They ignored him.
A pale faced delegate in black, who had thus far said nothing, spoke up softly, "I have been instructed to inform you that our organization demands that all of the colonists be of the true faith."
His words were drowned by the shouting of half a dozen of the conference delegates. Loud above them all could be heard the bellow of Maxim Gregoroff.
"Our Union now includes the population of approximately half the world. Our allotment, consequently, will be five hundred colonists, of the one thousand. We will choose them by our own methods."
Lord Harriman murmured, "Undoubtedly, by starting at the top of the party membership list and taking the first five hundred names beginning with your leader."
The President of the United States ran his hand through his hair and then roughly down the side of his face. A messenger handed him a slip of paper. He read it and intensified his pounding on the table.
"Gentlemen," he shouted. "If Professor Manklethorp is through, we have here a request from the International Physical Culture Society to have their representative heard."
"I know," Sven Carlesen said. "He wants all of the colonists to be able to chin themselves twenty-five times as the first requisite."
At the end of the five year period the space ship came again, settling into the identical field where it had first landed. This time a delegation awaited it, and a multitude that stretched as far as the eye could see.