But they placed a greater value on this organization which was so near
the heart of all of them. No better proof of it can be shown than the
incident which has just been described, viz., the refusal of Theodore
Roosevelt to be the permanent chairman. Although I do not pretend to
be able to explain the processes of thought and reasoning which led
Colonel Roosevelt to take the action he did, still I do know this
much! There are very few young men who would have been so deaf to the
plaudits of the multitude, to the advice of old friends and to the
still small voice of personal ambition as he was in refusing. I
maintain that this refusal was by no means altogether prompted by
anything of an hereditary nature but, rather, by the experiences and
environment which had been Colonel Roosevelt's during the war. It took
more than an under-slung jaw and a rugged Rooseveltian determination
to refuse this great honor. It took _discipline_, and Colonel
Roosevelt knew how to inflict that upon himself just as he 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.
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