2 
Easy to slip off and on — one of the big convenient 
features of the “IJ. S. ” Walrus 
In and out of ’em 
a dozen times a day 
Slide ’em right over your leather shoes— 
snap the buckles shut—and you’re ready 
for the stickiest muck and mire the barn¬ 
yard offers. 
You can walk in mud or icy slush—these 
big overshoes are as watertight as a boot. 
And their heavy fleece lining keeps your 
feet always warm and dry. 
T, Then when you’re through, a douse of 
water washes off the caked dirt in a 
dash! Mud has a hard job sticking to 
that smooth rubber surface. 
The “U. S.” Walrus can be 
washed clean instantly. Its 
surface is as smooth and water¬ 
proof as a boot . 
Trade 
Mark 
Askfi 
Wives have a real interest in the “U.S” 
Walrus, too! No miry tracks on the 
kitchen floor—no dried mud around the 
house! Just flip open the buckles—kick 
your Walrus off—and you walk in¬ 
side with clean, dry feet, no matter 
what the job outside has been! 
Other “U.S.” Footwear—all 
built for long , hard wear 
“U. S.” Boots, built so tough and 
rugged they’re famous wherever 
boots are worn—Rubbers and Arc¬ 
tics, all styles and sizes for the 
whole family—“U. S.” Bootees, the 
all-rubber lace shoe, for spring and 
fall use—every kind of rubber foot¬ 
wear you could possibly need is in¬ 
cluded in the big “U. S.” line. 
Every single one is backed by 75 
years of skilled experience. It will 
pay you to look for the “U. S.” 
trademark — the honor mark of the 
largest rubber organization in the 
world. 
United States Rubber Company 
or 
U. S: Walrus 
American Agriculturist, January 5, 1924 
American Legion Ideals 
An A. A. Radio Talk Broadcast from WEAF 
OLDSMITH said: 
“Remembrance wakes with 
all her busy train, 
Swells at my breast, and turns the 
past to pain.” 
Such seems to be the feeling in many a vet¬ 
eran’s heart. 
Unscrupulous political leaders are to-day 
doing all in their power to break down the 
American Legion. Much of the press is 
actively working against the American Legion, 
and it was with a feeling of real joy that 
I accepted the invitation of your Editor 
to speak to the owners of the American 
Agriculturist. 
The real owners of this paper are the readers; 
they profit more than do those who have their 
money tied up in the enterprise, for evidently 
the American Agriculturist is not afraid to 
publish the truth. 
The American Legion was born in Paris in 
February, 1919, and the reasons for forming 
this organization can best be brought to your 
attention by reciting the Preamble to our 
Constitution. The Preamble reads as follows: 
For God and Country, we associate our¬ 
selves together for the following purposes: 
“ To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United 
States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster 
and perpetuate a one hundred per cent. Americanism; to 
preserve the memories and incidents of our association 
in the Great War; to inculcate a sense of individual obliga¬ 
tion to the community, State and Nation; to combat the 
autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make 
right the master of might; to promote peace and good will 
on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the prin¬ 
ciples of justice, freedom and democracy; to consecrate’and 
sanctify our' comradeship by our devotion to mutual 
helpfulness.” 
Any man who subscribes to that preamble 
and who lives the life of a Legionnaire, nightly 
retires to his cot with a feeling in his heart that 
, he has really done something for his country; 
something for his fellow man. 
The Posts of the Legion not only span the 
continent, but they circumscribe the globe, and 
there is not one minute of the twenty-four hours 
but what the Legion is doing something to aid 
the disabled. Twenty years from now a man 
who is eligible and who is not a member of the 
Legion will be looked upon with suspicion. He 
will be considered as a man who no longer 
wishes to serve his fellow man; as a man who 
doesn’t believe in the great institutions of this 
country, or as a man who did not receive an 
honorable discharge at the end of that great 
war. 
The Reds only fear one organization in this 
United States, and that is the American 
Legion, for they know that the Legion in up¬ 
holding and defending the Constitution of the 
United States will ever prevent an overthrow 
of our form of government. They know that 
the Stars and Stripes will always fly over this 
country as long as the Legion exists. The red 
flag has no place, and the flag of Bolshevism can 
never be raised. 
The one organization which is really one 
hundred per cent. American is the American 
Legion. While we are without a religious creed, 
we stand for the basic principles of all religions, 
and getting right down to those basic prin¬ 
ciples every religion is based on mutual help¬ 
fulness of doing good for those with whom we 
come in contact; in making the world in which 
we move better because of our presence. 
Why should any people worshiping the 
same God object to the method of worship? 
The real question that should be answered is— 
does the individual do the best according to the 
dictates of his own heart to aid those with 
whom he comes in contact? 
The Legion is made up of men who served in 
this last war, and you will find no better type 
of American. ! It makes no difference what 
country their ancestors came from, those who 
came from a foreign shore and those whose 
immediate ancestors came from an alien soil 
who have adopted the principles of the Ameri¬ 
can Legion, are best fitted to carry on and teach 
those principles to the people with whom they 
come in daily contact. They can teach the 
advisability of learning to read and write the 
language of America. We of the Legion claim 
there shall be one country, with an undivided 
allegiance; one flag and that flag, the Stars and 
Stripes, the one which we followed in 1917 and 
1918; one language, and that language the 
official one which we used to guide our flag 
during the war. 
Our memories of the Great War are seldom, 
if ever, discussed, for they are too sacred. 
If ever you see a group of Legionnaires gather 
together, it is the frivolities of which we speak, 
the amusing instances. Those sacred things, 
somehow, are never mentioned, but they bind 
the Legionnaire together just that much more 
strongly. Everyone knows that in the breast 
of the man to whom they are talking lies the 
.memories which we will never mention, except 
when on Judgment Day, his Creator will say, 
“Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant.” 
The Legionnaire recog¬ 
nizes that whatever is best 
for the community must 
receive his support. He will enter into all 
community betterment, and work for the good t 
of the State and of the Nation. 
Within the Legion there is no class, there is 
a mass and that'mass is the Legion. The Legion 
will always be fair and just, but it will require 
protection for the weak. 
The President of the United States, in his 
last message to Congress, recognized that it was 
the Legion which gave great thought to the 
disabled, to the widows and orphans and other 
dependents. He recognized that legislation 
prepared by the Legion, well in advance of the 
assembling of Congress, was legislation which 
the Congress of these United States could well 
follow. No legislation for the disabled and 
dependents has been prepared and carried 
through to a successful finish but what that 
legislation had originated in the Councils of the 
Legion. 
But ha ving passed the legislation, the Legion 
does not stop. It is necessary to follow up all 
branches of our Government. 
Now right here we return to my opening 
sentence—Unscrupulous politicians are trying 
to rend asunder the American Legion. We 
carry to the very heart of the Nation (the 
family) the fact that political appointees in the 
Veterans’ Bureau have been filching money 
from the Treasury, money which was intended 
for the disabled, orphans and widows. 
In the years since the war, the Government 
has appropriated liberally for the Veterans’ 
Bureau. Into that Bureau has gone about one- 
sixth of the total expenditure and the politician 
has wanted his share. We have and will con¬ 
tinue to fight. We have prevented men from 
serving in the Senate who did not serve their 
country during the war. We have prevented 
men serving in the Senate who blocked the 
functioning of the Veterans’ Bureau. 
We will continue to fight, and so the ones who 
have held a selfish sway are out against us. 
The line is clear-cut, we have no party, we have 
no candidates. We insist that every man 
running for office shall be clean and shall live 
up to his promises. 
There is only one way to win out, and that 
is to increase our membership. We must all 
join up with the nearest Legion Post, and work 
in close harmony. 
Advocates Adjusted Compensation 
At present the drive against the Legion is on 
the question of adjusted compensation. Have 
you ever read the bill? 
When the Legion entered the arena there 
were 55 bills before Congress. The Legion 
drew a bill to bring order out of chaos. 
Senator Wadsworth has already acknowl¬ 
edged a breach of contract, and he now advo¬ 
cates the return of about a half billion dollars 
to those veterans who in this last war made 
allotments to dependents. If it was the duty 
of a man to serve his country, then it was cer¬ 
tainly the duty of the country to support the 
dependents of that man. 
The Employer’s Liability Act requires the 
employer to insure his men. The Government 
of the United States sent its men into the most 
hazardous business in the world and required 
the men to pay their own insurance, and the 
Government made a profit out of the premiums 
which they collected from the soldiers. 
The economic wage of $30 had hardly been 
established before the economic condition of 
this country entirely changed. Wages were 
doubled. A dollar would only buy what 50 
cents would previously purchase. The Gov¬ 
ernment recognized this change of economic 
conditions and increased its civil service em¬ 
ployees $240 a year. The Government pays that 
bonus of $20 a month to its 550,000 civil service 
employees to-day, yet, they say they can not 
afford to pay their just debt to their soldiers. 
During the war contractors started to build 
ammunition factories, and other manufactur¬ 
ing plants. Other economic conditions having 
changed the Government adjusted their con¬ 
tract and gave them a profit on their m6ney. 
A California firm had a contract to furnish 
canned meat to our men in France. The 
contract was for a million dollars—the meat 
was bad and not used, yet the Government paid 
that contractor $680,000 when he didn’t 
deserve a cent. He should have been locked up 
for trying to poison our army. Yet, there are 
people in this Government who don’t believe 
that a just debt should be paid to those who 
bore arms. 
The Adjusted Compensation Bill will save 
to the Government about $125,000,000 in the 
next fifty-years. 
Thanks for this opportunity to talk to you. 
Happy New Year from the American Legion. 
By E. E. SPAFFORD 
New York State Commander , 
American Legion 
A 
