OCR Text |
Show THE LEGION WORKER HAS NO LEGS State Adjutant of the Department Idaho AMERICAN Doe TIMES-NEW- S, NEPHI, UTAH WHERE THE "BOYS IN BLUE" LIE SLEEPING of Not Allow Handicap to Interfere. Handicapped 1 Lester . F. Albert, state adjutant of the Department of Idaho of the American Legion, considers no physical disability an Insurmountable obstacle. For this intrepid veteran of the World war, who at the battle of Cantigny lost both legs and suffered other serious wounds, has not faltered In performance of his work since his return to civilian life. Albert, who was a lieutenant with Company C. 50th Engineers, was In action with the First French army at Cantigny in May, 1913. Two platoons of the company were under his command, as he was In charge of the Searchlight section. Their position was under the direct and heavy shell fire of the Germans during the night of May 27. One of the German shells ended active service for Lieutenant Albert. LEGION for This Department Supplied by the American Legion New Service.) Copy SAD WELCOME AWAITS THEM Mother, Brother, Sweetheart, En Route From Europe Will Find Young Soldier Dead. Louis K,smen is dead In a St Paul, Minn., hospital. From somewhere in Central Europe d widowed mother, a lass of nineteen and a lad of fourteen recently started on a long America to awaited Journey to far-orejoin the son, sweetheart and big ,)' brother, believed to be ready to greet them ufter years of separation. For eighteen long years Louis Kos-rne-n had pursued the blue bird of happiness. Through prosperity and poverty, on battlefields and in hospitals lie had followed, always with the drenvif that some day he would be able to send for the loved ones to come to tiliu in the promised land of America. At last Kosmen believed he could see the fulfillment of his dreams, iarough the aid of his American Legion pals with whom he had served in the World war, the red tape of government Immigration regulations had been cut and he had cabled word to the waiting loved ones that they should come to him In his American home. The lines of fatigue faded from n face and the discouraged his droop disappeared from his shoulders as he thought of seeing once more his mother and little brother and his promised bride. Then came Illness. The doctor told him that disease contracted while serving in the American army during the war would necessitate an operation. Recently he went onto the operating table. The next day he was dead. When but a lad of fifteen, Kosmew, heir of a once wealthy and Influential Albnnlan family, had been sent to Greece to escape the Turks. His father was killed by them. Before he left he was betrothed, according to the custom of his country, to baby Aspasla Gerdan. In following years he fought the Turks, served in their prisons, was wounded, escaped and finally came to the United States where he set to work to build up a comfortable home for his remaining loved ones. Ill fortune pursued him. After accumulating considerable money he lost It in a business venture. Then America, the land of Ms adoption, entered the war and he followed the flag to the front. In spite of broken health from the military service he had set at work once more to build up a fortune for his family and believed his Ambition was attained when death claimed him. an aged dark-haire- ff Lester F. Albert. It shattered both bis legs, tore off a finger of his right hand, and Inflicted many severe body wounds. Only Immediate surgical aid, followed by blood transfusion, was responsible for saving Albert's life. After a long period In a government hospital at Fort Snelllng, Minn., he returned to his home In Idaho, and took up his chosen work as an electrical engineer. Els activity In the organization of the American Legion In Idaho brought him recognition from hunmen of the state dreds of and at the first annual convention he was named to the post of department adjutant He bas held this position since that time, and at the last convention was elected for a three-yea-r period. Mr. Albert's determination for rehabilitation In spite of the injury he suffered has won the admiration of Legionnaires all over the country. In noting the enthusiasm with which he carries on his work, the extent of the Injury is never thought of. He considers that physical handicap will not thwart progress If determination Is a factor In the fight against It, WITH BUREAU Legion Will Assist Veterans' Branch In Aiding Former Warriors Serving Time In ..r: Lans . in ii HI ''I. ESSK&VsSTSSSS DISABLED FELLOWS SHOW PEP Institution. Legion Rehabilitation Officials Find Afflicted Men Make Good If Given The American Legion will with the United States veterans' bureau in the extension of vocational training and medical rehabilitation to the 18,000 veteracs of the World war serving sentences tn federal and state penal Institutions, Joe Sparks, chairman of the Legion's national rehabilitation committee, has announced. bureau officials believe that there are many men now sentences who may be unaware hat the bureau Is Interes'ed In their Imand possibly others who prisonment may be due to conditions 0 resulting from war service. Of the Imprisoned, only about 2,000 are receiving benefits from the bureau. Legion officials may be named by courts as guardians for mentally disabled veterans under the proposed plan. Many mentally Incompetent men are said to be suffering from lack of proper guardianship, and their condition renders theiu Incapable of Instituting court action In their favor. It Is probable that the new plan wlh first be tried out In the federal prisons at Atlanta, Leavenworth and McNeil Seattle. Veterans' bureau physicians, mental specialists and vocational educators would be permitted to survey the Institutions to determine the nature of rehabilitation measure to be taken. The plan may later Include parole of prisoners under care of the American Lotion or welfiire organizations, while they could be sen to vocational schools elsewhere If fa cllities for such education were not available at the penal Institutions. Fair Chance. It has always been the contention of American Legion rehabilitation officials that If the disabled man Is given an equal start with those about him, the "vet" will come through with flying colors. This Is borne out in many Instances, but in perhaps none more clearly than at the North Dakota Agricultural college, where 100 Veterans' Bureau trainees are in attendance. Names of five of these were on the honor roll of the school when It was announced, a proportion of approximately 20 per cent of the total number of trainees enrolled a against 1 per cent of the other students who succeeded In making the honor grades. The average grade of these was 02.6 per cent five veteran-studen- t for the quarter. The veterans are also active In campus affairs. Every officer elected at a meeting of the Draftsmen and Builders' club at the college was a trainee. Burton Odeklrk, a trainee, won outstanding honor as a Judge of live stock when he was a member of the college team at the National Live Stock show at Chicago In competition with teams representing the other sei-rl- ng well-bein- IS,-00- schools. stuHarry Eckman, an dent at the School of AgrleulUV'e of Minnesota, has won a medal fer cattle Judging In competition with targe class of other live stock student. Market Overlooked. Excitedly the manufacturer of the World' Greatest Insect Exterminating Powder burst Into the export manager's ofllce. "Hey I" he bellowed. "Have we got an agency in Egypt?" "Why-er-no- , lr." "Well, why ain't we? I see a movie of them pyramids last night and It ays they were covered with millions of American hieroglyphic." Legion A "The Canada of Vimy Ridge." "The Canada of Vhuy Ridge," as It Is described, Is soon to become a reality on Hint historical spot where the Canadians stemmed the tide of German Invaders of Frame. Where now field. Is sooo Is but the barren, war-torto blossom with the trees and flowers of Canada, transplanted with lovlnn rnre from their native land to France. The project Is In the bands of a coinfills. Ion named from Canada. France bns granted 2."0 acres of land for me morial purposes. Walter Allward, Toronto sculptor, now In France, was de signed the monuments which mark the spot. lie was able to place the principal memorial at a point from which nay be seen the desolated lands, trsmped over by Canadian soldier, many to die there. The land will be created Into a park. Weekly. - Legion Band and Drum Corp. American Legion bands and drum corps are getting to be thi common thing In Minnesota cities. Recently Northfleld, Hutchinson and Red Wing Llonnalres formed the corps, and recently the Tine City post took over the home town band. Legion musical organisations already existed at Duluth, Rochester, St Paul, Minneapolis, gib vrr Lake and number of other place r8 L-- ,. rm x, ..u.jfc. jug. Conditions of Living Improved In City and Country by Better Transportation. e l , Like the American deed in France, many Northern coldiers of the war of the '60't lie buried far from home the national cemeteries of the southern states. In this one, 25 miles from Nashville, Tenn., six thousand federal soldiers killed in the Battle of Stone's River are sleeping. In Heroes Honored In the Capital Of the Nation toll-wor- TO HIGHWAYS AID TO PROGRESS Every succeeding Memorial day or Decoration day, as It Is oftentimes erroneously called comes to the American nation with added meaning. All over the country there are thousands who will decorate the graves of loved ones, who had mourned for them In the absent cemeteries In France, or Belgium, or England. This year many are with as. All through the year solemn corteges have escorted to the great Arlington cemetery, Just across the Potomac river from Washington, the earthly remains of the gallant American boys who left home and country to cross the seas and stop the onward rush of the Hun. Sometimes these burial processions accompanied, with highest military honors, a few, sometimes large numbers of the dead, through the streets of Washington to their final resting place in beautiful Arlington. And so It has been all over the country. Memorial day is a boll-da- y In the true sense a holy day. In Washington It Is especially observed, for at Washington It la not only the silent resting place of the beroes of three wars, but In Washington wreaths and decorations are placed also before the statue and memorials of the earlier heroes of the nation those of the Revolution, the War of 1312, and the Mexican war. Washington Is indeed a City of Memorials, writes Guy Elliott Mitchell In Grit All Held In Love. To describe all the public memorials of Washington would require many pages. They range from small ex quisite structures, such a the Archie Butt fountain erected south of the White House to that beloved member of the newspaper fraternity in Wash ington and aide to President Roosevelt, a victim of the Titanic, to the great group of statue of Marquis La fayette, Count Rochambeau, John Paul Jones and General Thomas, known a the Rock of Ohlckamauga, and others who fought either for American freedom or the Union. Nor are all the open park places and niche of the nation's capital yet filled with memorial statue and monu ments. There are many projects which are under way and other that are certain of fulfillment A splendid gov ernment park bas recently been completed to the north of the main body of the city, and already It contains a beautiful equestrian statue of Joan d'Arc presented by the French cltl ten of New York city and the statue of Dante presented recently by the Here also will Italian government be erected by congress a splendid memorial to President Buchanan. Daniel Webster, who himself has a splendid statue In Washington, once aid that President Andrew Johnson proposed to span the Potomac with "arches of ever enduring granite syra bollcal of the firmly established onion of North and South." Thi I now bearing fruit The magnificent Francis scott Key memorial concerts Washington with Virginia and Arlington, while another great $5,000,000 bridge tower down the Potomac Is to connect Washington with Virginia and the boulevard leading to Mount Vernon. the home of Washington. To the Titanle Victims. Another beautiful memorial Is to be erected in commemoration of the victims of the Titanic disaster. Tet another striking memorial figure la to be a statue of Alexander Hamilton, our first secretary of the treasury, erected day ef memorial the blessings, the privileges, the responsibilities ef free government. It is a sugnation may gestion of what TPHE become growing from 13 dependent colonies to 48 independent states. Each state is a government, and all the states meat. We showed the world that that condition was possible. Millions ef immigrants come to our shores. More would come if they could. Seme would stay if we let them. They all knew that ears is a land of opportunity. They know thet Cod has been especially good to us, end thet our father fought and died for the host form of gov erament yet devised by asaa self government. at the south front or the Treasury building, as commemorative of the re markable genius who founded our present financial system. Another large memorial Is to be erected In recognition of the brilliant Invention by John Ericsson of the Ironclad Monitor, Jointly by appropriation from congress and contributions from Americans of Scandinavian descent Not the least of the great memorials which are soon to be erected Is the George Washington building of white marble, to cost $2,000,000. This is to be used for Inaugural receptions and special public meetings authorized by congress and Is to have an auditorium which will seat 10,000 people. Anoth er great memorial Is to be erected In memory of the late Colonel Roosevelt. Greatest of All. But the most magnificent of all memorials to patriotism and valor Is the great national cemetery at Arlington, Just across the Potomac river and overlooking the capital city. Here He burled the heroes of three wars. with monuments varying from the sim ple marble headstone of the private soldier to the great monument and mausoleums of distinguished colonels, generals, rear admirals and admirals. Here the older members of our present generation who were familiar with the stirring times of the great Civil war may wander for hours, recogniz ing by their monuments the last rest ing places of men famous for their part In preserving the Union. fame's eternal camping-- ground. Their silent tents are spread. And Glory with solemn round. The bivouac ot the dead. The two outstanding monuments of Arlington are the fighting top of the battleship Maine, which wai recovered from the Havana harbor where It was sunk, an outrage which brought on the Spanish-America- n war, beneath which are burled the remains of many brave American sailors, and not far distant from it the recently completed white marble amphitheater beneath and around which Is a vast partitioned gallery in which the bodies of dead heroes are placed before their permanent burial beneath the green sod of On THE VETERAN Arlington. A recent addition to the Arlington cemetery Is a beautiful memorial dedicated to Admiral Peary, the intrepid discoverer of the North pole. While Memorial day services take place in almost every city and hamlet In the country, probably the most Impressive observance of the day Is that In the Arlington ampltheater. The United States Marine band provides music for the occasion, and brilliant and Inspiring eulogies are delivered. The President of the United State Is usually the chief speaker, and the ambassadors and ministers of foreign powers in Washington as well a men highest In our national affairs are among the thousands who gather to do honor to the nation's dead. HONOR TO FALLEN COMRADES First Division of the A. E. F. Erect- ing Memorial to Those Who Died In the Great War. The First Division memorial, a It will look when finished, the memorial to be erected in the White House grounds opposite the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Potomac park. The memorial Is similar In design to the Battle monu- - m ii Y it i U V bent old man Is passing by. His head Is white, his eyes are dim. there are many reason a why We who are young should envy him. His name Is not besmirched with shame, The record bo has made la clean; His heart Is calm, his mind serene. Hs holds no hate, and fears no blame. And ae he nears the closing scene Pride keeps his withered cheeks aflame. A And The way that he has come Is long. The end la near, his tasks are done; Where foes beset him he was strong. The peace he claims has been well won; He dreads no terrors such as we Who see him pass may have to face; ment at West Point N. Y, and will cost about $100,000 contributed by former members of the First division in commemoration of 4,411 of their comrades who lost their lives during the World war. The design Is the Joint work of Daniel French and Charles Gilbert Tribute to Whole Nation. President Harding stated a great truth when he said that no nation has ever established a day of consecration that represented a more lofty and ennobling sentiment than does our national Memorial day. "Memorial day," he added, "mark our recognition of those who, from our national begin nings, have deserved the most that the nation could give of gratitude and appreciation. It reminds us that In every generation from Lexlugton to the Ar- gonne, our valorous sons have well de served the highest tribute that a nation, fortified, defended, preserved. could give to them. Beyond the dancer of disgrace. He goes his wiy triumphantly. And tn his bresst there Is no place Heserved for frazzled enmity. ttls hands are thin, his stepe are slow. Hut he has nothing to explain: His place Is with the brave whoVnow That they have not been tried tn vain; He feeln no twinges of regret. And nf remorse becloud his days; T. Is No ppertera rise before gaze. No lurking fears hts soul beaet! He haa no wish for thoughtless praise. No tragic errors to forget His rhIMren have been guided past The pitfalls that were deep and wide. And. needing him no more, at last Have children of their own to guldel tjove hss enriched him: hs la free From foolish envy, end from cars; Hs hss no cause to wonder where Or ssK what his reward shall be: Salute! I.e every head be bare, A vsteran Is pssslng seel -fE. Klser. l. Real Lesson of the Day. Memorial day will be lost If we fall to pay tribute to allegiance to country, to love of the flag, to the mission of liberty and Justice and to the heroism which Is our most glorious herluge. A few year ago the sight of a man In overalls and a straw hat hard at work with the hoe was convincing evidence that he was a farmer. Store clothes bespoke the city dweller. Times and the road have changed. Highway transport is sending the city man out to the country at the close of bis day's work and bringing the farmer and his family Into town. The old distinctions are passing and the cartoonist of the future will have to look to a new type for his characters. Public recognition of the social Influence of highway transport has been perhaps the outstanding development of the last year. The second national conference held by the highway education board served to crystallize opinion which has been growing steadily, and many are studying the Influence of the motor vehicle on the sociological as well as the economic problems of "" the day. It Is no longer necessary to talk In general terms. We are beginning to obtain specific evidence of the influence of highway transport upon life In this country, writes Roy D. Chapln, vice president of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce In the Milwaukee Sentinel. Definite trafllc studies now under way under the di rection of the bureau of public roads Indicate clearly the flow of commodities from farm to market and from market to market Economic studies by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce disclose a growing use of the vehicle by the laboring class and a consequent decrease In their overhead costs of living through homes taken farther out In the country. Intimations of unprecedented suburban developments ar,e seen In the inclination of the man who lives In the city to get out far enough to have a home of hts own and a plot of grass for his children. The task which remains Is one of developing the vast network of highways necessary to complete communication. Broad financial policies must be laid down to insure an expedited but efficient program of expenditure. Centralized control Is essential In order that there may be a proper relation between the possible earning power of, the road and the cost of the construction and maintenance. The construction of highways Is of benefit not alone to those of us who are paying the taxes today, but to those who will follow. If we are to have the roads in our lifetime we must predicate our Initial outlay In many instances upon serial bond Issues which will give us and our children the road at a reasonable rental for Its use. Property values, whether In the city or country, are definitely affected by highway Improvement and If we are to proceed soundly from a financial standpoint the full property power of the state should be thrown behind state bond Issues. The road user should be willing to pay all of the costs of maintaining the highway, not so much as a matter of principle as because bis operating costs will be directly Influenced by the quality of the highway on which be Is driving, and when all Is said and done the motor vehicle fee offer the most direct protection to the state's Investment in the highway, because It Is an annual revenue and can be directed against an annual charge. Any use of motor fees which deflects funds from this fundamental nse Is vicious and should not be countenanced. It Is also Important that county systems bear some relation to state Improvement, as otherwise the less Important highway might be Improved at the expense of the more Important as stated In term of trafllc, the only fair measure. GOOD ROADS ARE ESSENTIAL Without Improved Highway Govern, ment Could Not Carry Out Duties Imposed Upon It Garland W. Powell, assistant national director of the American Legion, points out that without good roads, and the proper use of the motor vehicle, the federal government could not successfully carry out some of the duties Impneed upon It by statute. Mr. Powell sugireats that, as a result of Improved highways, the people are brought In closer touch with business, social, educational and governmental affairs, that the rural free delivery service Is made possible and those on farms and In places are no longer compelled to live a life of Isolation. far-awa- belittling ef the .heroism of our World war veterans to give full measure of honor to the men who died to cement the republic and generous gratitude to the handful of survivors. It must needs be an almost impersonal honor, for to most ef as the Civil war is not even a memory. Our tribute to the men who fell in the World war and to the multitude of their surviving comrades is direct end perianal. Our gratitude Is poignanti our sorrow is a living actuality. TT NEEDS no Stimulate Food Production. The establishment of motor track express linos In every farming community will stimulate the production of more food, reduce the cost of living and probably will make the public markets successful In American cities. t Disgrace and Burden. There Is unquestionably a great latent demand for belter roads, for most of our highway are not only a disgrace to us but a great economle burden, because of tbelr disgraceful condition. |