Before I begin 1925 it is good to know that Stevenson is the man who recorded this history thru 1936. This is written in his own words as there were very little records of 1925. His words follow:
It is difficult for one to write one's own work as Commander of this Post. The following account will necessarily be brief as the writer must trust entirely to memory. The report turned in at the end of the year as well as the minutes of all of the meetings are not in the records. Possibly they may come to light some day and then some one better qualified may re-write this in better form and with more certainty.(Morris E. Stevenson 1925)
I appointed every man that had been on Swift's executive committee on mine and had one great advantage over him, I also had Henry on the committee. Before the first meeting of the committee he had advised a change in the by-laws. Our membership was getting larger and so there were cliques forming. We provided that the Executive Committee should also include three additional members appointed by the commander as he saw fit from the membership. The idea was that when a clique formed we would be able to put the leader on the Executive Committee and thus take the wind out of his sails. There were two such appointments made that year and the result was all that we had hoped for.
Henry had faced the problem of building a Post where the majority of the members were heads of families and no longer irresponsible men that had come from the service a few years before. This year another problem confronted us that at times caused friction and much hard feeling. Chicago had grown in populations so that rents were exorbitant and no place to rent at that. The result was that thousands of people were moving into the suburbs. On a three block walk north on Washington Street that spring I could count two hundred houses that were either just completed or in the process of construction. A large proportion of these home owners were men who had married since the war and had moved out here where there would be more room for their children. Coming into a new locality the quickest way of establishing social contacts was thru the Legion. New members began coming in rapidly and in January with the formal opening of the Temple our adjutant, T.O.Potter was on hand and received numerous applications for membership. As these men took a greater interest in the Post, there developed some friction between the "old Timers" and the "new comers". As Henry and I were among the latter it sometimes made it a trifle hard for us. However time ironed out that difficulty as well as most of the others and today after a dozen years nothing is heard of the question and we who were once new comers now enjoy a laugh about it with some of the most militant of the old timers.
Henry carried on his Elgin service idea and during the year sold it to the DuPage County organization with the result that from then on each Post in the county had taken care of a month of entertainment at Elgin. When certain abuses appeared at Elgin due to political meddling it was Henry that found the trouble and thru his efforts the lot of the unfortunate men there was much improved and after the year was up the Elgin problem became that of the Eleventh District. But it all started with Henry Swift in Downers Grove.
During the year the Village decided that a Village Hall was a necessity. They built one then told us that if we would furnish them with an accurate list of the men who went into the service from here they would call the building Memorial Hall and put bronze tablet with the men's names on the front of the hall. Also they asked us to get a couple of guns to decorate the grounds in front of the proposed building.
One of our members, Arthur Johnson, was able to find out that there were a couple of Naval guns from a captured German cruiser available in San Francisco. He mad out a requisition and brought it to me as Commander to sign. The requisition stated that we would be responsible for handling and freight charges. I didn't want to incur any liability without the sanction of the Post and as the requisition had to be sent right away and the Village Commission was meeting that evening I suggested that he take it to them as they were the ones who wanted the guns. They signed and a month later the guns came with a freight bill of nearly $16.00. Did those commissioners hit the ceiling? One can see the dents overhead even today in that little shop on Curtiss Street. I certainly was glad that the bill went to them. But again Henry came to the rescue and together with Hooper went to see the auditor of the railroad company and had the billing changed from "guns" to "scrap iron" and the bill was cut in two. Our various functions such as Memorial Day went off as usual this year with Grant Nash taking care of the parade and Beckham taking care of the program. The only hitch was that some singer sung two verses of The Star Spangled Banner and it was tough standing at salute for the whole time.
Henry was made chairman of the 4th of July affair. This year he staged a popularity contest as well as a celebration and carnival. It was more elaborate and a bigger affair than before. T.O.Potter took care of the contributions and we doubled the fireworks order and increased the prizes. When the whole thing was over we had close to $1500.00 profit. That paid off the loan on our Temple Bond and enabled us to buy another bond on another building in the Village.
The momentum that Swift had given to the Post enabled us to carry on this year more successfully than last. Our membership doubled and we finished with 144 members. Our banquet this year was held in the new Masonic Temple and the wives of the members were invited as well as the members. M.J.Binder had charge of the affair and the contract was getting bigger all the time. This year the demand was for two hundred plates. At this meeting the new officers took over. I might add that times had changed to the extent that there had been competition for all offices.
