strong and full of the zest of
life, they marched into the mud of Eu-
rope In 1917 to Make the World Safe for
Democracy.
Older, wiser and just as sturdy, they're
marching today to a new battlefield that
sprung full fledged from the disappoint-
ments of the old one
Then they were fighting to preserve
Democracy in the world, and history has
not Yet written that they succeeded or
failed IN that aim, for in the eyes of his
tory their effort was just one chapter
IN book that is still being written.
Today they are fighting to preserve
Amerlcanism in America, and into that
fight they are carrying all the wisdom of
sad postwar experience. coupled with
the same unfaltering courage that car
ried them to military triumph in Europe
twenty-five years ago
Victory cannot fail.
The American veterans of the World
War, banded together in the American
Legion, today are conducting the great
est campaign Of their lives 1t is a cam
palgn to eradicate the ugly menace of
alien doctrines, both social and political
from the free soil of the United States.
1t is a campaign not Of destruction, for it
seeks to weed out destructive forces. 1t
is a campaign of tolerance. freedom and
progress.
1t is surging drive for Americanfsm
1t is no aimless, unguided, undiSciplin-
ed campaign. 1t is battle planned care
fully and carried out thoroughly 1t is
going on throughout the nation Just as
it is in this city and this county With
Its roots in the past, its objective is the
present and future security of a way of
life that has given the world its most
progressive nation, the United States.
Today the precept of example and the
spoken and written word have taken the
place Of the rifle, the bayonet and the
machine gun of yesterday. Today the
campaign is one of education, not of an
Inhalation.
How it works we in this area saw last
week, and will see again this week.
Last week a group Of 13 persons stood
in superior court here to receive the acco-
lade of citizenship. They came from dis
tant parts of the world Some, accord
ing to the European standard, were hered-
itary enemies Of the others. Yet in the
common bond of newly acquired citizen
ship they were freed from centuries of
hatred and strife. And to them, in the
first hour of a new political life, the
Legion said
This is the Flag of the United States.
:. We ask you to pledge allegiance to
this Flag and to maintain that allegiance
faithfully all your lives. Don't make
the pledge as an idle gesture, but make
it and keep it in your hearts for your
sakes and the inspiration of others.
This to adults who were standing upon
the Threshold of new rights, new duties
and new freedom
This week, in this city's best motion pic
ture theater, the Legion will extend the
hand and the teaching of Americanism in
another direction. This time to the boys
and girls in whom the future rests. They
will be entertained, as children should
be, but in their entertainment will be
the germ of true Americanism. Half
the program will be devoted to screening
of western picture, half to showing of
patriotic short subjects" carrying in
their movement and life the inspiration
of Americas founding.
And SO it is in every community in
America, in every place where people
gather. AS long as the American Legion
and organizations like it live, American
ism will live, and when Americanlsm
lives Democracy cannot die.