The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, September 3, 1940, Page 9

, ! . i e e ocial 1940 American Legion Convention Edition THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LVL, NO. 8507 - JUNEAU WELCO JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, SEPT. 3, 1940. MES LEGION SECOND SECTION PAGES 1 TO 8 ALASKA AND NATIONAL DEFENSE; DISCUSSED BY DELEGATE DIMOND By ANTHONY J. DIMOND two years for defense works in Delegate to Congress from Alaska Alaska: The above title is an apt one.| All defense works set up in Alaska | are there established not for the defense of Alaska alone but for the defense of the Nation and for| the defense of Alaska only a8 a| part of the Nation. Moreover the| defense of Alaska means the de- fense of the northern part of the| Western Hemisphere, the defense of the Dominion of Canada, and| therefore an inevitable part of the| defensive structure necessary to| make the Monroé Doctrine some- | thing more than a vain and empty‘ phrase. Sitka Navy air base $ 2,900,000 Kodiak Navy air base 8,750,000 Kodiak Navy air base . 2,012,000 Unalaska Navy air base 2,963,000 Fairbanks Army air | station e 4,000,000 Anchorage Army air base 12,104,060 Anchorage military post 6,379,225 Alaska gas and bomb stor- | 630,000 age construction Land purchase, Anchorage 85,000 $39,823,285 Much More To Come The foregoing figures are im-| pressive yet we must not be mis- led into thinking that the establish- Auxiliary Completes Q(_)gd Year Progress Reported by De- partment President in Endeavors By ELIZABETH NORDLING Department Auxiliary President The annual convention of the American Legion Auxiliary now being held in Juneau completes still another year of hard workand| unselfish effort on the part of the members of each unit. Since our| organization is an Auxiliary to the American Legion and one of the George Gullufsen is Commander of Alford John Bradford Post No | 4, host to the Department Conven- tion. PROGRAM OF DEPARTMENT cqnvmnoi( s Mrs. George Gullufsen, wife of the | Post Commander, is President of iliary. After years of struggle and argu-| ments thus contemplated will be ment, and even of pleading, Alas-|gyfficient for the defense of the kans may well be encouraged With| Nation and Alaska. It is my con- the present outlook upon the ques- giGered judgment that much more main purposes of the Auxiliary is to| “participate in and contribute tol ‘WEDNESDAY tion of Alaska and the national defense. Our military leaders have long known and have said on sev- eral occasions that Alaska should be included in the national defense plans and that, as a strategic area, it is of the highest importance. The trouble is that in the past few people took national defense very seriously and it was only with the utmost difficulty that funds could be obtained to maintain the skele- ton of our Army and to build and maintain our Navy of size sufficient to be of any real value. So Alaska was_left year after year quite de- fenseless.- So much so that in the Treaty of Limitation of Naval Ar- maments, signed February 6, 1922, we solemnly covenanted with the other signatories to that Treaty, including Japan, that we would not install any defense works in the Aleutian Islands. This is not said in criticism. In the nlnebeen} twenties a vast majority of our| citizens felt that there was no pos- sibility of another great war for another 50 years and so we blithely let our Army and Navy almost go out of existence, regardless of the fact that some of the great nations| of the world were developing their | armed forces to the fullest extent of their capacity and regardless of | the fact that in modern times not| days and months, but years, are required to build up an efficient | will be required and I have no doubt that much more will be forth- cocming at the proper time, After all, it is of no consequence to ap- propriate more money than can be spent within the ensuing year or 18 months. Both the Navy and Army are now exerting every ef- fort to make the defense of Alaska adequate and I have every reason to believe that there will be no ces- sation of their efforts until Alaska is, from a military and naval view- point, as safe as anything can be in this hazardous world. I antici- pate that when the defenses of Al- aska are completed, we shall have facilities for the accommodation of at least a thousand Army and Navy | planes in Alaska, principally those the accomplishment of the aims and | purposes of the American Legion,” our program is closely allied to that of the Legion. The activities of the past year will be covered in detail by the Department Chairmen in their re- ports, so it is my purpose to give only in a general way the work accomplished. Disabled Veterans One of our first interests is, as always, the welfare of disabled vet- erans and their families. Veterans in local hospitals have been visited and remembered with gifts and their families contticted and helped when necessary. Magazine..subscrip- tions have been sent to veterans' hospitals in the States. Rugs, bas- kets and leather goods made by veterans in occupational therapy Registration of Delegates and vis- itors at Baranof Hotel. 10:00 am.—40 and 8 Wreck at| Elks Hall. ' 10:00 am—8 and 40 Wreck at| Legion Dugout. ! 2:00 pm.—40 and 8 Grand Prom- enade at Elks Hall. 2:00 pm.—8 and 40 Grand Prom- enade at Legion Dugout. ! 6:30 pm.—40 and 8 and 8 and 40 Banquet at Percy's Cafe. 10:00 p.m.—Public Dance spon- sored by 40 and 8. A THURSDAY 10:00 a.m.—Joint meeting of The American Legion and Auxiliary at Elks Hall, e ! Call to Order—By’ Department Commander Don Adler. Invocation. Advancing of Colors, “Iagelfare Division, Indiarapolis, Iri shops in the hospitals have been' Song—"America.” of the Army, all the necessary stores and supplies of fuel and bombs, and other equipment. With such facilities, armed and guarded by suitable forces of artillery, infan- try and engineers, we should be in a position to annihilate any enemy which may seek to use the “Alaska Bridge” either by land or water between eastern Asia and the main body of the United States. In this connection it is well to remember the eternal rule that a purchased and re-sold by the units. Closely bound to the rehabilita- tion program is the Poppy pro- gram. First, because the making of the poppies provides much need- ed occupation and money for hos- pitalized veterans, and second, be- cause the money used by the units in their rehabilitation work is de- rived from the poppy sales. I am happy to report that the Depart- ment has again exceeded the poppy quota set by National Silent Prayer. Solo, “Taps,” by Lola Mae Alex- ander, accompanied by Carol Beery Davis. i Bugler, Fred Sorri Jr. Preamble to the Constitution of Presidents’ | | | | ‘ the Juneau American Legion Aux- 12:00 noon — Past Luncheon, Percy's Cafe. 12:00 noon—Delegates’ and Visi- tors’ Luncheon, Gastineau Cafe, 2:00 p.m.—Business Session. 8:00 p.n.—Address by Milt. D. of | Campbell, Gold Room, Baranof Ho- tel. Public invited. | by Charles| 9:30 p.n.—Legion and Auxiliary the Juneau| Mixer, Elks Hall. Chamber of Commerce. | FRIDAY . Responses—Walter B, King, First| 8:00 a.m.—Joint Child Welfare Vice Department Commander; Eli-| Breakfast at Baranof Hotel. No| zabeth Nordling, President, Depart- | host. | | ment Auxiliary; A. E. Karnes, 40| 10:00 a.m.—Business Session. and 8; Jo Sheldon, 8 and 40. | 12:30 noon—Americanism Lunch- ' Greetings—Milt. D. Campbell, eon at Percy’s Cafe. No host. | Assistant Director National Child| 2:00 p.m.—Business Session. 6730 p.m.—Grand Parade, Frank George Gullufsen, Post Commander, | Metealf, ' Marshal, form at Legion Alford John Bradford Post No. 4; Dugout. Esther Gullufsen, President, Alford| 8:00 p.m.—Stunt Night at Coli- John Bradford Auxiliary Unit No. 4.| seum Theatre.” Solo—“Alaska’s Flag,” by Lola| SATURDAY * Mae Alexander, accompanied by| 10:00 a.m.—Business Session, Elec- Elinor Dusenbury. | tion of Officers. Recess to permit ladies of the 2:00 p.m.—Business Session. | Auxiliary to retire to the Legion‘ 3:00 p.m.—Joint Assemhly, instal- | Dugout. | lation of newly elected - officers, | call to Order— Acting Governor Harry Lucas, L. Bartlett, Alaska; by Hon. Mayor of Juneau; Beale, President of The American Legion, by J. C. Morris, Second Vice Commander. Address of Welcome—By Hon. E. | Elks Hall. Appointment of Committees. } 7:00 p.m.—Convention Banquet, Retiring of Colors. Baranof Hotel, Gold Room. | Recess. | 10:00 p.m.—Grand Ball, Elks Hall. second-best Army or Navy or Air| . s nd that the gross sale of poppies Force may be worse than having|;, the Department amounted to none at all. As someone said a long | almost $2,000. This money, except time ago, it is like having a sec- 5 gmay percentage which is sent ond-best hand in poker which leads| to National to be used for child NATIONAL COMMANDER KELLY REPORTS Army, or Nayy. to rash confidence and ends in| Strategic Alaska disaster. We should have forces so Fronting, as it does, more than much incontestibly stronger than | 2,500 miles east to west along the any forces which can be brought North Pacific Ocean, and extending, | against them that the opposing| as it does, to within 54 miles of| forces will not even attempt to take Asia, Alaska is obviously the high-‘ Alaska or, if the attempt is made, way, militarily and otherwise, be-|they will be crushed immediately. tween the two continents. The im-| Such strong defensive forces are portance of its position is magni-| fied a thousand times by the de-| velopment of the airplane and of air transportation. The control and| possession of Alaska—and by that possession I mean strong, fortified | possession of a type to be able to| repel any forces likely to come| against it—controls the North Pa- cific and imposes an insuperable barrier against any power that may be thrown against the United States from the Orient. On the other hand, Alaska undefended offers what is equivalent to a bridge from Asia, making an assault against the Unit- ed States and Canada easy and al- most certain to be successful. But all that has been gone into before, Every Alaskan knows it and understands it. Every Alaskan real- izes that the safety of the Nation | may well depend upon the atrength; of defensive installations in- Al-| aska. Every Alaskan is aware that his own safety and the safety of his loved ones may be more imme- diately dependent upon the strength of those forces. Under Way And so it is with considerable| satisfaction that we of Alaska are| now witnessing the setting up of| defensive forces and establishments| in Alaska which, when expanded and completed, will insure measur-| ably the satety of the residents of | Alaska and the safety of the Unit-| ed States as well. | Naval air bases are now under construction at Sitka, and Kodiak | and presently a similar base will be built at Unalaska. The Army has under construction an air station at Fairbanks and the Army Air| Base at Anchorage as well as a military post at the latter place. The following is a list of the ap- propriations made during the last the best insurance for peace. Preblem of Supply There is one feature of the Al-| aska defense problem that, in my|welfare work many children have g judgment, has not been sufficiently | considered, that of the supply of“ the military posts and air bases in| Alaska, I suppose the readiest an- | (Continued on Page Six) welfare work, is all kept in the Territory and used by the Depart- ment and by the local units for rehabilitation and child welfare work in their own communities. Bill Drafted A bill to improve child welfare conditions in Alaska which is being T0 DEPARTMENT ON 1940 ACTIVITIES By RAYMOND J. KELLY National Commander ! Your Territorial Convention will come almost at the close of the season for 1940 American Legion |— There have been many appeals ic, we may be facing, then I have to The American Legion to devobe; no doubt of our entire willingness | our energies to causes containing! to make every individual and col-| | many emotional appeals to our;lecnve sacrifice to preserve the | sympathies in this Legion year. It!ideals for which this Nation was| has been difficult to escape being | founded. World War veterans this year Emergency Emphasized By Adler Deparlmenflmmander Is Believer in Training U. S. Manpower By DON M. ADLER Department Commander | The American Legion Military power can be stopped only by equal military power. Tt can be defeated only by superior military power. Military power is as strong as its weakest link. ‘The collapse of the Maginot line proves that statement. Proof can also be found in the collapse of France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Den- mark and Poland. Should the United States be drawn into war, victory or defeat/ depends solely on the weakness of the weak links in our chain of de- fense. If we want to protect our homes from marauders, having a " steel door and 12 locks on it won't keep thieves out of the house—not as long as we leave a window open. Our enemies are not going to strike | at us at our strongest points. We must give them credit for more sense than that. Let us not" be foolish - enough to discredit the ability of an enemy. 3 | Trained Manpower The military power of a nation consists of the economic resources | of that nation converted into such shape as to be used for military purposes. And the most important resource is manpower. That man- power however, untrained, is not a { military power but a direct liability, CONVENTION DELEGATES GATHERING ro_g MEET Department and Auxiliary, Voitures of 40 and 8 Gaiherinq Here Convention committees of Alford John Bradford Post, host to the 1940 Department Convention, have been working for many weeks in preparation for the meeting which is expected to be the best ever held in the Territory. The convention begins Thursday morning and continues to the week- end, although meetings of the 40 and 8 and of the 8 and 40 will be- gin Wednesday. Coquenclnz on September 4, primarily for the 40 and 8 and 8 and 40, the two organizations will hold a joint banquet for members following the wreck and business meetings held during the day. In the evening the 40 and 8 dafice, under the management of Chairman W. O. Johnson, will be held in the Elks Hall and will be open to the public as well as Le- gionnaires and Auxiliary members. Official Greeting The convention itself will be called to order by Department Com- mander Don Adler of Fairbanks on the morning of September 5, when the Legion and Auxiliary meet in joint session. Acting Governor E. L. (Bob) .Bartlett and Mayor Harry 1. Lucas will officially welcome the Delegates, and after responses by Department officers the two organi- zations will convene separately fo prepare for the official work of the convention. The evening of their We must bear in mind that weap-| September 5 will be featured by ons of all kinds—tanks, machine| the mixer for Legionnaires and prepared by the Legion to be pre- conventions, While your delegates| sigetracked by responding to such| sented at the next session of the are meeting to consider thelr Pro-|gppeals with an all-out effort on have given unprecedented support Territorial Legislature is beingsup. ported by the Auxilfary. In child been helped in their own homes, food, clothing and necessary medi- cal attention being supplied. Money was sent to the Orthopedic and (Continued on Page Eight) memories of my year as problems. and National Defense, and ects for the improvement days you gave me in National President Sends Greetings to Alaska Auxiliary Units Auxiliary Members of Alaska: My delightful visit with you is still fresh in my mind and always will remain one of the cherished National President. I am happy to have seen at first hand the wonderful work you are doing, to have met so many of you personally, " and to have gained an understanding of your special I feel that you are performing a great service to America through your effective Auxiliary activities in America’s vast land of the north. s America has needed the full energies of the Aux- iliary this year and we all can be proud of the way our Auxnh}ary has responded. We have led the way among American womanhood in the vital work of Americanism at the same time have car- ried forward with unslackened vigor our efforts for the disabled veterans and the needy children, and our proj- of our communities. e have accomplished much of concrete worth and, above all, we have given America an inspiring example ‘of unselfish service to the nation. . My congratulations upon your achievements of this year, my thanks for the splendid chapter you have added to the record of my administration, and my warmest personal th:nl:: k:‘or the happy, interesting MRS. WILLIAM CORWITH, National President. gram for another year, we here at National Headquarters of the Le- jon will be making our final plans for the second Boston national con- vention. Although I am writing this some weeks in advance of your Territorial gathering, and with much yet to be dorfe in this Le- gion year, there is a sufficient record of Legion accomplishment to give all of us some satisfaction for the part the Legion has taken during a confused period in world history. You will recall that our 1939 Chicago convention gave this ad- ministration of the Legion three very definite instructions. The first of these committed us to work untiringly to preserve America’s peace. It was the word of the Chicago convention which said we should seek to build sen- timent for a course of action pre- serving the sovereignty and dignity of this Nation, without involvement in present day wars. National Defense Logically, the second instruction| was an admonition to seek the expansion of our armed fortes to put us in position as a Nation to defend our sovereignty and inde- pendence against any possible grouping of AgEressor powers. The third order given' us by your Chicago national convention was to do everything possible to see that the heart of America is rightly directed toward a sane Am- ericanism program. It was an es- sential element of the Chicago con- vention declarations which instruct- ed us to work for the further ful-| fillment of our belief in the sound- ness of an energetic American pro- + gram, Uhe part of our membership to pro- | vide succor and help for many | causes which make great demands lupon our sympathies. In the face | of such an avalanche of appeals it | has been a source of satisfaction to recall the record of the Legion |for the past two decades and to steer a course charted on the basis| of that record. Listen to Legion It is with no I-told-you-so smrit‘ that we say now the Nation might| 'be in better shape had the warn- ings of the Legion been heeded. Rather we point to the past record | of the Legion in the hope that now we can get more complete hearing and acceptance of the programs, which our collective experience has| told us are good for the Nation. | While I believe the Nation is' not at present prepared to defend us against the possible types of wars that might be launched against | Western Hemisphere republics I think the Nation is aroused to th:} \ necessity for perfecting its na- tional defense arrangements. cate our participation in wars now raging we believe the voice of the Legion has had its effect in main- taining an attitude which will cause our people to ask for a def-| inite statement of the objectives | before steps are taken to send us headlong into wars that are not| of our concern, | Willing to Sacrifice Whether we are in position to | make our defenses adequate before we are called upon to use such de-| fenses depends upon a great many elements, Granted our people are satisfied every effort is made to preserve our own identity in what- While there are those who advo-| . to the programs adopted by The American Legion. Basic proof of their faith in the Legion is found in the membership which wentover all previous records at the close of | July. Peace, national defense, and Am- ericanism, in my opinion, are still the outstanding things for which guns, airplanes, artillery and all ‘ONLY to the degree of the train- | ing of the men who use them. | Give a man the finest rifle in | the “world—yet, if that man he blind, of what use is the rifle to him? Give me the finest equipped | Uncle- Sam can spend billions of dollars on defense equipment; how- ever, if we haven't the trained man- power to manipulate that equip- ment, of what use is it to us? Manpower is what counts — trained manpower! We need a| standing army, with the Regular| Army and the National Guard as | principal parts. Alaska, particular- ly, needs a National Guard, con- sisting of young' men acquainted with conditions in the Territory. Wwith a good knowledge of the top- ography and weather conditions of the country, plus a good working knowledge in the handling of mod- ern war equipment, an Alaska Na- tional Guard will give us the nu- cleus of ample protection. War Not Wunted Parents must not entertain the idea that sending a son into the National Guard is the first step in sending him to war. America does the Legion must labor. This does not bespeak the sacrifice of any| other essential program of our or-| ganization. Our disabled and their| dependents will always command| our whole-hearted day-in and day-| out support. For child welfare there| is always unstinted support within| our ranks. To preserve these essen- tial programs means close adher- (Continued on Page Twv) | not want war, and as long as the people of these United States have anything to say about it WE'RE GOING TO KEEP OUT OF WAR.| But we are living in an era of war| and it is impossible for us to be sure that war will not be forced upon us by some aggressor nation| or nations. It may happen in a| (Continued on Page Four) Message of Greeting From the Former Assistant Secretary _of War My heartiest greetings to you, my Fellow Legionnaires of Alaska, assembled in convention at Juneau. My thoughts are of you today. wish I could have been with you, but the pressure of official matters denies me that pleasure. You meet today in a world where force is again ramp- ant.. To meet our obligations of today, America’ looks to the American Legion for inspiration and leadership. . We must not disappoint those who have such faith in us. Carry on! With kindest regards, believe me Sincerely yours, LOUIS JOHNSON. other types of weapons, are valuable | airplane made—yet, if I am not a pilot, how am I ever going to get| it off the ground 'without help?i Auxiliary members in the Elks Hall. September 68 will see the transac- tion of the main business of the convention by both organizations, followed by a grand parade in the evening, which, weather permitting, will be the most colorful event of the season. Major Frank A. Met- calf will be Grand Marshal of the Parade, Legion Show * After the parade the evening will be given over to the Legion show, popularly known as Stunt Night, in charge of Chairman Homer G. Nordling. This has always been one of fhe most popular events of the convention, and the general public who wish to attend are urged o come early as the theatre will be filled to capacity. Substantial prizes offered for first and second best performances guarantee that the . show this year will be more inter- taining than ever before, After final business sessions of the Legion and Auxiliary on Sep- tember 7 the two organizations will meet together in mid-afternoon for the joint installation ceremonies for the 1941 officers. Chairman John McCormick has charge of the ban- quet at the Gold Room of the Baranof Hotel. The grand ball in the Elks Hall (to which the public is invited) will climax the con- vention. Do You Know— THAT in the spring of 1919, amidst complete devastation, the poppies bloomed in abundance on the battle-flelds of France, whery so many of our men had fallen in battle, and that a replica of this poppy has become the Memorial Flower of The American Legion and the American Legion Auxili- ary? THAT The American Legion was the first national organization to adopt the poppy as its.Memorial Flower, having taken this action at the National Convention in Cleveland, September 27-29, 1930? THAT the American Legion Aux- iliary adopted the poppy as its Memorial Flower at its organizing convention held in Kansas City, in October, 19217 - THAT at the time the American Legion Auxiliary adopted the poppy it pledged the profits from the poppy sales 100 percent to welfare relief for service men and women |and their families, thus fulfilling the true meaning of the poppy, an emblem of faith, faith which is being kept with all who died, through service to the living?