On April 26th in an interview, after the delivery of his letter, Mr. Smith asked General Di Giorgi: "What would be the punishment of a soldier who criticized his king as John Calhoun had President Wilson."
"Mr. Smith, you must excuse me from answering; I am not a politician, but a soldier." (The general is considered one of the most astute politicians in Italy.)
A major who was present said: "We would turn his face to the wall and shoot him in the back."
On April 28th Professor Black sailed for America on a three-months' vacation, a very inopportune time, as the Y work was in a chaotic state and his more than two hundred subalternate secretaries exposed to personal danger.
General Treat, Commander of the American forces in Italy, after an investigation, ordered Saylor stripped of his uniform, and he was sent home. Before he left Italy he was made a Cavaliere. His friends among the Italian officers, who had repeatedly enjoyed the hospitality of his Fiat, dubbed him "Sir Knight of the Highway."
He returned by way of France and attended the first convention of the American Legion in Paris. He returned on an American transport with several thousand soldiers. As he looked at these boys he thought of the vast horde returning and how in less than ten years they would rule the nation, and the idea of pushing prominently into the organization of the Legion took deeper root in his brain.
Aboard the transport he did not recount his adventures on the battlefields of Italy. He was fearful some officer having knowledge that his uniform had been taken from him, or having private instructions from General Treat, might question the value of his services in the determination of the World War. But when he reached Kentucky it would be a different proposition; he would be a rooster on his own dunghill.
He remained a few days in New York and so managed as to make himself conspicuous as one of the founders of the Legion.
When he reached home he was a zealous advocate against the League of Nations, and declared himself a political maverick until that issue was settled.
It seemed to have been settled when he arrived at the conclusion that Morrow, the Republican candidate, would be elected Governor.