David M. Goodrich, of Akron; Chief Petty Officer B. J. Goldberg, of Chicago; "Tom" Miller, of Delaware; Major Alex. Laughlin, Jr., of Pittsburgh; Major Henry Leonard, of the Marine Corps; Dwight J. Davis, of the 35th Division; Corporal Charles S. Pew, of Montana; General William G. Price, of the 28th Division; Bishop Charles S. Brent, Senior Chaplain of the A. E. F.; General O'Ryan, of the 27th Division; Stewart Edward White, of California; Private Jesus M. Baca, of New Mexico; General Charles H. Cole, of the 26th Division; Sgt. E. L. Malsbary, of Nevada; Lt. Samuel Gompers, Jr., of New York; Col. Henry L. Stimpson, Ex-Secretary of War; Lt. Col. Charles W. Whittlesey, Commander of the "Lost Battalion"; Leroy Hoffman, of Oklahoma; Lt. Col. A. Piatt Andrew, of the American Ambulance in France; General Harvey J. Moss, of the State of Washington; John MacVicar, Mayor of Des Moines before the War; Sgt. George H. H. Pratt, of New Orleans; Col. F. C. Galbraith, of Cincinnati; Corporal Joseph H. Fountain, of Vermont; Devereux Milburn, of the 78th Division; Lt. Col. Wilbur Smith, of the 89th Division; Sgt. Theodore Myers, of Pennsylvania; Col. Bennett C. Clark, son of Champ Clark; Robert Bacon, Ex-Secretary of State. (12) What did the Legion do at its St. Louis caucus? (a) It demanded investigation of the pardon and subsequent honorable discharge by the War Department of convicted conscientious objectors. (b) It condemned the action of the I. W. Ws., the Anarchists, and the International Socialists. (c) It protested against certain nefarious business concerns who are employing men in uniform to peddle their wares. (d) It recommended that Congress should take steps to reclaim arid, swamp and cut over timber lands and give the work of doing this to ex-service men, and give the land to them when it had been made available for farming purposes. (e) It demanded of Congress the same disability pay for men of the National Guard and National Army as now pertains to those in the Regular establishment. (f) It initiated a campaign to secure to service men their rights and privileges under the War Risk Insurance Act. (g) It demanded that Congress should deport to their own countries those aliens who refused to join the colors at the outbreak of the war, and pleaded their citizenship in other countries to escape the draft. (h) It undertook to see that disabled soldiers, sailors and marines should be brought into contact with the Rehabilitation Department of the Government, which department helps them to learn and gain lucrative occupations. (i) It authorized the appointment of a competent legislative committee to see that the above recommendations were effectively acted upon by Congress, and that committee has been appointed and is now at work. (j) It authorized the establishment of a bureau to aid service men to get re-employment; and of a legal bureau to help them get from the Government their overdue pay and allotments. These two bureaus are being organized at the National Headquarters of the Legion and will be in active operation by July 1st. (13) What else did the St. Louis caucus do? (a) It endorsed all steps taken by the Paris caucus, and adopted a temporary constitution which conformed to the tentative constitution adopted in Paris. (14) What does this Constitution stand for? (a) The preamble answers that question; it reads: "For God and Country we associate ourselves together for the following purposes: To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred per cent. Americanism; to preserve the memories and incidents of our association in the Great War; to inculcate a sense of individual obligations to the community, stai and nation; to combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and good will on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness." (15) How does the Legion govern itself? (a) The Constitution provides that the legislative body of the organization shall be a national convention, to be held annually composed of delegates and alternates from each state, from the District of Columbia and from each territory and territorial possession of the United States. (16) How is the Legion organized? (a) It is composed of State Branches, and these in turn are made up of Local Posts. (a) The Constitution states that a Local Post shall have a minimum membership of fifteen. No Post shall be received into the Legion until it has received a charter. A Post desiring a charter shall apply for it to the State Branch, and the charter will be issued, upon recommendation of this State Branch, by the National Executive Committee. No Post may be named after any living person. (18) How can I join the American Legion? (a) By filling out the Enrollment Blank on the last page of this booklet and mailing it to the State Secretary of your home state, whose name is listed below. If there is a Local Post in your home town, your name and address will be sent to the Post Commander. If there is no Post in your home town, START ONE, write your State Secretary for the necessary particulars. State Secretaries are: The ALABAMA.-Leroy Jacobs, care Jacobs Furniture Co., Birming ham. ARIZONA.—Fred B. Townsend, National Bank, Arizona Bldg., Phoenix. ARKANSAS.-Granville Burrow, Little Rock. CALIFORNIA.-E. E. Bohlen, 926 Flood Bldg., San Francisco. COLORADO.-Morton M. David, 401 Empire Bldg., Denver. CONNECTICUT.-Alfred A. Phillips, Jr., 110 Glenbrook Rd., Stam ford. Delaware.—L. K. Carpenter, Du Pont Bldg., Wilmington. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.-Howard Fisk, 833 Southern Bldg., Washington. FLORIDA.-J. T. Wiggington, 818 15th St., Miami. GEORGIA.-Louis H. Bell, care of Service Record, 208 Flatiron Bldg., Atlanta. HAWAII.-J. P. Morgan, Box 188, Honolulu. IDAHO.-Laverne Collier, Pocatello. ILLINOIS.-Name not received yet. INDIANA.-L. Russell Newgent, 518 Hume Monsur Bldg., Indianapolis. IOWA.-John MacVicar, 336 Hubbell Bldg., Des Moines. KANSAS.-Ike Lambert, Emporia. KENTUCKY.-D. A. Sachs, Louisville. LOUISIANA.-T. H. H. Pratt, 721 Hibernia Bank, New Orleans. MAINE.-James L. Boyle, 184 Water St., Augusta. MISSOURI.-Ed. J. Cahill, Service Commission, Jefferson City. NEBRASKA.-Allan A. Tukey, 1st National Bank Bldg., Omaha. NEVADA.-J. D. Salter, Winnimucca. NEW HAMPSHIRE.-Frank J. Abbott, Manchester. NEW JERSEY.-George W. C. McCarter, 765 Broad St., Newark. NEW MEXICO.-Harry Howard Dorman, Santa Fé. NEW YORK.-Wade H. Hayes, 140 Nassau St. NORTH CAROLINA.-Charles N. Hulvey, A. & E. College, Raleigh. NORTH DAKOTA.-Ed. E. Gearey, Fargo. OHIO.-Chalmers R. Wilson, Adj. Gen. Office, State House, Columbus. OKLAHOMA.-F. W. Fisher, Oklahoma City. OREGON.-Dow V. Walker, care Multnomah Club, Portland. PENNSYLVANIA.-George F. Tyler, 121 S. 5th St., Philadelphia. RHODE ISLAND.-James E. Cummiskey, Crompton. SOUTH CAROLINA.-Ben. D. Fulton, 32 West Evans St., Florence. SOUTH DAKOTA.-J. C. Denison, Vermillion. TENNESSEE.-W. R. Craig, Nat. Life and Accident Co., Nashville. TEXAS.-J. A. Belzer, Austin. UTAH. Baldwin Robertson, 409 Ten Boston Bldg., Salt Lake City. VERMONT.-Joseph H. Fountain, 138 Colchester Ave., Burlington. VIRGINIA.-R. G. M. Ross, 508 First National Bank Bldg., Newport News. WASHINGTON.-George R. Drever, care Adj. Gen. Office, Armory, Seattle. WEST VIRGINIA.-Chas. McCamic, 904 National Bank of West Virginia Bldg., Wheeling. WISCONSIN.-R. N. Gibson, Grand Rapids. WYOMING.-R. H. Nichols, Casper. WHAT THE PUBLIC PRESS THINKS It is interesting to know what the press of the United States thinks of the American Legion. Practically every newspaper in the country honored the Legion with comment. In almost every instance it was favorable. Selection has been made of some of this comment- as much as is feasible to give here. It is of two kinds: first, what the press thought of the idea of the Legion, and second, what opinion it had of the Legion after it was launched at St. Louis. The first type of comment was made prior to the caucus in this country and the second, afterwards. Comment on both types was generally favorable. Lest insincerity be charged let it be said here that there was some unfavorable comment. One New England paper was surprised that soldiers, sailors and marines were not clever enough to know that the American people would perceive their attempt, through this organization, to "drive a six mule team through the Treasury" and get pension and pay grabs. One Southern paper pictured Colonel Roosevelt returning from the St. Louis |