policies. It took but a very short while to convince the
would-be obstreperous delegation that the caucus was not the
convention and was empowered solely to organize a veterans'
association and not to adopt policies.

The temporary committee in America determined at the very beginning
that no policies would be adopted at the caucus, that the Legion at
this time should follow in the footsteps of its comrades abroad in
stating that neither the men here nor the men there could, as
different units, adopt broad policies until a convention could be held
truly representing all men who had fought in the Great War.

Colonel Roosevelt called the advanced committee to order a little
after two o'clock in the afternoon, in a small and very noisy parlor
in the Hotel Statler. The gavel which he used was made from wood from
the rudder of Admiral Peary's North Pole steamship _The Roosevelt_,
which had been presented to him by Colonel E. Lester Jones of
Washington, D.C.

"The idea underlying the formation of the American Legion is the
feeling among the great mass of the men who served in the forces of
this country during the war, that the impulse of patriotism which
prompted their efforts and sacrifices should be so preserved that it
might become a strong force in the future for true Americanism and
better citizenship," Colonel Roosevelt said. He spoke very slowly and
measured his words carefully but emphasized them in a tone of deepest
conviction. "We will be facing troublous times in the coming years,"
he continued "and to my mind no greater safeguard could be devised
than those soldiers, sailors, and marines formed in their own
association, in such manner that they could make themselves felt for
law and order, decent living and thinking, and truer 'nationalism.'"

In this opening sentence, Colonel Roosevelt foreshadowed the spirit of
the entire caucus. These service men wanted an organization not for
their own special benefit, not that they might obtain pensions or
offices, but that they might become a power for truer Americanism and
better citizenship!

Colonel Wood, the secretary, explained in greater detail the purpose
of the proposed Legion. He broached the subject of the reemployment
for soldiers, a legal department for the handling of insurance claims,
allotments, etc., and sketched the fundamental principles of the
organization as follows:

First, its non-partisanship.

Second, that this society should be equally for