Herbert Knox Smith, a Connecticut leader of the party, wrote on November 4: “I cannot let this fight close without sending you my heartfelt personal thanks for what you have done. It has certainly been fine, and I appreciate it more deeply than I can say. Best regards to you.” And the colonel wrote from Oyster Bay, November 12, 1912: My Dear Borglum: In this great fight for elementary justice and decency, for fair play in the industrial no less than in the political world, and for honesty everywhere, there are many men to whom I feel peculiarly grateful, not only personally but because of what they have done for the people as a whole. You come high among these men; and in this very inadequate but far from perfunctory manner, I wish to express my profound acknowledgment. Faithfully yours, Theodore Roosevelt. In his records Gutzon somehow fails to note that the Progressives, despite Roosevelt’s defeat, did rather well in Connecticut. After all, what interested Gutzon was the fight. CHAPTER TWELVE _CHICAGO CONVENTION_ The First World War started in August 1914, and was catalogued as somebody else’s trouble by nearly everybody in the United States. Its effect on local politics was to start arguments about whether or not our government should spend money to rearm. Anyway, the situation in 1914 was different than that of 1912. Woodrow Wilson, who had become President largely as a result of the Progressive-party movement in 1912, was being looked at askance by manufacturers, bankers, shippers and conservative politicians who thought that he was a mistake. Borglum, still standing fast by the Progressive banner, figured that another election would see his party in power if enough people got interested in the prospect. At the moment, he pointed out to those who would listen to him, the policies of the federal government involved something besides a waste of money. Human lives were concerned. He declared that if England had been prepared, the Kaiser would never have invaded Belgium, and that he would certainly have stayed at home if the United States and England had been prepared and had showed they would support France. Theodore Roosevelt had always advocated preparedness. His words, “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” were well known and often quoted. In the crisis during the Congressional election of 1914 the sculptor did not advise Progressives to return to the Republican party. Instead he tried to persuade Republicans to nominate candidates whom Progressives could support. In Connecticut the Progressives held the balance of power. Gutzon did not believe that they should put a ticket of their own into the field. They should keep their identity, he felt, and place their power as a group behind the best candidates nominated by other parties.