“There has been an undercurrent all through this Convention.  Somebody has been afraid that we are going to do something or pop some lid off that will bust the thing and I have been, as I said last night, sometimes scared almost to death.  I think I could personally say that I wanted to make about seventy-four speeches in the two days that I have been here.  I didn’t do it but I was waiting and praying for the psychological hour to arrive and I believe that that hour came last night when this Executive Committee really got together and got something concrete before them, and I think that the whole Convention comes together this morning ready to take up matters of importance and leave off matters that should not be taken up, and to solidify this body in a great spirit of Americanism that shall last for fifty years as the greatest organization that the world has ever known.”  (Applause.) “Now the keyword that I want to say in the beginning is, at all costs we want to save this organization.  We do not want anything to arise to-day that will in any way mar the spirit of this great assembly and the work that it is going to do in the future.  While you were deliberating here these past two days some of you thought only of this hour and this moment, but, gentlemen, I had an eye cast into the future and I was dreaming dreams and seeing visions of the years that are to come and the wonderful work, the wonderful influence, and the mighty power that this organization is going to have and exert upon this nation and upon the whole world, and I want you to think of it in these terms.  This convention is a baby and we must not choke this baby.  You can’t give a young baby a gallon of castor oil the first week.  It only requires castoria, that is all the first week.  It can stand with a little mother’s milk, and I want you to feel that way about it to-day.” (Laughter and Applause.)

“Our first duty is beyond the shadow of a doubt to get this infant on its legs, and once we get it on its legs, it will be like the mighty Niagara Falls, there isn’t anything in the world can dam it up.  It will be a power that shall be known, and with influence all over America and for good all over the world.  Let’s be quiet and let’s be sensible to-day until we get this infant on his legs.  He’s just a recruit, a raw recruit, and he has to be trained and we are going to do that now.

“Gentlemen, I want to say just here, if you can only think about this Legion—­the chairman spoke of it last night to me—­as the jewel of the ages.  I believe that is the best interpretation I know.  I cannot say anything greater than this:  I believe God raised up America for this great hour; I can say that the strong young man of the time is to be the American Legion in this country and in the world.

“What the great seers of the past ages have dreamed and what they have planned and longed for, the opportunity that they sought, have suddenly been placed and in our hands.  Are we going to be great men and big men?  Will we arise to the dignity and be worthy of the occasion?