RESOLUTION No. 41

(Presented by Department of Pennsylvania.)

Whereas some of the veterans of the World War are also veterans of the war with Spain; and

Whereas some of them were disabled in the World War for which they are now receiving compensation; and

Whereas due to their advanced age other disabilities have overtaken them since their discharge from the World War, disabilities that can not be connected as of service origin, but which are pensionable under their Spanish War service; and

Whereas they can not receive a pension for any disabilities while receiving compensation for other disabilities: Therefore be it

Resolved, That we, the members of General Thomas L. Rosser Camp, No. 38, Department of Pennsylvania, United Spanish War Veterans, request the Congress of the United States to so amend the World War compensation law that all disabilities of Spanish War veterans who served and were disabled in the World War shall be considered as of service origin; and be it further Resolved, That this resolution be forwarded to the advisory council of the United Spanish War Veterans of the city of Philadelphia with a request that they indorse it and forward it to the Department of Pennsylvania for their indorsement and submission to the national encampment of the United Spanish War Veterans to be held at St. Petersburg September 28, 1925, for their approval.

(Referred to the legislative committee.)

Comrade BRYAN (Wisconsin.) I would like to ask for a little information.

Junior Vice Commander in Chief DODDS. State your question. Comrade BRYAN (Wisconsin). In relation to the disabled comrades in the National Soldiers' Homes, the chairman of the resolutions committee has, at some time, made mention of the fact that another resolution had been drawn up by the resolutions committee which was satisfactory to the comrades. I desire to hear that brought forward.

Past Commander in Chief SMITH. It has been read and it has just come to me now. It is as follows and will be numbered Resolution No. 42.

RESOLUTION No. 42

Whereas in the National and State Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers there are a number of totally disabled Spanish War veterans from all parts of the country who have been rejected for a pension under the Sells Act by reason of the "vicious habits clause; and

Whereas while fate has decreed that these comrades should become helpless victims of war, the local camps and auxiliaries in the several homes have made lighter their heavy burden by giving aid, financial and otherwise, and as a result they have learned to depend upon us, but the responsibilities have have become too great for the local camps and auxiliaries to bear: Therefore be it

Resolved by the Twenty-seventh National Encampment of the United Spanish War Veterans at St. Petersburg, Fla., That the commander in chief appoint a committee of five comrades to advise with the department commander where the said homes are located to obtain necessary data as to the condition of each home and to devise a plan for relieving the conditions.

(Adopted.)

Commander in Chief HERRICK. The resolutions committee announces that it is not completely finished with its work. You will now give your attention to the reading clerk, who will announce the names of the tellers.

Adjutant General MURPHY. The tellers are as follows:

Robert W. Wankowski (Califoruia), Edward E. Jacobs (Massachusetts), Irvin_C. Bauman (Indiana), Maurice J. Power (Massachusetts), Roy E. Layton (Ohio), Robert H. Webb (Alabama) Thomas F. Molloy (Massachusetts), Ellsworth Jeffrey (Ohio James A. Gleason (Tennessee), Ralph H. Carroll (Ohio), D. C. Stearns (Ohio), Walter R. Tarbett (Massachusetts), John P. Edwards (Ohio), Fred W. Northrup (Massachusetts).

Commander in Chief HERRICK. You will give your attention while the names of the members of the returning board are announced.

Adjutant General MURPHY. The personnel of the returning board is Edward H. White, Illinois, chairman; Comrades Ben F. Reily, Kentucky; Wade H. Payne, Virginia; Walter A. Lombard, Massachusetts; and Alex Frank, Ohio.

Comrade CURTIS (Minnesota). I move that the candidates for the office of commander in chief take the platform and be introduced to this convention.

Comrade GLEASON (Tennessee). I second the motion.

Commander in Chief HERRICK. With your permission, we have two or three things yet to do, and I would like you to defer that motion a few minutes.

Comrade DINEEN (New York). Commander in chief, and comrades, may I take up a few minutes of your time in order that we may go to the extent of extending courtesy and bringing from the Empire State to this land of sunshine a slight tribute of fraternal greetings. We never anticipated this opportunity would be presented. Several years ago, 16, the keel was laid in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for the Florida and amongst those who labored in laying the keel of that vessel, including her engines, and doing all the splendid work of craftmanship on that wonderful vessel, were the members of Hubbell Camp, No. 4, of Brooklyn, and, for a time in our clubhouse in Brooklyn there was a surplus plate of that vessel and I have been asked to bring down to the local camp that plate, and it therefore affords me great pleasure to, on behalf of Hubbell Camp, Department of New York, present to Gen. Leonard Wood Camp, St. Petersburg, this plate, a tablet, commemorating the work of our comrades on the Florida.

Comrade LAWLESS (Florida). Comrade Dineen, representing Hubbell Camp, No. 4, of the Department of New York, I assure you it is a great pleasure for General Leonard Wood Camp of the Department of Florida to accept this tribute, and I assure you it will be placed in a position of greatest honor and highest esteem among our archives, and we thank you.

Commander in Chief HERRICK. The chairman of the resolutions committee has another resolution to present.

Past Commander in Chief SMITH. The other resolution is one which the committee recommends be referred to the committee on national defense.

RESOLUTION No. 43

(Presented by Comrade Geo. H. Riley, William McKinley Camp, Chicago, Ill.) Whereas events having proved the necessity of an inland system of water transportation to supplement the existing system of railways; and

Whereas any scheme of national defense must be built around of a system of interior transportation; and

Whereas a barge canal on the Mississippi River would be the best system of interior transport to supplement our railways during the peak movement of troops and war supplies: Therefore be it

Resolved, That the Twenty-seventh Annual Encampment of the United Spanish War Veterans assembled at St. Petersburg, Fla., indorse, as a matter of national defense policy, any movement designed to create a barge canal connecting the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico.

Commander in Chief HERRICK. If there is no objection the recommendation of the committee will be adopted.

(No objection was voiced.)

Junior Vice Commander in Chief DoDDs. I move that the report of the resolutions committee be now adopted and that the committee be discharged with a vote of thanks for their work.

Comrade DINEEN (New York). I second the motion.

(The motion having been duly made and seconded was unanimously adopted.)

Comrade DESMOND (New Jersey). Comrade Commander in Chief, I would like to make a motion. Í represent New Jersey. We understand that a great number of our delegates to this encampment are going to Cuba, and I therefore move you that a laurel wreath be furnished by this encampment to be placed on the Maine memorial in Cuba.

Comrade ZULCH (District of Columbia). I second the motion.

Commander in Chief HERRICK. You have heard the motion, and inasmuch as several hundred Spanish-American War veterans are going to Cuba, that a wreath should be purchased by this encampment to be placed on the Maine memorial there. If there is no obection, the motion will be adopted.

(There was no objection voiced, and the motion was declared to be adopted.)

Commander in Chief HERRICK. You will give your attention to the reading clerk.

The READING CLERK. This is a telegram from New York and is addressed to the Commander in Chief of the United Spanish War Veterans at the Princess Martha Hotel, St. Petersburg. It reads as follows:

As we understood you had a set program and we were not to appear before you without being invited, we have wired twice and tried to reach you by longdistance telephone. I understand you are closing your convention Thursday. As it will be impossible for us to reach St. Petersburg before then, I am sending the following letter by wire addressed to you and signed by Gen. Leonard Wood:

"The American people have been so generous in their response to the cries of children all over the world that I have no hesitation in appealing to them for children of their own blood who are in need of help in the Philippine Islands. There are at present about 2,500 children of American fathers and Filipino mothers who have been either abandoned or who are growing up in pernicious surroundings. These children show markedly American physical and mental characteristics which in a measure unfit them for the environment in which they now live. They have, as a rule, active intelligence and a natural love of adventure which, unless properly controlled leads to mischief; for want of proper supervision and direction the boys are apt to become vagabonds and the girls a prey to immoral influences while still of tender years; on the other hand, when properly guarded and educated these children show every sign of becoming useful and desirable citizens. Americans resident in the Philippines, realizing the poignant problem of these children, have exerted every effort to help them; at my invitation leading citizens of the islands, in active coopera77342-26————15

tion with every Christian church established in the Philippines, with the Army, the Navy, and commercial and fraternal bodies, established in 1921 the American Guardian Association to guard and care for children of American blood in schools and homes established by Sisters of the Good Shepherd, The Protestant Episcopal and Union Churches of the Philippines, and the agricultural schools of the islands. It has been possible to care for 135 half-American children in the past four years. The results obtained with these children, the amount of voluntary effort contributed by the American residents and organizations, the efficient and inexpensive organization of the American Guardian Association and long waiting list of children needing to be similarly cared for, have made the work a most valuable and important one. The whole financial burden which at the present time amounts to some fifteen thousand dollars a year has so far been borne by the small and heavily taxed American community of the Philippines.

"It is impossible for the association to assume further responsibilities with its present inadequate and hand-to-mouth resources. There are absolutely no available funds for any expansion of work and not even one additional emergency case of destitution can be handled from association funds. There are not less than 400 cases of destitute children who should be given institutional care at once and at least 150 more who should be given assistance in their homes where the mothers are known to be worthy. In order to accomplish this there must be a substantial sum of money available. The care of these children costs $16 per month for each girl and $12.50 for each boy per month. This sum includes board, lodging, clothes, and education. The children are brought up in the simplest way with the object in view of becoming self-supporting at the earliest possible date. Emphasis is put on the needs of the islands for agriculturists, nurses, and teachers, and children with any kind of aptitude are directed toward these vocations. If the citizens of the United States will contribute, the work of American Guardian Association can be continued and enlarged and many more of these half-American children can be saved from the fate that threatens them and can be converted into citizens who will be a credit to their fathers' race. Among the distinguished Americans who have lived and served in the Philippines and who know intimately and indorse the work done by the American Guardian Association and who are keenly aware of the necessity for its continuance are Chief Justice Taft, Ex-Gov. Gen. W. Cameron Forbes, Bishop C. H. Brent, Gen. James G. Harbord, Gen. Hugh L. Scott, Gen. W. M. Wright, Ex-Gov. Gen. James F. Smith, Mr. Martin Egan, of J. P. Morgan Co., and hundreds of others. It is my belief that thousands of our countrymen and countrywomen will join with the small body of American residents in the Philippines in holding out a helping hand to these children of our own race."

Will you please wire me what action convention has taken or if we can yet come before your convention. Address 8 West Fortieth Street. Rush. Mary Frances Kern.

Commander in Chief HERRICK. The Chair recognizes Comrade Curtis, of Minnesota.

Comrade CURTIS (Minnesota). I move that the candidates for the office of commander in chief take a place on the platform and be introduced to this convention.

VOICES FROM THE FLOOR. No speeches.

Commander in Chief HERRICK. I will look after that.

(The motion was seconded and was adopted.)

(The candidates for the office of commander in chief, namely Richard R. Flynn, H. H. Hannah, and Carmi A. Thompson, took places on the platform and, amid applause, were presented to the delegation.)

(Upon retiring from the platform, the following proceedings were had:)

Commander in Chief HERRICK. The comrades will be in order. The ballots will be distributed immediately. I also wish to announce that after the ballot is taken the comrades will come back and assemble and we will take up the matter of the next encampment.

I want to introduce to you Comrade Bauman, of Indiana, who entertained us in Michigan City last year. [Applause.]

Comrade BAUMAN (Indiana). Comrades, at this time on behalf of the city from which I hail from the Department of Indiana, I extend to you greetings from Michigan City. We have not forgotten you and the people in my home city are a unit in declaring that among all these conventions held in Michigan City it was the finest body of men we ever had the honor to entertain. I thank you. [Applause.] Comrade DINEEN (New York). My attention has been called to the fact that the ballot boxes are not provided with locks. I move that they be sealed with pasters.

Comrade BRANDON (Alabama). I second the motion.

Commander in Chief HERRICK. You have heard the motion which has been duly seconded. If there is no objection it will be considered adopted.

(No objection was voiced.)

Commander in Chief HERRICK. Mark your ballot with a cross in the square next to the name of the man for whom you wish to vote. (Thereupon the comrades proceeded to the first ballot, after the taking of which the following proceedings were had :)

Commander in Chief HERRICK. The encampment will be in order. Have all voted? Is there a comrade in the room who has not voted? The doors will be closed immediately after the announcement by the chairman of the returning board, Comrade White.

Comrade WHITE (Illinois). Members of the returning board in charge of the ballot boxes, on the order of the commander in chief you will now seal the boxes, and the tellers will escort the committeemen to the rear of the stage, where we have tables prepared for the counting. Close the boxes and bring them to the rear of the stage.

Commander in Chief HERRICK. The ballot is declared closed. Please be quiet. I want to take just one minute of your time to introduce to you the man who has more than anyone else been responsible for the success of the Twenty-seventh Encampment of the United Spanish War Veterans in St. Petersburg. I want to introduce to you Jack O'Connor, of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. [Applause.]

Jack, I want to tell you we appreciate what you have done for us. I never did know how to say nice things, but I want, on behalf of the national convention, to express our appreciation and I want you to accept this little token and look at it sometimes and remember what we think of you.

(Commander in Chief Herrick thereupon presented Mr. O'Connor with a silver engraved cigarette case.)

VOICES FROM THE FLOOR. Speech, speech, speech.

Mr. O'CONNOR. Gentlemen, from the time that you told us you were coming we were glad you were going to be with us, and every minute since you have arrived we have been glad that you are here. We have tried to put up a pleasant time for you and we want you to know that we think a great deal of you men who represent the 100 per cent volunteer army of the United States. [Applause.] We hope that every minute of your stay has been pleasant, that you have got just what you wanted in just the right quantities. Thank you very much. [Applause.]