The Redwood Gazette

Legion Plans to Raise Big Trust Fund

SERVICE MEN SEEK $250,000 IN STATE TO HELP WITH NATIONAL FUND FOR DISABLED AND WAR ORPHANS.

The American Legion of Minnesota is about to launch a campaign for $250,000, the state's share of a five million dollar trust fund being raised throughout the United States for the care of disabled men and war orphans. As the campaign opens, Edwin L. Lindell, Commander of the Department of Minnesota, issues the following statement to the general public, to Legionnaires, and to Auxiliary members, in explanation of the drive:

"The people of Minnesota, acting through the American Legion as their agents, are about to pay part of their debt to our comrades who gave their lives in the World War, and to those other comrades who came home from battlefields broken in mind and body.

The people of Minnesota, through the 520 Legion posts of the state, are about to bring to realization that principle of the American that is voiced in the slogan "A square deal for every child."

"The American Legion asks nothing, wants nothing, for itself. It is called into service as truly as its members were called in time of war, to the end that justice may be served and our comrades who have gone west may know that our pledge to them, and the pledge of the state and nation, was not an empty phrase.

"Minnesota has responded generously, with open heart and pocketbook, to calls for aid from overseas. Minnesotans have contributed to Near East Relief; they have sent wheat to starving Russia; they have fed the kiddies of France and Belgium; they have purchased milk for the children of our foes of the World War, in Germany.

"Now there has developed in our own country, within the boundaries of our own state, in every city and community, at our own doorsteps, a need greater than any of these. It cannot but be dearer to our hearts, because it is an appeal sounded from the very graves of those comrades who marched away in 1917, as strong in mind and body as we were--willing to do their bit and give their lives, if necessary, that America might remain forever America, your home and my home, free from the grip of tyrannical militarism and foreign oppression.

"This mandate from the grave bids us care for our war orphans and for our sick and needy buddies. There is no shadow of a doubt that the people of Minnesota are ready and anxious to perform this service, made possible through the agency of the American Legion.

"A trust fund of five million dollars is being created, of which Minnesota's share is $250,000. The principal never will be touched. It is so bound up in legal restrictions as to insure a guarantee in perpetuity of aid for war orphans and disabled veterans. It will become the nucleus of a great foundation, administered by Legion officers working under direction of millions of service men.

"The Legion will furnish a welfare worker from every one of the more than 9,000 posts to take part in the enterprise. The Legion will contribute additional funds and workers as they are needed to carry on the work of properly administering the trust fund. When need for the fund was passed, many years hence, the President of the United States will appoint a commission to determine the best use to which the interest may be put, and the fund will forever remain a monument to the American Legion and to the people who fulfilled their pledge to those who gave up home and friends, life or health, and all those things a citizen of a free America holds dear, that freedom might be preserved.

Every cent of the money contributed in Minnesota will be invested in sound Minnesota securities.

"The necessity is vital. This trust fund will supply that human touch that no Government agency can supply. Already there are 30,000 war orphans, of whom 5,000 are in immediate need of our help. Will they be penalized because their fathers laid down their lives for you and for me? Will they have the opportunities that are the rightful heritage of every free born American citizen?

"We are led in this enterprise by President Calvin Coolidge, Vice-President Charles Dawes, John W. Davis, National Commander James A. Drain of the American Legion, and other prominent men and women in every section of the United States.

We welcome the most thorough investigation of this project and the methods of administration.

"We in Minnesota, members and non-members of the Legion alike, cannot let pass an opportunity such as this--the greatest opportunity ever offered any nation to keep its pledge to those who died that it might live."