adjacent
to training camps, army bases, and naval stations, and also developed
the same resources in thirty large communities dominated by great war
industries, of which the industrial centers at Bethlehem, Chester, and
Erie, Pennsylvania, are types.

I believe it is well worth while for every member of the American
Legion to know something about War Camp accomplishment, and Community
Service possibilities for each has a similar aim and goal which may be
realized by harmonious effort on the part of community service
branches and legion posts throughout the entire country.

The idea of War Camp Community Service, like all successful
experiments, was based on sound truth and simple theory and proved to
be far reaching in results. Communities were not told what to do;
there was no cut and dried program, but rather each community received
special treatment suited to its particular needs, temperament, and
physical characteristics. The basic idea underlying this activity is
to allow each one to express himself. No person or community has the
same thoughts, manner of living or thinking, and entire communities,
like individuals, are affected by their environment and the life which
circumstances compel them to lead. An iron monger's stalwart frame may
conceal a poetic-soul, while the frail body of an obscure clerk may
enclose the spirit of a Cromwell. War Camp has helped a great many
such men to find themselves. Community Service promises to do the same
thing, for the war has given ample proof of the need of just this kind
of service.

With the war gone, with thousands of young men thrown upon their own
initiative and resources for both work and play, there is going to be
a great need of proper guidance, companionship, and comradeship,
unless a great many are to be overtaken by some madness like
Bolshevism or in a lesser degree--constant and brooding
dissatisfaction. The American Legion post, with its leaders, is going
to fill a great need here. It will be some place to go where a man can
meet his fellows of the better type, and, not only indulge in the
pleasure of discussing former days but, better still, take an interest
in present-day movements affecting his country.

Also, I feel that Community Service will have a great place in this
same scheme: that it can take the former service man, lonely and
seeking expression, just where the Legion leaves off and, with Legion
ideals on Americanism and the duties of citizenship as