The leaders were disturbed and tried to mollify
the defiant Senator from Idaho with every means at hand even giving
assurance that the Senator from Pennsylvania would vote against the
Peace Treaty and the League of Nations which was supposed to
represent his vital interest at that time. He refused to compromise
and announced that Penrose must go. He was offered every committee
assignment that he or his friends wanted, and accepted them, but as
a matter of right.
Penrose was determined not to be displaced to satisfy what he
regarded as a colleague's whim. He sat silent in his office
receiving reports from hour to hour on Borah's state of mind. On
the day before the caucus Borah whispered that he intended to make
charges against the Pennsylvania leader that would provide a
sensation regardless of any effect they might have upon the party
or the country. The report was brought to Penrose. Instead of
trembling he sent word to Borah that he might say what he pleased
concerning his political career but that if he made any personal
charges he would regret them to his dying day. Borah appeared to
understand. He did not even attend the caucus and Penrose was duly
elected. Whether he was trading for committee assignments or
initiated the fight on political grounds is a question he alone can
answer, if anyone should have the temerity to ask it.
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