ar, it did not compare with
the Legion's bulk of raw material. There will be a formal caucus
on May 8th, at St. Louis, of a real representative character, in
which it is said the enlisted men of the army and navy will have
a majority. Lieutenant Colonel Henry L. Stimson, once Secretary
of War, outlines the plan. He believes that this country's
future hereafter is in the hands of the men below thirty years
of age who fought this war. He trusts that the lesson in
practical democracy afforded by military experience and the
ideals of democracy emphasized by military enthusiasm may be
kept permanently alive.

That this is the main hope of the more active organizers we have
no doubt. Men like Major General O'Ryan, General Charles I.
Debevoise, and Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and Colonel Robert
Bacon would never think of making such a body a lever for
pension legislation or an agency of politics. Yet the
temptation to a divergence from the higher ideals is strong, and
the rank and file may not be inclined to resist it.

_St. Louis Globe-Democrat,_ April II, 1919.--... Such
societies, it has been proved, are never partisan. They are
invariably exponents of broad-gauge patriotism. That they have
great political influence in a high national sense is true, but
they have never misused it nor ever viewed their mission in a
narrow spirit. They preserve the touch of the elbow throughout
life, but only as thorough Americans, devoted first, last, and
always to our common country.

St. Louis is proud to be selected as the place for the
inauguration of this admirable and undoubtedly perpetual
society. All wars are represented by societies formed by their
veterans, and all alike have been truly and broadly patriotic.
It will be the same with the new order, whose membership will,
on the strength of numbers called to the colors, far exceed any
former parallel. This event will be a datemark in our patriotic
annals and in the progress of the nation.

_Syracuse_ (N.Y.) _Herald_, April 13, 1919.--It has been
earnestly stated, as might have been expected, that the American
Legion will be strictly nonpartisan. That much might be inferred
from the circumstance that one of the leading associates of
Roosevelt in organizing the Legion is Lieutenant Colonel Bennett
Clark, son of the late De