"I wish to say, by way of introduction, that though I come from the
State of Washington, I am not a member of the Washington Delegation,"
he said, "I say that out of deference to the members from that State
for the reason that I wish to prejudice nobody here against the
Washington Delegation. I am not an I.W.W. I never have been and I
never intend to be I never have shown any Bolshevik tendency and I
defy any man present to prove to the contrary. If you've got proof
that Sherman H. Curtin ever was an I.W.W. or made a Bolshevik
statement, say so?" He paused here but none answered him to the
contrary

"It is true that the organization which I represent has had in the
past some I.W.W.'s, and it is true that there are some I.W.W.'s in it
now," he continued; "but I am in that organization for the purpose of
throwing those I.W.W.'s out. I got in there for the purpose of kicking
them out and I want your help."

Here he was interrupted by applause.

"At the present time, we (when I say we, I mean the particular
conservative element which I represent in that organization) have
control of the Board and practically all except one office of the
organization. We are doing everything in our power to make that a one
hundred per cent. American organization, and one of the things that I
came down here for was to see that the Legion had in its constitution
as a preamble that we pledge ourselves to the principles of democracy
as set forth in the constitution of the United States of America.

"I, personally, was the man who rewrote the constitution of the
Soldiers and Sailors Council. It was written wrong when I got in there
so I changed it. I want you men to stand behind me and help me make
this fight. My organization did not give me permission to come here
and join this, just as I presume some of your organizations did not
give you permission, for the reason that they did not know what this
was going to be; but I can see from the spirit that this organization
has, that so far, it is on the right path and I am with it and I want
you with me.

"I am already only and wholly for the purpose of doing what good we
can for the elimination of I.W.W.'s and Bolsheviki. If you are
against that, I am with you and if you are with me, I am with you.

George Pratt of Louisiana rose.

"With your permission," he said to the chairman, "I would like to ask
the gentleman one question." "Sir," turning to Curtin, "is it or is it
not true that you re-