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Show American (Copy lor Tht lVtartn(nt BupplUu! by th AmrU'n Linton Nowa Si'rvU'tv) JUST WHERE LEGION STANDS Influenca of Organization Not on Decline, De-cline, Asserts Douglas County (Neb.) Legionnaire. The Intlucnce of the American Legion Le-gion Is on the wane, avers n correspondent corre-spondent of a western newspaper, discussing dis-cussing the decline In membership of this organization since the peak years of li20 and V.21. "Following the war, the Legion was recognized as a powerful force, particularly par-ticularly In politics, national, state and community," points out the correspondent. corre-spondent. "Today, the l.eglou Is not discussed much." It is our humble opinion that one or two things is the matter with this correspondent, says the Douglas county coun-ty (Neb.) Legionnaire. Kilher he Is not well informed on the status of the American Legion with the "home folks," or else he Is using his "hammer" "ham-mer" with the apparent intent to belittle be-little America's largest and strongest organization of veterans. The American Legion is not to be measured by mere numbers. The spirit of service, the spirit of fellowship, the spirit of self-sacrilice for their needy buddies, the spirit of loyalty to their country and its institutions insti-tutions these are a few of the things by which the Legion should he measured. meas-ured. The accomplishments of the Legion in the fild of service are a refutation of the charge that the Legion's intlu-enee intlu-enee is wandering. For without the confidence of America, without the support and co-operation of its citizens, citi-zens, the Legion would be unable to carry on its program of service a program pro-gram which has been so successful and so unselfish that the organization commands com-mands the respect and admiration of every right-minded person in the land. America looks to the American Le-gion Le-gion as the organization which speaks for the 4,000,000 brave men and women wom-en who fought the nation's battles in the greatest war of all time. Either fcy active or passive consent practically practical-ly all of the service men and women of America recognize the aims of the Legion, its principles cud its program as their own. When the American Legion speaks, it is the voice of America's war veterans. vet-erans. So long as the Legion maintains its present high ideals, its present lofty conception of the organization's duty to its country and to its buddies, the voice of the Legion will be heeded. Membership in the organization offers of-fers little to the individual, but the right to help shoulder a burden, the right to help carry a buddy's pack that buddy, who, because of the war, is unable to meet the economic conditions con-ditions of the day. No luxurious club rooms, no benefits of any sort are offered to the men and wsrnen who unselfishly join hands through the American Legion to per petuate the fellowships of the battlefield, battle-field, the camp and the training ship. Tet it is our humble opinion that the Legion, whenever it makes up its mind that it wants to, can go out and increase its membership nationally to the million mark. The people of America have faith in the American Legion. That their "" confidence has not been misplaced is proved by the Legion's unselfish devotion de-votion to the principles of Americanism American-ism and service, a service for the most part extended to nonmembers of the organization. The Legion may not be discussed much in the particular circle in which the correspondent of the newspaper travels. But when the "home folks" think of the service man, they think of the Legion. They have come to look upon the Legion as the mouthpiece of the nation's defenders. There is little to back up the statement state-ment that the Legion Is losing influence. influ-ence. Today the Legion stands as the author au-thor of practically all of the legislation legisla-tion pertaining to the veterans of the World war. Most of the early objectives objec-tives have been attained. |