Show IThe he American Legion iE us s sHere Here and There Among the World War Veterans I Copy for This De Department Supplied by National Headquarters of or the American Lesion Legion NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS BU BUILDING OF AMERICAN LEGION 3 1 1 Ii 1 w. w WL t j HoW One of Indianapolis' Indianapolis Most Attractive Capital Was Chosen by DID the they locate the theW WHY national headquarters o of W the American Legion ut at Indianapolis This is a question that many delegates dele idle gates to the Minneapolis convention of ot the American Legion are arc unable to ans answer yer They know that Indianapolis was was was' not one of the three cities reported reported reported re re- ported favorably on by the committee that u n minority report was presented on the floor of the convention resultIng resulting result result- Ing In the election of Indianapolis as permanent headquarters of the Fred Bates nates Johnson an Indianapolis attorney and one of the Hoosier delegates delegates delegates dele dele- gates to the convention was asked b how bow nv the Indianapolis polls delegation on maneuvered ma mn to o 0 secure the headquarters It was Wl a case of superior salesmanship salesmanship salesman salesman- ship as I see It stud said Mr l Johnson That meant means as you know faith Inthe In Inthe Inthe the superior quality of the product youre you're trying to to sell a thorough knowledge knowledge knowledge knowl knowl- edge ot of the article and hard work We not only worked hard In trying tryIng tryIng try- try Ing to convince the members of the committee th that t Indianapolis was the logical location location we we tried to sell the city to every delegate we could talk to The result was when we found we had lost out In committee we felt pretty confident we we could win by raising raisIng raising rais rais- ing the question T on the floor of ot the tile convention as afi we did We Wc had a delegation thoroughly I well Informed on the advantages the city afforded sa asa as- as a headquarters headquarter cen cen- cenI I ter The line of argument wa was of oC course shaped to fit the particular delegate with whom whom we we were dealing and all In line with a pre arranged plan Im I'm not saying that the political bent naturally inherent in every ery Hoosier Hoosier Hoo- Hoo sier may not have helped us In winning I out over the competing cities Our first argument was that IndIanapolis Indianapolis Indi IndI- anapolis was vas was the ideal convention or headquarters city because It It Is only sixty miles from the center of population population population lation and nd thus thu most accessible to the largest number of or member I. I We explained ex ec that with fifteen railroads ant ami thirteen electric Interurban lines this greatest Inland center was easily and directly tl reached from all parts of the country We showed them ho how v more more cities of population population- and over dver over enn can can can-be- be- be reached In a nights night's ride from Indianapolis Indi Indi- Indianapolis anapolis than from any other city Inthe In Inthe Inthe the United States embracing a zone cone Including Chicago ngo Milwaukee Detroit Toledo Cleveland Buffalo Pittsburgh Columbus Cincinnati Louisville Chat Clint Knoxville Memphis St St. I Louis Peoria and anel Springfield Over two million people live within two hours hours' ride of the city and over GO 00 can enn be reached over o night We also argued that the fact tact the city was an Ideal headquarters location location loca loca- tion was evidenced by the number of national hen headquarters quarters already located here listing among these the United Mine Workers of America International al Brotherhood o of Bookbinders International International Inter Inter- national Typo Typographical l' l union International Infer Infer- national Broth of or Teamsters and Chauffeurs Bricklayers Masons sad find Plasterers' Plasterers International union Barbers Barbers' Barbers Barbers' Bar nar- bers' bers union and the International In Brotherhood of Carpenters rs and ond Joiners This array of or labor or or- organizations the approval of the tho thousands sands of or legion m rs belonging belonging be be- belonging longing to labor laboi organizations ns We said we could assure all ex- ex service men of ot n most cordial welcome as es laid luid always been most 7 7 l rr l h. h Why Buildings Buildings Why and How the Hoosier the World War Men appreciative of her ber heroes heroes' In proof of ot this this witness the soldiers and amI sailors sailors' sailors sailors' sail sail- ors' ors monument which was erected thirty years ago costing then over a a monument almost feet In height height and and the patriotic manner manlier in which In-which which Indiana's sons have answered the call in all previous wars All AU were surprised to learn that Indianapolis has the most complete electric traction terminal building In Inthe Inthe inthe the world where more than passengers each dt lay day arrive arrhe and depart 00 on about on-about about SOO speed high electric interurban interurban inter inter- urban cars The fact that we vc built bunt the first union railway station t In the world also appealed app to many We Ve found few knew that Indianapolis Indianapolis Indi- Indi anapolis was the home city of the late Vice President Charles W. W Fairbanks the home city of Vice President Marshall Marshall Mar lIar shall tl s late James Whitcomb Riley and the late fate Benjamin Harrison of ot Booth Meredith h Nicholson and other literary men nien of national note We explained that addition to our unusual location and railroad facilities facil sties the city was well weB equipped with many first-class first hotels large auditoriums auditori auditorI- for conventions and ev everything In the fhe way of theaters and motion picture pIcture picture pic pIc- ture houses that delegates to a convention con con- nt on ml might ht require 5 theaters and 00 GO motion picture houses The many buildings of or Interest were also described a a post office oc occupying oc oc- occupying a city block and costing more than r half halt million dollars a central lJ literary Hilary erected at a cost of more than thana a u h half if million dollars with fourteen br ft un thirty five other distributing dIstributing distributing agencies s a state capitol occupying occupy occupy- inK ing two city blocks a courthouse of unusual architectural beauty and soon so on Of course we bored some listeners and we had to permit the boosters of ot other cUres cities to have th their ir say ay but nevertheless we got across cro s advantages nd offered by this city of population We tried to appeal appeal appeal ap ap- peal to the particular Interest of ot theman the theman man with whom we were talking Thus we told the men from farmIn farmIng farming farm- farm In Ing and rural districts that the principal principal prin prin- cipal industry from the value of product product prod prod- prod Is slaughtering and meat packing That last year hogs cattle and calves and 15 03 sheep were WE're killed They were Interested to know that more than tha-n h head ad adof of live stock were r received at Indianapolis Indianapolis Indi Indi- ana anapolis polls stock yards ards the year before To the same men iDen we told that 6 G- G bushels of ot wheat and b bushels of ot corn were handled by local dealers and a total of bushels bush bush- els eis of grain handled In elevators having hav hay ing lag a combined capacity of ot bushels None of ot the college men mon seemed to know that Butler coUe college e at lit Indi- Indi was the first college in n the country to receive women on equal footing with men And in the same way we had facts to Interest Interest Interest Inter Inter- i est men of every ery occupation and Interest In tn terest I venture there was not a dele delegation delegation atlon a- a tion at the convention so well Informed Informed In In- formed on what their city had to offer Certain men were a assigned to work with the delegations from the different states state We tools took with us a motion picture pic pie ture film showing the city but hadnot had hadnot hadnot not an opportunity to use It But nut as I said before I believe the I fact that we landed the Q O. n. n Q of the legion was due solely to salesmanship s i l y N |