V. F.W.'s 150,000

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, convening at Manhattan's Commodore Hotel last week, had the proud, britches-busting look of a youngster who has just discovered he is growing as big as his old man.

Since World War I, V.F.W. has been second in size and influence (200,000 members in 1941 to the American Legion's more than 1,000,000). But since Pearl Harbor V.F.W. has signed up 150,000 new members (a 75% increase) while the Legion, which waits for prospects to be mustered out, has gained only 42,000.

This membership race, for which the American Legion voted a $250,000 war chest fortnight ago, is actually a battle for more political power than any organization has wielded in U.S. history. After World War II, the U.S. will have some 10,000,000 veterans. They may dominate U.S. politics for decades.

V.F.W., sitting pretty, did not even bother to set up a recruiting fund last week. It will continue to mail the monthly magazine Foreign Service to the fighting fronts, along with the membership cards ($3 for the duration) and ribbons which have produced such gratifying results. They voted $250,000 to establish permanent national headquarters in Kansas City. The delegates also:

> Sent a resolution to Congress: "Any and all agreements for postwar cooperation with any other nation shall not involve any dilution of our sovereignty."

> Drew up a new veterans' welfare program calling for six months' extra pay to soldiers after the war, for pension and compensation payments based on a "reasonable" cost-of-living index, for preference to veterans in all Government jobs and Federal aid to help veterans complete their educations.

> Decided (2,070-to-826) to wait until next year to vote on the stormy question of admitting women serving abroad with the armed forces. Warned one disapproving delegate: "If we get enough women in, we'll have to organize an auxiliary for their husbands who never served in any war." Said another: "My war department's right upstairs in this hotel and I'm going to get hell for this, but we've been getting along without them for 44 years and we can still get along without them."

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