There were mechanical difficulties in securing for
enlisted men in active duty leave to attend a caucus in Paris. In the
first place the enlisted men themselves, as indicated by several who
were consulted, were very diffident about accepting an invitation to
attend a caucus where they would be required to sit beside and debate
with and against generals and field officers to whom they owed
military obedience. Then again, there was the expense of travel in
France, as well as the high cost of living in Paris. At the outset
this raised the expense of a trip to the French capital to a sum
amounting to many months of an enlisted man's pay. Furthermore, the
sub-committee was face to face with the A.E.F. regulations providing
that except in the most unusual circumstances an enlisted man would
not be granted leave except in company with a trainload of his
fellows, and to a certain specified leave area.
But as has been said before the conclusion had been reached that if
the organization was really to become preeminently an enlisted man's
outfit, it would be absolutely necessary to overcome these
difficulties and by hook or crook to obtain the attendance of as many
privates and noncommissioned officers as possible who were leaders.
So, scarcely had seventeen of the twenty officers returned to their
commands before they received an urgent appeal to help out the
sub-committee of three.
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