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CHAPTER VI

FRENZIED FINANCE

IN HIS YOUTH James William Bryan began dreaming that he dwelt in marble halls and continued to do so all his richly-lived life. His thoughts, his plans and his experiences (especially in the telling) were always appreciably larger than life size. The members of the National Press Club today are the beneficiaries of his perennial optimism!

Little more than a wispy thought back in the days of World War I, by 1925 it materialized into a nebulous inspiration which grew to the size of an option, bound by payment of one dollar. Today his idea of a National Press Club Building pleasantly houses the Club and, in 1957, produced an operating income of $1,075,000 from the rent of its 1001 offices, a dozen street level stores, a flourishing basement restaurant, a barber shop and one of the largest theatres in the East. When erected, it was the largest privately-owned office building in the National Capital. It is regarded today as the best business address in Washington.

Mr. Bryan was not without experience in the field of creating substantial things out of dreams. He had raised the funds for the Flora MacDonald College at Red Springs, N. C. and the luxurious Congressional Country Club on the edge of Washington. The man of genius need not endure the trammels of other mortals. He creates in his mind's eye and sees the finished creation whole. Mr. Bryan thought the most desirable business site in Washington was at Fourteenth and F Streets. In the twinkling of his eye he razed the structures in occupation and erected his own edifice. That is exactly what happened.

The old Ebbitt House, an ante-bellum hotel filled with red plush carpets, black walnut furniture and one of the most famous bars in the Capital, long the stopping-place of Cabinet ministers, Members of Congress and other great figures of the time, occupied most of the site. Next on F Street stood a small structure of two and a half-stories once the quarters and law office of Aaron Burr at the time he killed Alexander Hamilton on the banks of the Hudson River. Next again on F Street was the Hooe Iron Building, which was indeed built of cast iron and was an early predecessor of the modern steel-girdered skyscraper.

Mr. Bryan learned that these three parcels were controlled by the Stormfeltz- Loveley Co. of Detroit as trustees for various owners. He met Mr. Stormfeltz and Mr. Loveley at the Commodore Hotel in New York to negotiate an option for the purchase of these holdings. Neither partner took Mr. Bryan very seriously and so, in the course of a somewhat typical Prohibition Era conference, an option holding the property for thirty days was signed. Even though the real estate firm held but a very light view of the proceedings, the option was legally sound. To be sure the payment of that dollar had to be followed in thirty days by payment of $2,850,000 or some sort of renewal.

In the course of his many activities M r. Bryan had accumulated a wide acquaintance. He found bankers willing to underwrite bonds to the extent of $6,250,000 and builders willing to provide $450,000 additional on a junior mortgage. This is incredible, but it happened. After all, it was in the fabulous 'Twenties. He even opened solid negotiations with Famous players - Lasky for the leasing of a theatre in the building which did not yet exist!

Miraculously, Jim Bryan returned to Washington with a contract covering the participation of contractors, architects, investment bankers, material men and others in the spectral edifice. It included some 22 pages of requirements which the Club would have to meet. Col. William J. Donovan (later to become Gen. Donovan of the Office of Strategic Services in World War II) and at that time Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, passed on the validity of the contract and said it was good, just as the $l option was good.

The next move was the calling of an extraordinary meeting of active members to ratify the proposals. No phantom has ever raised such opposition. Led by Richard V. Oulahan of the New York Times, many influential members opposed the scheme on the principal ground that newspaper writers should not engage in real estate deals. Actually, that was a thoroughly sound position but the word "obstacle" was not in the bright lexicon of the mature but youthfully enthusiastic Mr. Bryan. By a narrow margin, the meeting agreed to very little. While it would not as yet, wholly sponsor the bubble, it would not prick it!

With this dubious approval of his grandiose plans, Mr. Bryan succeeded in gaining the interest of John Hays Hammond, the eminent mining engineer, and John Joy Edson, Chairman of the Board of the Washington Loan and Trust Co., an old, solid Washington banking house. Then and later, many meetings were held at the home of Mr. Hammond, now the French Embassy, the vast mansion overlooking the valley of Rock Creek. Mr. Hammond and Mr. Edson agreed to serve on an executive committee together with Henry Sweinhart, 1925 President of the Club, and Mr. Bryan, with purpose to clothe the bubble with more substance. Harvey D. Jacob an associate member, served as counsel, piloting Mr. Bryan his Executive Committee and all others concerned through a more difficult course than ever Ferdinand Magellan braved.

National Press Building site: Fourteenth and F Streets had long made a famous corner when this picture was taken on F Street in the 1880s. At left, the offices of the New York Tribune; past the alley, a real estate firm; then the Hooe Iron Building, erected on a cast-iron framework and a problem to demolish; next the little structure that was once the office and dwelling-place of Aaron Burr; on the corner, the ornate Ebbitt House.

Mr. Jacob's first counsel was to tighten the option. The property covered was probably the most desirable parcel for commercial development in the city. So far, the $1 option was held by Jim Bryan as an individual. It was due for renewal on September 4 and it was certain that the Stormfeltz and Loveley firm would not renew for any trivial sum. Renewal, it was learned, would cost $12,500.

Hugh Morrow, when an associate editor of the Saturday Evening Post, in writing about this particular step, said:

"First there was the problem of raising the initial payment of $12,500 on the option. The Club did not have that kind of money. Bryan executed a demand note in that amount at the District National Bank where he was told the money could be borrowed if a dozen Press Club members acted as co-signers. These men, eventually totaling thirteen, have become known in the Club annals as The Signers, honored in retrospect almost equally with the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Each obligated himself personally for $1,050 of the note; some may have had that much in the bank, some might have been able to raise that much if sued, some it can safely be presumed, were not within hailing distance of that much money.


	The option on the Fourteenth and F Streets site of the projected National Press Building was renewed by James William Bryan for $12,500, pledged by himself and thirteen other chance-takers. An offer of $500,000 had already been made for the original $1 option!

"The fact that two bank presidents were signers number twelve and thirteen and that a bank cashier was signer number eight in no way diminishes the personal risk these men were willing to undertake to make a dream come true, for such substantial signatures were obtained in a last-minute gesture of desperation. Harvey Jacob was the first of the co-signers. Next came Harold J. Pack, an attorney, now deceased; then Thomas R. Shipp, reporter and advertising man; Club President Sweinhart; Homer J. Dodge, then editor of the Bankers Information Service and, as Bryan and many others recall, 'tower of strength' in making the building a reality; Charlie S. Hayden of the Nashville Banner; Frank P. Morgan, now deceased, Washington representative of August P. Belmont, the great financier and racehorse fancier; C. J. Gockeler, cashier of the bank which loaned the money; Edward E. Britton of the Raleigh News and Observer; Frank B. Lord, former newspaperman and vice-chairman of the U. S. Shipping Board; Frank Morse, financier and broker; Edson, and Robert Harper, President of the bank which made the loan.

1 While all the Signers saw the building completed and occupied, only three, Mr. Jacob, Mr. Gockeler and Mr. Dodge survive at the fiftieth anniversary of the Club and the 33rd anniversary or the note signing.

"It was a severe strain upon the banking laws for the President and Cashier of the District National Bank, which made the loan, also to act as co-signers but, the statute of limitations having run, the incident is worth mentioning as an illustration of the weird events which produced the Press Building and as an indication of the times."

It was this note which held the land where the Press Building now stands, for by this time the owners were awakening to the meaning of what they had done. Here it should be mentioned that during the time Mr. Bryan held the option as his own property he was offered half a million dollars for it and that, later, when he had transferred it without charge to the Club, the Club was offered $800,000 - all for one bit of paper negotiated at the Commodore Hotel for $1!

But when another 30 days had slipped by, the option had to be renewed with another $12,500 payment. This time John Hays Hammond agreed to make that payment himself. He had taken chances before. For his participation in the events surrounding the Jameson Raid which started the Boer War in South Africa he had been sentenced to death and luckily got off by payment of a fine of $125,000.

Also, although there had been a minimum of newspaper publicity (most people still regarding the entire project as in the realm of mythology) there was a deal off gossip along Broadway in New York. Motion picture companies had not at that date risen to the Big Business stature they later attained but there were far-seeing men among the pioneers who knew a good thing.

By the time another month had passed both the Famous Players - Lasky and the Fox Theater Corp. had shown eagerness to obtain an outlet in the National Capital. While progress had been made in renting non-existing offices high up in the air where an imaginary building might some-day be reared, it was important that the theatre section of the structure be bound under a solid lease. It was at another meeting in New York, this time at the Hotel Belmont, when the backers, including Hammond and Edson, were becoming restive that the next long stride was taken.

While the Famous Players-Lasky people still were dickering over mortgages, William Fox hammered at the door and agreed to advance $500,000 cash to be applied to future rent of a non-existent theatre. A. C. Blumenthal, Fox's man of business, was in charge and papers were drawn. Charlie Chaplin, then a guest at Fox's house was brought in to witness his signature, signing in green ink.

With the agreement for the theatre in hand, the promoters went forward with other financing and an arrangement finally was reached by which first and second mortgages, totaling $6,600,000, were negotiated. Because a club, under District of Columbia law, may not engage directly in real estate operations, the National Press Building Corporation was created, the common stock of which was held by the National Press Club. There was a third mortgage held by building contractors who, in effect, had advanced money to pay themselves. Then the new Corporation was to issue preferred stock for sale to the public. And that was an interesting operation. There were both professional and amateur salesmen, mostly volunteers who were members of the Club. Harry Gusack, Granville Hunt, Harvey Cobb - quite a number button-holed their friends, members and others, more or less browbeating them into buying preferred stock in the venture.

With all these negotiations in fluid process, 1926 election time came around and Ulric Bell of the Louisville Courier-Journal was elected to succeed Mr. Sweinhart who, nevertheless, continued to advise on building matters. In Mr. Bell's administration the usual flow of parties took place, including one for the Crown Prince of Sweden. But much of Mr. Bell's time was consumed in affairs of the new structure. He made many trips to New York to consult with contractors, bankers and others, always under the shepherding of Mr. Bryan.

A Chicago firm of architects won the contract to design the structure. There was the usual disagreement over plans. At least one member of the building committee resigned because the Club quarters faced F Street instead of to the South, overlooking the broad vista to the Potomac River and beyond, but he was sternly told that an eminent firm of architects surely knew more than he did about such matters. He thought not, but the plans were not changed; indeed, as the whole project was proceeding on a sort of tight-rope, it probably would have been unwise to make any change which would disrupt or delay.

The old Ebbitt Hotel came tumbling down, with a few members saving bricks or other material as souvenirs. In fact, the bar of the old hotel was salvaged and to this day stands in a small restaurant the Old Ebbitt Grill, at 1427 F Street, almost beneath the second quarters of the Club.

To tear down the Hooe Iron Building was a different matter. So sturdy was this cast iron structure that the contractors almost resorted to blasting to wrench it apart.

Then, as though not enough trouble had been encountered, the deep hole dug for the foundation struck water. Not a trickle but a lake, for Washington is not far above sea-level and the tide rose and fell in the excavation twice a day. The contractors had to resort to caisson work and then construct a vast concrete raft on which the building floats with pumps discharging 30 to 50 gallons of water every minute now and from now on!

It wasn't really THE cornerstone, but it served to publicize the Club's daring project. President Calvin Coolidge wields the trowel on April 8, 1926, as Secretary of Labor Davis looks on. A general view of the Fourteenth Street crowd is on opposite page.

James William Bryan had been retained by the building corporation as its representative on the job to work with the contractors' and architects' supervisors. From rented offices across F Street in the Westory building, Mr. Bryan and members of the building committee and others watched the steel rise and the building take shape, the bubble take on firmness, the spirit become flesh.

On a brisk April 8 of 1926 President Coolidge laid the cornerstone.

All this was much too good to be true. In those roaring twenties, as now, the Nation was in a period of rising wages and prices and it soon became apparent that the building was going to cost more than original estimates. It was imperatively necessary that $1,312,000 be raised almost immediately if the building was going to continue. An issue of 7 per cent cumulative preferred stock was announced and some fantastic salesmanship was used to sell it.

Now, here in the words of Jim Bryan, himself, is a vivid description of the almost frenzied promotion methods adopted to insure success of the stock sale:

"Actually at the time the cornerstone ceremonies were held we were not ready for the cornerstone. In fact, we would not be ready for several months. But we had to have the money then and there or the whole thing would have gone up in smoke.

"My face is red and I shamefacedly confess that His Excellency, the President of the United States, who so vigorously wielded the golden trowel presented by Senator Jim Davis for the occasion, before that awed and distinguished gathering on the afternoon of that April day splashed a lot of mortar in vain. For the cornerstone he 'laid' was in the middle of the sidewalk and the memento box of heavy copper, lined with aluminum and jacketed with zinc, containing things of interest to be preserved for a future day, rested only a few hours in its temporary place. That night it went into my safe to be held until the Building Committee placed it in the real cornerstone months later."

The copper box in the cornerstone contains suitable mementos such as Club records, copies of Washington newspapers, photographs of the Ebbitt House, a Congressional directory listing members of the Capitol Press Galleries of the period, specimens of gold and silver coinage (donated by Secretary of the Treasury Mellon) and other memorable items.

Newspaper publishers, at first very reluctant about the whole show, bought stock. The Star purchased $25,000, the Los Angeles Times $10,000, McGraw-Hill, $15,000, the National Geographic Magazine, $25.000; individual newspapermen, $78,600. Then, too, wealthy men were approached. Andrew W. Mellon, then Secretary of the Treasury, bought $50,000 of the stock and Otto Kahn, New York banker, $25,000 while those old standbys Hammond and Edson bought $52,700 and $14,000 respectively.

Still another obstacle was encountered and overcome. The first plans had called for an eleven-story building but experts found that more rental space would be necessary to carry the fiscal mountain that had been reared. Now a zoning law of the District of Columbia forbade the erection of sky- scrapers in Washington as calculated to dominate Government structures. So it was necessary to induce Congress to pass a special bill permitting the Press building to rise to fourteen stories. The bill passed the House Representative Blanton of Texas leading the fight, but Senator King of Utah conducted a one-man filibuster against it in the Senate. It was Senator Copeland of New York who, at length, forced the measure through.

There was always the need for more money to keep these extra stories rising. Harvey Jacob arranged loans, with the faithful backing of Mr. Hammond from Washington banks amounting to $260,000. Mr. Hammond advanced another $50,000 and, wonder of wonders, the contractors lent $300,000.

The year 1927 may be noted as marking a notable personal career. It had long been the custom of the Club to follow the time-honored usage of the American voters in electing to the vice-presidency a man whom it was desired to honor for long and honorable service but with little if any intent of further promotion. Alfred H. Kirchhofer, correspondent of the Buffalo Evening News, was elected President and, with him, Louis Ludlow of the Columbus Dispatch and other papers, Vice-president. Louis Ludlow was a country lad from Indiana, becoming a newspaper reporter at a tender age. He was serving as Vice President of the Club when Mr. Kirchhofer was called to Buffalo to become managing editor of the News. So in March 1927, a rousing farewell party was given at the Willard for Mr. Kirchhofer which also served as an inaugural function for Mr. Ludlow, succeeding as President of the Club. The legend runs that he, fulfilling the functions of President thus unexpectedly, became enamored of public life. So, instead of returning to his plodding career of Washington news coverage, he went back to his home district in Indiana, ran - successfully for Congress and remained there for thirty years. Mr. Ludlow rose to an important place on the House Committee on Appropriations, wrote a number of useful books and became one of the most highly respected members of Congress.

After Charles A. Lindbergh had returned from his historic flight across the Atlantic in May, 1927, he came to Washington to be received by the President and also visited the Club. Will Rogers was a guest and later became a member.

Prospective tenants who had signed agreements to move into imaginary quarters found the quarters materialized and the first tenant in the Press building moved in August 25, exactly two years from the date on which Mr. Oulahan and his supporters had said it could not be done. To be sure, the elevators were not yet installed and members of the Baltimore Sun staff, for example, walked up twelve lights of stairs for a few weeks. Also, some pioneer occupants did their own painting and installation of electrical fixtures and such odd chores.

On September 19 the Fox Theatre, later to be known as the Capitol, had its gala opening with President Coolidge, his Cabinet, the Diplomatic Corps, many Members of Congress and other distinguished guests from the world of the stage, the world of finance, the newspaper world and a galaxy of others, in full dress attendance. Club President Ludlow welcomed the gathering.

It was not until December that the Club moved in to occupy most of the thirteenth and all of the fourteenth floors. Out of the building deal, $90,000 had been provided for Club furnishings in addition to a 99-year lease at $1 a year on its extensive quarters. Since then a re-adjustment has provided for payment of a share of real estate taxes and for other space but, even so, thanks to Mr. Bryan's dream, the Club has enjoyed its occupancy at a fraction of what it would pay in the open market - all this and the prospect, within a reasonable time, of a majority ownership of the property.

So future generations might know the times when the National Press Club was formed, the cornerstone of the National Press Building contains a copper box full of mementoes. Here the box is filled: Left to right, Graham B. Nichol, W. H Atkins, Edgar Markham, George H. Carter, George F. Autheir, Ulric Bell, Frank B. Lord, A. J. Dodge, H. L. Sweinhart, Frederic J. Haskin, Jack Connolly, James W. Bryan, Ralph A. Graves.

J. Fred Essary, correspondent of the Baltimore Sun and the author of many books, had become President of the Club in 1928. In his dedicatory address he traced the growth of concentration of political and governmental power in the Federal establishment which, inevitably, was followed by a concentration of the press at the National Capital.

The Press building slowly began to fill, largely with the Washington bureaus of out-of-town newspapers. Enough correspondents were in for it to gain the nickname of the blacksheet building, an unkind suggestion that correspondents merely crossed corridors and/or went up or down a few floors to trade carbon copies of news stories.

For the first seven years, operation of the building as a business venture continued in the red. There had been a gladsome windfall when the Bureau of Internal Revenue rented 425 offices at one stroke in 1928 but in 1930 the Bureau's own new building was ready for occupancy. The Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of today's Federal Communications Commission, came in to make good only a small part of the loss.

Russell Kent of the Birmingham News, was president in 1929. In his administration he received a delegation of French journalists who presented the Club with the huge blue Sevres vase which stands in the main lounge, the French Ambassador and Secretary of State Kellogg being present.

The Press Building is administered by a separate corporation named by the Club. Here is the first board of officers for the building: John Hays Hammond, president; H. L. Sweinhart, vice president; John Joy Edson, treasurer; Harvey D. Jacob, general counsel; James William Bryan, secretary and general manager.

In October, 1929, came the Stock Market collapse foreshadowing the Great Depression. Here, indeed, was new trouble for the Club and its building which while not turning back into a dream or a bubble was, to some minds, evolving rapidly into a gigantic while elephant with lavish red ink markings!

Bascom Timmons, correspondent for the Houston Chronicle and other newspapers, was elected president for 1932, the year of perhaps the deepest depression for the entire Nation. No dividends had been paid on the preferred stock which fell lo almost a vanishing point on the open market. At midnight, after having been inaugurated President of the Club, Mr.Timmons met with former Club President J. Fred Essary and Jesse H. Jones, who had come to Washington to serve on the newly created Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Mr. Essary, who had succeeded Mr. Hammond as President of the National Press Building Corporation, gave Mr. Jones, an experienced banker, the figures telling the whole bitter tale.

Mr. Jones keenly aware of how shaky finances were everywhere in the world, counseled preparation for a receivership. It was not until October 17, however, that the building went into receivership with Lawrence B. Campbell who had been serving as General Manager of the Building, named as receiver, not at an exacting receiver's fee following frequent business practice but at his usual modest salary, which already had been reduced under pressure of the hard times. This gave a brief breathing space but a foreclosure sale seemed inevitable. President Hoover, upon hearing of the struggle from Mr. Timmons, said: "Don't let them do that. First mortgage bondholders have been pretty ruthless. They have been foreclosing buildings right and left, getting property in many cases worth far more than the mortgage liability. This practice has spread misery all over the country."

Let Hugh Morrow take up the tale again:

"Timmons and Essary went to work. There were endless conferences with bankers, protective committees of bondholders and representatives of preferred stockholders. In addition to Timmons and Essary, Paul Wooton of McGraw-Hill, Carter Field of the New York Herald-Tribune, Edgar Markham of the St. Paul Dispatch, O. M. Kile of the Kile Syndicate, Raymond P. Brandt of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and George Stimpson, then editor of The Pathhnder, threw themselves into the fray. Timmons, however, was the enfant terrible of this group for he could lose his temper more artistically than anyone else. Fists were waved under astonished bankers' noses and on one occasion Timmons growled, "The bonded debt of this building is less than half its value. We got as much usable money from the preferred stock purchasers as we did from the mortgage holders. The good faith of the Press Club is at stake. lf under the circumstances you bondholders foreclose your mortgage, I shall do my best to see that every newspaper tenant moves out of the building and furthermore, I shall personally chisel off the name National Press Building."

Inasmuch as the presence of the Press Club means as much to the value of the Press Building as the presence of the Federal Government means to the City of Washington, this was a dire threat!

These were times of transition. In November Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. Mr. Timmons and Mr. Brandt and Eugene Leggett of the Detroit Free Press were among the correspondents traveling on his campaign train. They explained the dismal situation of the Club and its building and exacted a promise from the man who was to be the next President to support an amendment to the bankruptcy laws. With so many revolutionary things to be accomplished by the New Deal it was not until 1934 that Section 77-8 was enacted by Congress. With an hour-by-hour watch being kept at both the Capitol and White House, word was flashed that the Conference Report making the new section law had been adopted and then that the President had signed it. Fifteen minutes later Mr. Timmons was at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia filing the first petition recorded under 77-8 destined to become famous as the amendment which saved thousands of depression-struck corporations throughout the country from ruin.

The bankruptcy proceedings in receivership unavoidably resulted in losses to some investors, holders of bonds and preferred stock waiving payment of nearly $1,500,000 in accumulated dividends and interest. Walter M. Bastian, a Club member and later to become a judge of the United States Court of Appeals, served as attorney for the receiver. Losses were trivial compared with many if not most proceedings. No melodramatic mortgage holder profited.

Since that ordeal and with the effects of the Great Depression waning and Washington becoming increasingly important as a world capital, the Press building has made money. It is 100 per cent rented and its debt has been reduced at an average rate off $200,000 a year. All floating bank debt was paid off by 1950 and although the Club could have assumed full control of the building, it elected to continue a voting trusteeship. In 1955 the Building Corporation offered to exchange 5 per cent 25-year debentures for outstanding preferred stock. To the extent of 85 per cent, holders have taken advantage of this and now are receiving regular interest payments.

Efforts are being made to acquire the remaining 15 per cent of outstanding preferred shares. Building Corporation officials have established the whereabouts of half these shares but despite persistent efforts have been unable to find the other widely scattered stock.

In 1956 David Lawrence, Lawrence Campbell and Albert F. Adams negotiated a new lease with the Capitol Theatre providing graduated rent increases averaging 20 per cent. The building has been well maintained and, although constructed before air conditioning became general, some 600 individual units have been installed in offices.

While nowhere in building or Club quarters is there so much as a plaque or a portrait to the man from Tennessee who more than any other brought the once chimerical project into concrete existence, he does not lack commemoration for, even as an inscription on the walls of St. Paul's Cathedral celebrates Sir Christopher Wren, so can it be said of James William Bryan: If you would see his monument, look about you!

Under the original building contract Mr. Bryan received $300,000 in debentures, junior to all other securities and not redeemable until all other obligations had been met, in recognition of his services. He never realized a dollar on this, but soon after his death on June 22, 1952, an arrangement was made whereby his widow, Blanche Bryan, who had endured substantial widowhood while he was away for long periods creating the building, was paid a lump sum which, while much less than the amount originally granted Mr. Bryan, contented her.

PRESIDENT HOOVER WITH THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS, NOVEMBER 1930

Those members readily identifiable in front row, left to right: Oliver Lerch, Stuart Hayes, Drew Pearson, -- ? --, Henry L. Sweinhart, -- ? - -, Mark Foote, Gus Tarry, Robert S. Allen, Thomas F. Healy, President Herbert Hoover, Lewis Wood, George Manning, Paul Wooton, Paul Mixter, Richard O'Keefe, John E. Nevin, Ray Tucker, -- ? --, -- ? --. Second and third rows from left: -- ? --, Lee Poe Hart, Rodney Dutcher, James L. Wright, H . E . C. Bryant, Kurt Sell, Mervin Brown, Phelps Adams, Robert B. Armstrong, Mark Goodwin, Dorothea Lewis, Jim Selvage, Wells "Ted" Church, Turner Catledge, George Akerson, Bill Flythe, Strickland Gillilan, James Hornaday, -- ? --, George Sanford Holmes, Max Stern, Hurry Nauss, Ben McKelway, Chas. O. Gridley, -- ? --, Irvin Foos, Arthur Crawford, Arthur Sears Henning, Lynn Lamm, Ed Folliard, Park Engle, Oliver McKee, Harold Brayman, Denys Smith, Larry Todd.

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