And when they
act together in matters within the scope of their organization
they will represent a force to be reckoned with in the
formulating of public policies.
_Brooklyn Eagle_, April 11, 1919.--Organization of "The American
Legion" is going on rapidily in every State in the Union. Vast
as was the mass of eligibles on which the Grand Army of the
Republic could draw after the Civil War, it did not compare with
the Legion's bulk of raw material. There will be a formal caucus
on May 8th, at St. Louis, of a real representative character, in
which it is said the enlisted men of the army and navy will have
a majority. Lieutenant Colonel Henry L. Stimson, once Secretary
of War, outlines the plan. He believes that this country's
future hereafter is in the hands of the men below thirty years
of age who fought this war. He trusts that the lesson in
practical democracy afforded by military experience and the
ideals of democracy emphasized by military enthusiasm may be
kept permanently alive.
That this is the main hope of the more active organizers we have
no doubt. Men like Major General O'Ryan, General Charles I.
Debevoise, and Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and Colonel Robert
Bacon would never think of making such a body a lever for
pension legislation or an agency of politics.
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