OCR Text |
Show lH HD v mm Has No Right to Take Law Into Own Hands, Franklin Frank-lin d'Olier Says. INDIANA POMS. Dec. :. rrauklin d'Olier, national commander of tliu American Legion, today declared tiiat neither "national, elate nor lc11' organizations organi-zations of the Amrta.:n Ixr.;ion have any r!ht to take the law into tlicir own bands or interfere with proper authority." and warned members of the legion tiiat such lutiou would bo aubveralvo of tlio principles princi-ples of the legion. The declaration Was . part of a statement made by the national commander in view of reeent reports of aetwillea of members of the legion, which, ho. said, made 11 Imperative that the policy pol-icy of the organization with respect to Its aiandlnc? on the maintenance of law and j Older be defined. ,.nn "The American Lesion," Mr. d Ollor . aid, represents nearly (We million civilians civil-ians who demonstraled their loyalty an pauiotlsm. We realize, however, tn.u there are I0O.0O0.00O other Americans. jusl as patriotic and loyal Wo represented the tpear point, keen and true, and back 01 , us wan the power of a whole nation at , war. Our effectiveness against the enemy en-emy was In proportion to the strength oi , the country back of us. And now we must realize that the strength of the legion and our influence and service to the nation will he measured only by our ability to cooperate effectively with the 100 000, 000 other loyal and patriotic American Ameri-can citizens in the promotion of 100 per cent Americanism and the maintenance of law and order. We know that there Is only one way to maintain law and order, or-der, and that one and only way Is through , the orderly process of government and Us dulv constituted agencies. 'in times of need and emergency, we members of the American Legion stand ready as Individuals to support, strengthen and speed up. if necessary, the civil authorities au-thorities charged with the maintenance of law and order, but always in accordance with competent authority, which we realize now is civilian and not military, and originates in the constitution constitu-tion of the United States, as expressed through national, stats and local governments." |