THE AMERICAN 20c • DECEMBER 19 7 1 LEGIONMAGAZINE TheTerrible Condition of America's Freight Railroads 75 YEARS OF AMERICAN NEWSPAPER COMICS THE WAR WE ALMOST FOUGHT WITH FRANCE CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD When the thought is genuine, the gift should be. Dewar's 'White Label" They say there are a thousand ways ' P to make Scotch whisky. They say. There's a Uttle corner of the world that doesn't agree. It's the town of Perth, on the banks of Scotland's River Tay. That's where they make Dewar's "White Label." The men of Perth will tell you that authentic Scotch whisky has to be made where the air is chill and pure, ^!*PEo Scotch WHis"' i Distillers , £ and the water is cold. And that is the air and water of Perth. They will tell you that authentic Scotch whisky comes only when fine single whiskies are brought from the Gift wrapped at no extra cost. hills and glens of Scotland and al- lowed to sleep like bairns in their own Does he remember them all? It is snug vats to the day of full maturity. said that he does. And that is the way of Dewar's. Small wonder then that the good They will tell red-bearded Scots of Perth show a you how each bit of honest wrath when somebody whisky, in its own tries to tell them there are a thou good time, is sand ways to make authentic brought to the Scotch whisky. Master Blender Small wonder they consider himself, who their Dewar's "White Label" swirls it in his the authentic Scotch of today. glass. ."noses" it And want you to know it. ... sniffs it again . and takes a long deep breath to compare its bouquet with thousands jiuthentic. he has known before. Dewar*s never varies. BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY • 86.8 PROOF ©SCHENLEY IMPORTS CO., N.Y., N.Y. The American DECEMBER 1971 Volumt 91 , Number 6 LEGION CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Notify Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, Ind. 46206 using Post Office Form 3578. Attacti old address label and Magazine give old and new addresses with ZIP Code number and current membership card number. Also be sure to notify your Post Adjutant. CONTENTS FOR DECEMBER 1971 The American Legion Magazine Editorial & Advertising Offices 1345 Avenue of the Americas New Vork, New York 10019 THE TERRIBLE CONDITION OF AMERICA'S Publisher, James F. O'Neil Editor FREIGHT RAILROADS 4 Robert 13. Piikin BY HARVEY ARDMAN Art Editor Al Marshall rail freight business are The problems facing America's Assistant to Publisher barely visible to most of us, but they are so severe that even John Andreola the railroads' competitors are supporting means to solve them. Assistant Editor James S. Swartz Associate Editor Koy Miller Assistant Art Editor Walter H. Boll CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD 10 Production Manager Art Bretzfield Christmas is celebrated more widely than any other single Copy Editor holiday, as the photos in this picture spread suggest. Grail S. Hanford Circulation Manager Dean B. Nelson Indianapolis, Ind. Advertising Sales ...... 12 Robert Redden Associates, Inc. 75 YEARS OF AMERICAN NEWSPAPER COMICS 121 Cedar Lane Teaneck, N.J. 07666 Selections from among the hundreds of successful comic strips 201-«36-5755 which have been delighting audiences for years. The American Legion Magazine Commission: James E. Powers, Maton, Ca. {Chairman); Benjamin B. Truskoski, Bristol, Conn. (Vice Chairman) ; James R. Kelley, Radnor, Pa, SHOULD THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC (National Commander's Representative); Lang Armstrong, Spok^ane , Wash.; Ch.trles E. Booth, OPPORTUNITY BE ABOLISHED? 18 Huntington, W. Va.; Raymond Fields, O^/a- homa City, OJ^la.; Milford A. Forrester, Green- TWO SIDES OF A NATIONAL QUESTION t'ille, S.C.; Chris Hernandez, Savannah, Ga.; Mylio S. Kraja, Youngstoirn, Ohio; Russell H. Laird, Des Moines, Iowa; Howard E. Lohman, pro: rep. WILLIAM J. SCHERLE (R-IOWA) Moorhead, Minn.; Frank C. Love, Syracuse, N.Y.; Arthur .M. M.icCarthy, Tallahassee, Fla.; con: rep. SEYMOUR HALPERN (R-NiY.) Loyd McDcrmott, Benton, Arl^.; Morris Meyer, Slayh_ville, Miss.; J. H. Morris, Baton Rouge, La.; Frank W. Naylor, Jr., Kanst^s City, Kans.; Harry H. Schaffer, Pittsburgh, Pa.; George Sinopoli, Fresno, Calij.; George B. StoveV, ionestown. Pa.; Wayne L. Talbert, Manhattan, THE WAR WE ALMOST FOUGHT WITH FRANCE 20 Delphi, Ind.; ]. Cornelius Tromp, 111.; Robert H. Wilder, Dadeville, Ala.; Ed- BY THOMAS FLEMING ward McSweency, New Y ork., N.V. (Consult- ant); Chester K. Shore, Helena, Mont. (Con- Never were France and the United States so close to war sultant) . as they were over the Louisiana Territory in 1802-1803. The American Legion M.igaiine is published monthly at 1100 West Broadv^ay, Louisville, Ky. 40201 by The American Legion. Copyright COVER: DRAWING BV JAMES FLORA 1971 by The American Legion. Second-class postage paid at Louisville, Ky. Price: single copy, 20 cents; yearly subscription, J2.00. Order nonmember subscriptions from the Cir- Departments culation i:>epartment of The American Legion, P.O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, Ind. 46206. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 2 NEWS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION ...31 Editorial and advertising offices: 1345 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10019. DATELINE WASHINGTON 3 PERSONAL 40 Wholly owned by The American Legion with National Headquarters at Indianapolis, Ind. 46206. John H. Geiger, National Commander. LIFE IN THE OUTDOORS 28 LEGION SHOPPER 47 NONMEMBER SUBSCRIPTIONS VETERANS NEWSLETTER PARTING 29 SHOTS 48 Send name and addreee, including ZIP nuijji- ber, with S2 check or money order to Circula- tion Dept., P.O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, Ind. 46206. POSTMASTER: Manuscripts, artwork, cartoons submitted for considerotion will not be returned unless a self-addressed, Send Form 3579 to P.O. Box 1954 stamped envelope is included. This magazine assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Indianapolis, Ind. 46206 THE AMERICAN LEGION MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 1971 1 remarks in your article on the nation's power crisis concerning "self-styled" LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 'conservationists,' 'ecologists' and 'en- vironmentalists,' and their potential to cripple efforts to ease or solve the crisis, I'd like to pass on this comment, made Letters i)iiblislied itecessarily do not ex- Our future is built on progress, and elec- by W. Donham Crawford, president of press tlie policy of The American Legion. Keep letters short. Name and address must tricity certainly plays an important part the Edison Electric Institute: "If you be fitrnislied. Expressions of opinion and in all of our lives. I, for one, firmly be- want to replace the internal-combustion requests for personal seri^ice are appreci- ated, but they cannot be acknowledged or lieve in the safety and the future of nu- engine with mass transit in our polluted answered, due to lack of magazine staff for clear energy. cities, if you want to recycle aluminum tliese purposes. Requests for personal serv- ices n-}iicli may be legitimately asked of Gordon A. MacDonald and steel cans into useful products, if to The American Legion should be made Des Plaines, III. you are going to try to clean up the sew- your Post Service Officer or your state (Department) American Legion Hq. Send age and rivers and lakes, if you're going letters to the editor to: Letters. The sir: Your power shortage article began to clean the air, it will take enormous American Les^ion Magazine, 1345 Avenue of the Americas. New York. N.Y. 10019. by stating five conclusions about elec- amounts of electricity." These ''enormous tric power that we can come to. May I amounts" are in addition to the galloping OUR LOOMING POWER SHORTAGE add a sixth: We are wasting an awful lot demands that are already draining our sir: Congratulations on publishing Jerry of electric energy. present sources of energy. Pournelle's "Our Looming Electric With our present system of selling R. G. Walters Power Shortage,"" in the October issue. electric energy, we are encouraging New York, N.Y. It is a subject worthy of the space and waste by using a declining rate scale. detail given to it. In our locality, we begin by paying Dr. Pournelle's article points up once per kwh, and end up by paying 2.16«- per THE UNDERRATED PRESIDENT sir: again what the New York State Action kwh, if we use enough. Thank you for shedding light on the for Clean Air Committee has been saying Not only does this discourage econ- administration of James K. Polk ("Our for some time now: We need a compre- omy, but it discriminates against the Most Underrated President: James K. hensive national fuels and power policy, poor. Their electricity is costing them Polk," October). He does, indeed, de- serve better since this is the only way we can deal about twice as much per kwh as it is a shake than history has effectively with the problems of supply costing those who can afford a second given him, as the article makes clear, and of fuel and power and the protection of (or third) air conditioner, TV set, etc. as a larger work on his one term in office the environment. Piecemeal solutions If the power companies were to adopt will confirm. will leave us worse off than we are. a method of pricing electricity with the Irv C. Gillette It is articles like Dr. Pournelle's which thought in mind of saving energy, and Hollywood, Calij. will stimulate the kind of thinking nec- thereby also reducing air pollution, essary to achieve this policy. thermal pollution and the destruction of PING PONG DIPLOMACY Kenneth Kowald, Executive Secretary our landscape, it would go a long way sir: I would like to commend Leavitt A. New York State toward easing the problem.