E.F. respected and beloved, but
none perhaps more than he who seconded a motion made by a private from
S.O.S. base section, No. 4, that the constitution be adopted. The
seconder asked to speak on the question. When he began he got the rapt
attention which Bishop Brent, Senior Chaplain of the A.E.F., always
won whether he talked to buck privates knee deep in trench water or
the King in Buckingham Palace.
"It was a great soldier who said that the army has not merely a body
but a soul and a conscience as well," he began. "I believe the
conscience of the army is speaking in this committee's report. I
believe the army's soul is speaking in it. I was present on Saturday,
at the beginning of this caucus and I will tell you frankly that I was
fearful at that moment lest you should create a great mechanism
without adequate purposes. My fears have been wholly allayed and I see
in the report of your committee the ideals not only of the army but of
the nation adequately expressed and I wish to tell you gentlemen that
so far as I have any ability to promote this great movement I give you
my most hearty support. I believe that the army of to-day, when it
goes back to citizen thinking and citizen acting, will be capable of
contributing to the commonwealth of the United States so as to change
the character of the whole country and lift it up to a higher plane
of political, industrial, and religious life.
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