"I wish to say, by way of introduction, that though I come from the
State of Washington, I am not a member of the Washington Delegation,"
he said, "I say that out of deference to the members from that State
for the reason that I wish to prejudice nobody here against the
Washington Delegation. I am not an I.W.W. I never have been and I
never intend to be I never have shown any Bolshevik tendency and I
defy any man present to prove to the contrary. If you've got proof
that Sherman H. Curtin ever was an I.W.W. or made a Bolshevik
statement, say so?" He paused here but none answered him to the
contrary
"It is true that the organization which I represent has had in the
past some I.W.W.'s, and it is true that there are some I.W.W.'s in it
now," he continued; "but I am in that organization for the purpose of
throwing those I.W.W.'s out. I got in there for the purpose of kicking
them out and I want your help."
Here he was interrupted by applause.
"At the present time, we (when I say we, I mean the particular
conservative element which I represent in that organization) have
control of the Board and practically all except one office of the
organization. We are doing everything in our power to make that a one
hundred per cent. American organization, and one of the things that I
came down here for was to see that the Legion had in its constitution
as a preamble that we pledge ourselves to the principles of democracy
as set forth in the constitution of the United States of America.
Pages:
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97