The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 9, 1920, Page 11

R ~ Mob Violence and the Legion | - Official Publication of Soldier Organization Condemns Mob Outrages Against Citizens HE Leader, as our readers know, has been dquick to publish every official statement which in any way indicated that the American Legion as a whole, or its leaders, repudiated the shameful and contemptible efforts of various Legion-posts to take the law into their own hands, in violation of “"the laws and Constitution. Again here we quote an official Legion state-. ment on the subject. The following is from an editorial in the July 238 issue of the American Legion Weekly and has reference to the widespread mob violence of the Legion in Kansas: “Legion members have been guilty of acts of violence, but their acts have “been more deeply regretted by the offi- cers of the Legion and by the member- ship of the Legion as a whole than by any other persons. Publications and _persons who have based a denunci- ation of the entire Legion and its principles. on the isolated action of a - few small groups of members are call- ing an ant a lion and doing a grave in- justice to- the organization. - The American Legion’s stand has been al- ways against violence in any form by anybody. But, while deploring these isolated acts of violence, the leaders and the membership ofithe Legion are taking soldce in the fact that, in an organization of more than 9,000 posts, it was inevitable that five or six of them should err.” { Now, this is, in fact, a repudiation by the Legion of mob violence, but it is not made entirely in a spirit or in language that indicates that there is an appreciation by the Legion of the seriousness of the Legion out- rages that have occurred recently in Kansas and elsewhere. The tenor of the statement is to excuse the Legion, rather than. to admit its guilt and promise its obedience to law. Instead of shouldering the responsibility fully | and frankly, it in fact makes an at- tack on persons and publications which have called the -Legion’s at- tention to the way some of its posts and members were acting. The Le- gion should be grateful for criticism of ‘that kind, instead of hostile to it. The statement is not calculated to re- assure the general public as a result of the widespread suspicion of an or- ganization which has been guilty of the crimes the Legion has been guilty of in Kansas, and locally to a less extent in other. states. > VIGOROUS ACTION AND NOT WORDS IS NECESSARY The Leader has been careful, in re- porting and discussing Legion mob violence, to avoid criticism or con- demnation of the Legion as a whole, ‘or of its officers and leadership, for acts perpetrated by local posts and individuals. - But the American Le- gion Weekly can not expect every- body to make nice distinctions of this kind between the guilty” posts and members and the organization as a. whole. It is a matural result that the Legion will continue to suffer from vigorous criticism and general dis- approval, as long as ANY of its mem- bers and local posts continue to take the law into their own -hands, in “violation even of the Legion’s own constitution, which lays emphasis on “law and order.” : " The Legion can not silence this criticism by editorials in its: publica- tion like that quoted above.' Vigorous action, not words, is necessary. We. suggest that the: Legion investigate . the Xansas outrages, for instance, = and take steps to see that neither in Kansas or elsewhere are acts of the same kind repeated. This might in- volve expelling several guilty 'posts and members, but ‘it would have a wholesome effect and would complete- ly clear the Legion’s skirts of the stigma that now attaches to it. We make this suggestion for the good of the Legion, and in strict fair- ness will continue, as we do here; to publish every statement, and report every act by the Legion which indi- cates in any way that it is against violations of law and order, by ALL bersons and groups, and is taking steps to prevent the LEGION ITSELF - being guilty of such conduct. “We believe in the principle of or- ganization for soldiers, as well as for farmers, q,}}d in the settlement of po- Corn Machine History litical questions at the polls, not their attempted settlement by terrorism _and. intimidation: We want to find the Legion univer- sally living up to the high ideals of its general membership, about which there can be no question. - LATE SPRINGS The spring-of 1920 was unusually late; injonly four years in the past 87 _years has the progress of plowing to May 1 been more backward than this year, namely, in 1912, 1904, 1903 and 1899. 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