"To promote and encourage loyalty to the United States of America; allegiance to its flag; support to its Constitution; obedience to its laws and reverence for its history and traditions.

"To instill in every one of its members a due appreciation of the privileges of citizenship and the sacred duties attendant therewith; and to encourage its members to always be profoundly interested actively participating in the political, civic, social and commercial fields of human endeavor and always to strive for the betterment of society."

(Excerpt from the Constitution of the Order of Ahepa)

The first week of October is American Legion Week in Chicago. Over 200,000 legionnaires have flooded the city. They have come to attend their fifteenth annual convention and to see the World's Fair. The Order of Ahepa, an organization devoted to the highest ideals of citizenship, extends to all legionnaires a most hearty welcome.

We, of the Ahepa, seek to devote ourselves to things American. There are things of the heart and mind that set apart America from all other nations. Concerning these our creed is concise and definite.

We hold that the Constitution of the United States is the most effective instrument yet devised for the expression of the will of all the people for the benefit of a free people. It provides for a representative government responsible to the people for the carrying out of their commands; and it incorporates within itself the machinery for its alternation according to the people's will, leaving no argument to any advocate of forceful change. In this first century and one-half under this constitution the American Republic has advanced beyond any previous experience of mankind. At present our country is going through the greatest political, sociological and economic changes; greater than any that have taken place during the life of the present Constitution. And this Constitution has survived the severest of domestic and foreign difficulties. It brings to the American citizen liberty secured under the law, and the opportunity of working out his life according to his 3desires and his abilities. It requires from the American citizen loyalty. We of the Ahepa believe the bargain is fair.

Illiteracy and ignorance comprise the one great menace to popular government. This condition must be met and conquered if popular government is to endure. We of the Ahepa have come to believe this to be a fundamental truth and we do whatever we can to wipe out illiteracy. We foster all the educational movements we can and have contributed and continue to contribute all we can to these movements.

Nor is this all that can and must be done for the youth of America. Ability to read and write is not the sole qualification of good citizenship. There must be an understanding of the meaning of civil government, and a comprehension of the salient facts of American history and the great spirit underlying and animating it with a realization of the value and significance of American insitutions.

We know that the American Legion is devoted to these lofty causes. We know that the American Legion was conceived in a season of splendor and sacrifice, and is consecrated to the service of the nation. This is the American Legion, and the Ahepa believes, that it is worthy of its loyalty.