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Chapter 26 From Texas to New York Pursuant to orders of the War Department, on the retirement of General Robert L. Bullard, I left Fort Sam Houston on January 11, 1925, and assumed command of the Second Corps Area with headquarters at Governors Island, New York City, on January 16. At a large banquet for General Bullard in New York, I tried to pay suitable tribute to him. My dear wife used money that she had inherited and bought rugs and furniture for the large house of the commanding general. This was the most important command in the army. I visited the posts in New York, New Jersey, and Delaware and also called on the state governors within the corps area, as I had done on arrival in all of my other commands. We found constant social demands, and, generally, we went out to dinner or entertained at home. At the banquets of large organizations, I met and made friends with many prominent men. A banquet was given to me as a welcome. Dr. John Findley,1 prominent in education and journalism, was called on to make the welcoming address. He said that he knew nothing about me but would tell me about New York. He gave a beautiful picture of the human side of the great city. We became good friends. One of the most representative banquets was given to President-Elect Muchado2 of Cuba. I was the principal speaker, although I did not know that I was to speak until I saw the menu. We had dined the previous night with a prominent couple where the wife’s first husband had been consul in Havana. She told me of the Cuban psychology and the price of Spanish blood and tradition. I used this information and so pleased the president-elect that he rose and shook my hand, thanked me effusively, and asked me to send him a copy of my remarks for publication. At a large banquet of the Iron and Steel Institute, I sat next to the president, Judge Elbert H. Gary.3 Again, I did not know that I was to speak until I read the menu and saw that the British ambassador4 and I were the only speakers. I told them of 190 THE WAY OF DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY the relationship of national defense and industry. It pleased them, and several thanked me, saying they did not like to have the ambassador read to them. I always spoke extemporaneously. I was made an honorary member of all the New York clubs. I was especially impressed by the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, where I spoke and pointed out the necessity for capital as an element of national defense and the need for commerce to be incorporated into war plans. One gentleman expressed some alarm when I said that everything in the country was a part of war and not just soldiers and sailors. He asked me if people’s money was included. I told him that it was and must be used if the government needed it. It was no more important than the lives of men. The troops at Governors Island were badly housed, but I could get no money for new buildings. But when the barracks burned one night, I went to the members of Congress, and over $1 million was appropriated for new barracks. Although I had no control over the Brooklyn base,5 I learned of bad conditions as to property there and the treatment of men to be discharged, which I could not correct. The posts, mostly garrisoned by the First Division, were in a high state of efficiency and morale. I conceived the idea of moving the troops from New York Harbor by barges, as we had no money for rail transportation, to Fort Ontario, overlooking Lake Ontario at Oswego, New York, and holding maneuvers at Pine Camp Reservation.6 I knew that a large sum of money had been spent by the state to improve the Erie Canal. I learned that the highway bridges over the canal had only twelve feet clearance and only the specially built barges and tugs could pass under them. At a dinner shortly afterward, I sat by the wife of a man in the shipping industry. When I told her this, she said: “Yes, and my husband bought all of the canal barges and tugs.” There was no other traffic on the canal. At another dinner given...

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