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The Coiftmbnei?
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; VUJU. W, NO. 9
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V'-Eidistiti' -Bbe' Ajrlh"
anduet aUnnK ,
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The following .correspondence showing the
' -inducements to join the army lor overscan sor
' vide offered by a recruiting station, ami Sec y.
: TQakor's'comnxont, is self-explanatory .ditoi,-
'' " 'i' '
": '"' - ' -WAR DEPARTMENT ""; ' ,
U; S. AIMY RECRUITING STATION. .
i 204 Filth .venue, ! ;
, . July 28th, 1920, 3:31 Fptf. -
CONFIDENTIAL TIP. ' '".; .
(If ybu lot this out, somoono will beat you to w).
' Old-Timer . . 'ki.
Wo received this yory minute a telegram
.from ,tlio Adjutant General of the Army, Wash
ington, D, C, authorizing us to acdopt tor the
AMI?IlWAN FORCES IN ttERMAUYertain
especially desirable men for servlco in the In
, . Catitry, Cavalry. Quartermaster Corps and as
Cooks and 'Clerks., ......
. ' ONLY 976 vacancies open:
v Thousands of old-timers have been to see us ,
bogging us to take them for service on the
' Rhine. Some have stayed in the office for hours
trying to ilguro out some Way they could start .
a Bmall war and get over there; they knojrthat
the American Forcos in Germany are SITTING
ON THE WORLD that fact can't 'be denied.
' Since the pay-bill has passed, the 20 percent
. on the now pay of the .soldier -especially in
. Germany whore the dollar U worth ton times
.what it is worth here service in Germany is
1T more desirable than ever.
" "Unfortunately we did not take tho names of
the old-timers who wanted to got back to Qor
mahy. Therefore wo aro addressing this lfiiter -&to
the most desirable of those ex-servico, men.
i whoso names aro on our service rolls of honpr.
''' For those who were not oyer thero, ...this is
.."in opportunity tb soe London', Paris, Berlin,.
.Rome and the old countries. ' , "-
: ,J First confe, first sorved. As you can see, this v
- will not last for more than ton days.
THE NEW PEACE-TIME ARMY STANDS
READY TO GIVE YOU
, C(l) a good job (you cannot boat it) (2) a
" ' T :$i2;000 trip to the old countries of Europe (3)
! :, relief from old King H. C. L.. (4) -A' chance
ltnVfltnwav from' the 18th Amendment .while
Still serving. .Uncle Sam and, living under tho
great iiagoi me nauou. xuuvb 14 uy,
in. 'You will be informed of tho result of ffe :.Uited;:St&te infthe year' tfyi" under a Demo-
Investigation and action taKen. ; . i,nH.",) wHwiiusmJiHB wane oc
t. ,., un itnA fimf tho dnnartmont does
not approve of holding out inducements of this
character in Its efforts td obtain recruits' for
the army. . ' ...
With thanks for your courtesy in brfhgingthe
matter , to the attention of the depantmen.trIi
jufi, Very" truly yours, :
;'" C NEWTON D. BAKER, : .-,.-
Secretary of War
I , " ' iPRESroENTiAIi PRIMARIES . '
..'.r. ' Lincoln, Nebr, Aug. 27, 19.20.
'""My. dear Mr. Hyde: Answering your inquiry
of June ?5thi rjust receivedit niay bd.tod late
for my answer to be of service to you I beg
to ""say that I favor the primary system and ant
anxious to see a national presidential primary.
I think the federal law should fix the. day so
that the primaries WH1 be held at the "same
time in all the states. Such other provisions as
may be necessary to secure such uniformity as
may be deemed desirable should be added, with
privilege to the states to add anything they like
aniT to take charge of the machinery where they
desire to ' do bo. A second iild third choice
should be permitted, as in sbmo of the Btate
"primaries, so as to make it easier to ascertain
tho -wishes of the votorst A National Bulletin
ought to provide the means of informing the
voters as to the merits of candidates , properly
entered, so that a large campaign fund will
riotho necessary, and a limitation should Ije
placed on the amount of money that can -be
spent by candidates or for them, in order, to
"put all aspirants upon an equal footing. Penal
ties should be fixed Jor disregard of instrujp-r
tfons. . '
The two conventions of this year haVe furn
ished now proof of tho, necessity for a national
primary, :' "'VeryHrulyyours, VV: '-"''
it- ti Hit yt..vi. ttrNrfm'nviM.''. "'
iur xxumr "JL J-JH0 .. , Jixivi,i.
McClure.Magaih'e,' '
..New York Cityi
thogreatest war in all history was the lowest
of any year since the Civil war.
"And tho total number ,of all business failures
in the ceuhtry for the last fiscal year, 1919,
was tho smallest In about 40 yeaVs, despite the
fact that tho aggregate number of business
houses has more than doubled in that time."
.y
WAYNE R. ALLEN.
1st Lieut. lnfantry,U..S. A;
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M- I-.
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'i ' Llnccniv' Npb'r.i Aug? 2'OD 20.
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, H,pn, xsowton u. iiaKor, ,..,.. : . r
'":, Secretary of War, s J-l; ' ,. '""'? J .
'f; "v Washington, D, C; T s jTj"
'..Dear Mr, Baker: . .- , '-f
. I enclose herewith a copy r of a lettor, the
. original of which was sent out by a recruiting
:. agent in Pittsburgh-. .Kindly advise me Whether
.. the war department authorizes or is aware' of
r .he iiiduCQmen,t,thit is boing held out to-ypurig.
, .men to enlist in orller t;o escape the provisions
of the 18th Amendment to the federal constliu
Xi t.ion. ' - l(.
" j I alsb caU your attention to the suggestion
,'ih"' the letter that those who enlist may get a
cliance to fight In Germany.
.'.JThe contents of this recruiting letter are so
- r astounding and the circulation of the recruiting
plotter referred to has so aroused some of those
Who, haye seen it Ahat I assumj that yoh will
desire togive it public attention at once. ' " '
""t, s . Very truly youtfl,
;"..'' CHARLES W, BRYANj,
Asseciato Editor & Publisher The Commoner." ,
v V; WaR DEPARTIENT ' V'-
Washington, "August 31,:1920. .
Hon. Charles W. Bryan, ' . ,'wv . . -
The Commoner, r " ; "'
V Lincoln, febr.. J tt-t . V
t Dear Mr. Bryan; ' -!" :' - r ,'
:; I beg to -acknowledge receipt' of your letter
. , o the 24th instant; calling attention to a letter.,
v8ent out by a recruiting officer in Pittsburgh
w)5iolding; out inducoments to enlist foi seiwice' in
' Germany in order to escape the provisions of
, the eighteenth amendment to the Federal Con
stitution. This matter will be promptly invests
gated and any necossary action taken with a
yjowto discontinuing the.usaoCjuch advertis-
. WETS SEEK UBSKT OF VOIjStPEAD LAW
. (Special disptach to The Washington Post.)
Baltimorer Sept. ff.-1 Balfimore and Mary
" land are to play an Importahtpart In tho pro
posed repeal of the Volstead act and eventually
the Eighteenth amendment. This was disclosed
today wheti it Was learned a Maryland branch
of the newly organised association, against tho
Prohibition amendment was- launched here a
few days ago. -
It was in Baltimore that y, the feasibility of
establishing such" an- association, nation-wide
in its scope, first was discussed by about twenty-
five leading citizens of the city;, f
Names of many well-known Baltimoreans aro
linked with the. organization, including men of
such prominence as Waldo Newcomer, Gen. Felix
Agrtus,' Dr. Julius Friedenwal'd, Dr. H. Warren
Buclcner and Gen. George F.Rindqlpland many
others. ' .. 4 - - M
To. Capt'WrH. Stay toxica native of the
Eastern Shore of Maryland and -at. present presi-
-dent of the. Baltimore Steamship Company,
should go credit4 for the plan. It. is due chiefly
to his efforts that the Association has branches
in New York, Connecticut Delaware,. New Jersey
Pennsylvania', Virginia ,, and West .Virginia, in
Saddition to Maryland.
When prohibition was enacted Capt. Stay ton
was jone Of. thousands who tfelieved the country
had been made, "dry" .by a fanatical minority.
-He' also, beliejed. local -organizations launched
itiowx' time tqtime in ;dlffeteh,t Communities to
combat the -Volstead -act .would prove ,of little
"" avail. So theidea of a-inational organization
-' was 'decided upon: . .. ,N
v. With members joining, at the rate of 12,000
-,a month it is felt that the .time Is ripe for a
big drive throughout- the United. States.
The-first act-of the . association which estab
lished -headquarters in theMunsey building,
Washington, was tb place boxes in many cities
in the east which. contained.cards, These Cards
contained the information that the "Volstead
law can be repealed; tho .Supreme Court says
. wo may keep it or repeal i.C'Just as the voters
-" prefer." . v -X .
'Tho Volstead law can. .be repealed," it goes
ouj if those opposed to it-will join our associa
tion and -merely let themselves be counted so
that congressmen may know how many of us
there are." . -' -
To better facilitate this counting, tho asso
ciation" also 'm took up: the cltainystom to in
erease its membership. . This' is .not of a charac
ter to conflict with regulations of .the post-office
department, for it. is only requested of
January "t, 1918 to the close 'of the fiscal year. . members that they send headquarters the names
October 31, 1919 (embracing ten months of of u"pro$pects',.. These prospects are sent cir
the perils of war and .twelve months of the .re- oUlar telling of the work of the association
construction period) the record ot the national . iind by ' this "chain" process, the organization
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DEiWOORA.'WC yXNANOE
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. Following is an Extract taken frqm'a.rTep'brt.
of Comptroller of the Currency William's, of
July 31, 1920 i. ' ...
The humber of national banks in the United
.States'on-July li.I920 was 8,097. Their assets
aniQunted to over weiity-two billion-dollars
($22,000,000,000) an almost incomprehensible
sum. - .... r
MAnd for the last fiscal year (ending October
31, 1919), therp-was no failure of any national
bank in the entire United- States, involving one
dollar's loss to' any depositor.
"The unprecedented nafety of our, national
, banks means much to our -people, for the na
tional banks of the country now have over 20
million deposit accounts on their books ot men
and women of all classes rfch and- pooiwand
the safety of this money deeply affects the hap
piness and welfare, of thege depositors.
''For the . twenty-two. months' period from
' banks as" to their immunity f roni failure was
3,000 per cent or 30 times "better Shan the
yearly average for the previous forty l year
period.
"The Federal Reserve Act is a -Demqcratic"
measure throughout. It was, passed by a
Democratic congress and approved, by a Demo
, crajic President. The Federal Reserve Act
was. passed by tho vote of 47 Democratic sena
tors and 7 Repnbican senators,. No Demo
cratic senator voted against it while 34 Repub
lican senators tried to defeat this great measure
,and voted against it. The Federal Reserve Act
was passed in tho House of Representatives 'by
.the affirmative vote of 248 Democrats while only
38 Republicans voted for it. '
'Before the Democrats reformed the archaic,
panic-breeding urrency system fostered, by the. ' as fqjlows:
crows monthly by the te'ns- 6f thousands.
If the names of 100,000 voters are secured
in Maryland the officers or a committee of the
assdeiation 3ust previous to the time that po
itical parties nominate fov. office will go to stellar
lights in either camp and. say:
v "You -lmyo two men. running for the Senate.
One" is Horace, Jones" and the other is Wilber
James. Jones is a 'dry' man and"here are the
names of 100,000 voters whpvstand opposed to
his election, irrespective ot party affiliation."
;The association intends to "'frepze out" the
"dry" candidates and-"prevent them getting
nominations, from any party. ; In a few years, if
the 'plan pans but, there will be in congress only
those lawmakers who will, he- in sympatny whu
the. aims for which the. association is working,
Republicans for half a century of' -almost -coh-
thvuous rule, panics were almost as frequent
as the seasons,- .
"In the forty years from 1874 to. 1913" na
tional bank failures occurred on anave'rageof
one In about every twenty-one days.'
V UFrom January 1, 1918 to the end of the last
fiscal year October 31 191 9-2 2 months ;
there was. only one. such failure. -
; .Vd'he percentage of all business failures "to
thetotal. .. number t , business . house ; in the-
1. To repeal the Volstead act.
2, wf nfirmf avov kttitti funder the concur
rent clause) to pas-its own enforcement act. J
, -.1. . 10; remove ijib-prgmuxijiuu am.-
fi'din the -constitution. '"
The -"association .against thp, .Prohibition
amendment is noniJartisahany& "ribnsectarian.
When branches' of tlie association are estab
lished in every, state -it is proposed to select
delegates ,,to attend TaconyentionVand elect na-
D
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