Part 16 (1/2)

General Hoffman of Oklahoma obtained recognition from the chair as some of the delegates already were rising to leave the theater. ”I move, Mr. Chairman,” shouted the General, ”that we extend a vote of thanks to Colonel Roosevelt and Colonel Clark and other gentlemen who have been a.s.sociated with them and to the chairman of this a.s.sociation and his able a.s.sistants who have brought this convention to such a happy and successful close.”

At the mention of Colonel Roosevelt's name departing delegates tarried and when Mr. Weinman of Louisiana moved adjournment, the house stood and with one accord began to cry, ”We want Teddy,” ”We want Teddy.”

Colonel Roosevelt walked to the center of the stage and raised both hands seeking silence.

”I want to say just one thing,” he said. ”I have never been so much impressed in my life as I have been by the actions of this caucus, actions of the various committees and in the way this caucus thought for itself and acted for itself. For instance it would receive resolutions from the Resolutions Committee, would think them over, would re-decide on them and would re-decide them right. I want to say in closing that the only thing I regret is that my father could not have been alive at this moment to see the actions of this body of Americans.”

Mr. Healey of the New York delegation obtained the attention of the chair. ”I make a motion,” stated Mr. Healey, ”that before this great caucus adjourns we should remain standing in one minute's silence as a tribute to the greatest statesman that this nation has ever produced--THEODORE ROOSEVELT.”

CHAPTER XIII

WHY THE AMERICAN LEGION?

As I glance back over these pages I am impressed with the fact that only the preface of ”The Story of the American Legion” has been written here. When the reaches of the years shall gather to themselves the last of the men of the army, navy, and marine corps of the United States during its war against Germany that story may then be faithfully told. So the truth of the matter now is that history is in the writing so far as the American Legion in its relation to the United States of America is concerned. That statement isn't in reality as plat.i.tudinous as it seems at first thought.

We have arrived at world importance in history. We have come to that as the result of our part in the world war. Our isolation is over. We are the cynosure of all eyes. Uncle Sam is the dominant world figure; his hands control the reins that are driving the world. He has the enemies which all the successful have. There are those who had, and haven't, and there are those who never had, and want; all desiring, all envying the power of the United States of America. This great power and position was gained primarily by one motive--unselfishness.

Just so long as it is our dominant trait will we retain what we have gained. Just so long as we remain true to our innate principles, to the tenets of our const.i.tution, will we retain world importance and world influence.

There is a wolf at the gates of civilized Europe. If he gets inside nothing can stop him from ravis.h.i.+ng us. This war has bound us so closely to Europe that we are, in a sense, one and the same. He who strikes our brother strikes us, even though he be so far away that the distance is measured by an ocean. We must get over the idea that distance makes a difference. The Atlantic ocean has just been crossed in sixteen hours. Remember, thought travels even faster.

The wolf that I mentioned is a Mad Thought. He is Bolshevism. He has the madness because of hunger, a hunger not only of body but of mind; the century-long hunger of the Russian peoples for Freedom. Russia has run in a circle. From the autocracy of the cla.s.ses it has arrived at the autocracy of the ma.s.ses.

Then, too, all our European brothers are war worn; tired, tired nearly to death with struggle and sacrifice, and this is not a frame of mind calculated to help reseat reason in the world.

Why the American Legion?

One of our great bankers recently returned from an intimate study of affairs abroad. His name is Frank A. Vanderlip. In an address before the Economic Club in New York City he said that Europe is paralyzed and that our task is to save.

I give the introduction to his address as it appeared in the New York _Times_:

”Frank A. Vanderlip, who spoke last night at the Hotel Astor, at a dinner of the Economic Club, which was held for the purpose of hearing his story of conditions in Europe, whence he has recently returned, said that England was on the verge of a revolution, which was narrowly averted in February, when he was there, and the conditions on the Continent of Europe are appalling beyond anything dreamed of in this country.

”He said that the food conditions in Europe would be worse instead of better for a year ahead, because of the dislocation of labor and the destruction of farm animals, and that the industrial and economic outlook, generally, points to a period after the war, which will equal, if not exceed the war period in suffering and misery.

”He said that Italy was afraid to disband her army, because she could not employ the men and was afraid of idleness. He said that the differential, which had kept England preeminent in international trade, was the underpayment of labor, and that this differential was now being wiped out, forcing England to face tremendously serious problems for the future. He quoted a British minister as saying that means would have to be found to send six or seven millions of Englishmen out of the British Isles and closer to the sources of food production, if continental conditions continued long as at present.

”He said that the best printing presses in the world to-day, except those in Was.h.i.+ngton, were at Petrograd, and that they were turning out ma.s.ses of counterfeited pounds, francs, marks, lira, and pesetas, so skillfully made that detection was almost impossible. He said that these counterfeits were being spent largely by Germans to foment Bolshevist propaganda.

”Spain would, he said, be the most promising country in Europe except for the labor situation there, which had brought it to the verge of Bolshevism. He said that the most perfect laboratory of Bolshevism in Europe outside of Russia was in Barcelona, Spain, which he said was ruled absolutely by a mysterious secret council, which had censored and fined the newspapers until they quit publication and had enforced its will in all matters by a.s.sa.s.sinations, which no one dared to punish.

”He said that America alone could save Europe and that its aid must be extended to all countries equally. He said that this was necessary, not only to save Europe, but to prevent an invasion of America by the forces threatening the social overthrow of Europe.”

Why the American Legion?

There, at least, is one great reason.