did upon his troops whenever it was wise and

necessary.

In much smaller, but no less important matters, did I see other men practice discipline upon themselves. I saw men forego the discussion of subjects in which they believed with all their hearts and with all their minds solely for the purpose of doing nothing that would tend to disrupt the Caucus or give the impression throughout the United States that the men who had stuck together so closely in times of daring and danger could not still stick and face, as a band of brothers in the American Legion, any perils or pitfalls which peace might hold for this country. Therefore, it seems to me that Colonel Roosevelt's action was more than a manifestation of his own sterling determination to do nothing which might hurt the Legion. It was archtypical.

Major Hamilton Fish of New York called attention to the fact that the navy was unrepresented in the offices of the caucus and moved that a second vice-chairman should be appointed from that branch of the service. A delegate from Missouri seconded the motion and amended it to read that a third vice-chairman should be appointed from the marine corps.

During the election of these officers enthusiasm

reached a high pitch and in no more striking manner did the new American reveal his new character.

"Gentlemen," said one dignified delegate (I don't know who let him in, because just from the way he said "gentlemen" we all knew that once in his life he had practiced oratory before the bureau mirror), "I want to place in nomination the name of a man who is true blue

"Name him," shouted the crowd.

con

"He is not only true blue but he is thoroughly everything he ought to be in addition-” tinued the orator, coldly trying to squelch the crowd.

"Name him." "Shut up.' "Shut up." "Aw, sit down." "Who wants to listen to such 'bull' as that?" Each of those sentences was roared by a different

man.

"This gentleman is one of whom I am sure you will be proud-" persisted the orator, but at this direct violation of its edict the crowd began to scream its maledictions and Captain Boyce could not have stopped them with all his Tigers if the gentleman orator hadn't taken his seat in a most dignified manner, never to rise again-doubtless as a rebuke for the gang, but one which was thoroughly appreciated.

Thus the way of orators in the caucus!

The navy men who were nominated consisted of Goerke of New York; Goldberg, Illinois; Chenoweth, Alabama; Almon, Montana; Humphrey, New Mexico; McGrath, New Jersey; and Evans of Kentucky. The secretary took the vote by delegations. When Goerke got a vote the New York crowd yelled itself hoarse; New Mexico did the same for Humphrey; Alabama cheered like mad for Chenoweth and it wasn't long before everybody picked out his candidate and yelled furiously every time he got a vote. The New Mexico delegation occupied a proscenium box but Humphrey wasn't prominent enough there to suit his delegation. Before anyone thoroughly realized what was happening, Seaman Humphrey appeared on the stage, borne on the shoulders of two colonels! Two men who had eagles on their shoulders, U. S. on their collars, and gold chevrons on their left sleeves carried on their shoulders a "gob," a sailorman, a deck-swabbing bluejacket, as he called himself.

It was the beginning of a cavalcade of noise that fairly made ear drums ache, and, incidentally, proved a signal for the backers of other candidates. Goerke soon was lifted aloft by a half dozen New Yorkers; Chenoweth was exhibited to the general view from the section of the orchestra occupied by his delegation, while Illinois

paraded up and down the aisles with Goldberg. Colonel Lindsley hammered the speaker's table almost to pieces in an attempt to get order and then gave it up for a few minutes as a bad job. Captain Boyce succeeded in getting a semblance of it, when everybody got tired of carrying the candidates and of shouting. Then the secretary again started taking the vote by delegations. No one of the candidates received a majority of the votes which was necessary under the procedure adopted at the beginning of the caucus. Then began the withdrawals. This State withdrew its vote from Goerke and cast it for Humphrey; Chenoweth withdrew from the race and his vote went to Goerke, et cetera. A similar situation resulted on the second count and finally Goerke withdrew in favor of Humphrey. When Evans took the same action, Humphrey (first name Fred), described as the "rough-riding sailor from New Mexico," was elected.

Humphrey's speech of acceptance delighted the hearts of those who had forced the would-be orator to sit down at the beginning of the nominations.

"Mr. Chairman, gobs, soldiers, and marines,' Humphrey said: “I am most glad and gracious to accept this honorary position and I will do everything that a deck-swabbing sailorman can do to fill it."

The first day's session closed with the appointment by the various States of representatives on the following committees: Executive Committee; Credentials; Temporary Name of Organization; Organization; Resolutions; Constitution and ByLaws and Declaration of Principles; Next Meeting Place and Time; Publication; Emblem; Permanent Headquarters, and Finance.

The personnel of these committees will be found elsewhere.

Thursday evening and Friday morning were devoted largely to committee meetings and different sections of the country came together to discuss matters of particular interest to special localities. For instance, the Western delegations discussed the question of Bolshevism, because the symptoms of this mad disease had been more apparent in that section of the country than in any other. The question of color was practically decided in a meeting of the Executive Committee and was ratified later by various delegations representing the Southern States. Everybody was pleased. An attempt was made by the leaders of each delegation to keep such questions as might be "loaded with dynamite" off the actual floor of the caucus so that those lacking in discretion might not have the opportunity to throw the caucus into an uproar.