At the time of the caucus, Colonel Lindsley was director of the War Risk Insurance Bureau in Washington. In speaking to the motion to pass the foregoing resolution, he said that more than a year ago he and other officers in France felt that if there were no other reasons for an organization such as the Legion, it would be more than worth while to create one even though its sole function was to let those who served in the war know their rights about government insurance and if it saw to it that the general scheme was perpetuated.

"I am speaking particularly of the insurance phase of the situation," he said in part. "The United States Government to-day is the greatest insurance institution on earth. Thirty-nine billions of dollars of applications have poured in from over four millions of men; an average of practically $9000 per man is held throughout the United States and abroad, and over 90% of these men are insured. That insurance is the best in the world, because the greatest and the best and the richest Government on earth says, 'I promise to pay.' It is the cheapest insurance in the world and always will be because the Government says, 'As part of our contribution, we, the people of the United States, in this war, as a legitimate expense, will pay all cost of administering this Bureau.'

So that the men who have this insurance now and those who have it hereafter will pay only the net cost. If there is any savings, they get it.. So that for all time to come they have got the insurance cheaper than any other country except the United States can give them. I say that without any improper comparison with the splendid, properly organized institutions in the United States. It is simply this: That the people of the United States pay this cost of administration. By June 1st the policies of conversion will be ready to be delivered to those who want them. You will be able to cease term insurance, if you wish, and have ordinary life, limited payment life, or endowment insurance. You can have any kind you please, but the big thing, my comrades, is this: To retain every single dollar of this insurance that you can afford to carry. Don't be in any particular hurry about conversion. If your income isn't goodcarry this message back to the boys throughout the United States-if their income at this time doesn't justify carrying higher priced insurance, retain that which they have got and throughout this country tell the men that those who have lapsed their insurance because they didn't understand its value, because it wasn't properly presented to them at the period of demobilization by the Government, for it was not, tell them they are

going to have every right of reinstatement without physical examination.

"There is going to be no snap judgment on any man who served in this war who, because he was not able when he went out or didn't have the information or because he was careless or for any other reason didn't carry on his insurance. I ask you, my friends, and I think it is one of the important functions of this great American Legion that is born here in St. Louis at this time, to see that the fullest possible amount of this government insurance is maintained. Every man that holds a government policy is a part of the Government more than ever before. I ask you to bear this in mind and it is going to be within your power to say yes and no to many of the great problems of the United States.

"I ask you to see that this great bureau is kept out of politics and that it is administered in the years to come in the interests of those for whom this law was enacted, those who served as soldiers, sailors, and marines in this war and their dependents. I thank you for this opportunity of presenting this matter to you.'

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It is going to be within your power to

say yes or no to many of the great problems of the

United States."

The service men know this but coming from a man like Colonel Lindsley it is especially important. How are they going to use this power? What sort of a legislative program will the Legion have? The answer isn't hard to find by a perusal of the resolutions which were passed and by remembering that most important one which did not pass, viz. the pay grab.

The next resolution occupying the attention of the caucus was that one relating to disability of soldiers, sailors, and marines. It reads:

"BE IT RESOLVED: That the delegates from the several States shall instruct their respective organizations to see that every disabled soldier, sailor, and marine be brought into contact with the Rehabilitation Department of the Federal Board at Washington, D. C., and,

"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the secretaries of the various states be instructed to write to the Federal Board for literature as to what it offers to disabled men, and that the members of the Legion be instructed to distribute this literature and to aid the wounded soldiers, sailors, and marines to take advantage of governmental assistance, and that every effort be made by the American Legion in the several States to stop any attempt to pauperize disabled men."

The whole work of the Legion as outlined at the caucus is constructive and therefore inspiring. The

reader will note from the last resolution that members of the Legion are to be instructed to distribute the literature of the Rehabilitation Department among wounded soldiers, sailors, and marines and to show them how to take advantage of governmental assistance; and also that every effort will be made by the American Legion to stop any attempt to pauperize disabled men.

A higher-minded, more gentle resolve than that, can hardly be imagined. All of us remember the host of begging cripples who were going the rounds of the country even so long as thirty-five or forty years after the Civil War. This last resolution means that such will not be the case after this war. I think that it would be safe to say that in nine cases out of ten, after the Legion gets thoroughly started, crippled beggars who pretend to have been wounded in the service of their country will be fakers. Mr. Mott of Illinois, in the discussion on this question, brought out the fact that there were approximately sixty thousand soldiers, sailors, and marines permanently disabled as a result of wounds, accidents, and disease incurred in the war, while approximately one hundred and forty thousand discharged men were only more or less disabled.

The final resolution was that copies of all resolutions passed by the caucus were to be for