Evening Star Newspaper, November 7, 1928, Page 10

"as HOOVER’S ELECTION CLIMAXES A CAREER FOUNDED ON HARD DEVOTION T0 DUTY MOLDED HIS LIFE Electorate’s Reward Seen as Reiteration of America’s Equality of Opportunity. BY REX COLLIER. ‘The election of Herbert Clark Hoover the thirtieth ~ President of the United States is the climax of a career founded on the theory that success is the result not of heritage, or of chance, or of favor, but of devotion to duty and to one’s fellow man, qualities which, in the case of Mr. Hoover, were found in the son of a village blacksmith and a Quaker woman preacher. Half a century ago the muscled arm of Jesse Hoover rose and fell method- ically and powerfully in pursuance of his humble vocation as molder of iron and steel in a little shop at West Branch, Jowa. Come the Sabbath day, and the smith’s wife, Hulda, betook herself and her family to the Friends’ Meeting House as an exhorter of a simple faith, the principal tenet of which was avoidance of sham and “‘worldliness.” Herbert Hoover was deprived of the personal counsel and inspiration and companionship of such sturdy parents before he reached the age of 8. is father died when Herbert was 4 years old, and his mother passed on three years later. The quiet-mannered, good-natured Quaker orphan was alone in the world. But in his veins flowed the blood of one who had learned the true worth of honest sweat, firmness of purpose and clear vision, and of another who had :I‘espised shallowness, deceit and ostenta- jon. ‘Works His Way to Fame. Just as the orderly hammering of the Towa blacksmith bent steel to the pur- poses of its master, Herbert Hoover, modestly but determinedly, has been hammering himself a niche in the hall of fame. In the clamor of the crowd the telling blows at times passed almost unnoticed. But the blows were taking effect: Hoover has put his theory of hard work and organization to a supreme test in the presidential campaign just ended. He had tried it out successfully as a young mining engineer, as a world-re- spected humanitarian and as a states- man. None gainsaid the practicability of such a theory as applied to engineering, :ellef work or governmental administra- ion. Apply such homely philosophy to politics? The multitude smiled and shook its head. The politicians gasped, and said it could not be done. Politics, it was argued, is a peculiar science, ofttimes demanding of its followers a sacrifice of personal diffidence, conflicting stand- ;;fls of character and distaste of make- eve. Hoover Not a Politician. Hoover, not being a politician in any sense of the word, could not get the politician’s viewpoint. He didn't care much for politiclans and their ways, anyhow. He had a pet theory of his own about getting ahead in this world, politics to the contrary notwithstanding. He had proved that theory to be work- able hundreds of times in the past. He had hammered his way into college and to his degree through hard work. He had hammered his way to the pinnacle of engineering affuence without sacri- ficing one jota of his reputation. His constant, compelling pounding away at this problem or the other had opened to him world-wide fields of opportunity and hitherto unfathomed spheres of public service. He determined to try out his proven theory in the field of politics. It was with some feeling of reluctance, however, that the then Secretary of Commerce decided to acquiesce to the swelling tide of popular demand that he present himself as a candidate for the highest office in the power of his country to bestow. He weighed the question in his mind for months before he acceded to the pleas of his friends. Perhaps he felt that his pet ideas about equality of opportunity—his somewhat old-fashioned theories about American individualism—were being challenged. Wiseacres Discount Boom. Political wiseacres winked when the Hoover boom was launched, prior to the Kansas Gity convention. Presidential candidates, they con- tended, were made, not born. It might be all right to. talk of the “unbounded hope” with which free citizens of the United States may look forward to the White House and way points, but poli- ticians know that candidates are select- ed at those mysterious 3 a.m. huddles in a hotel room just before the roll call of the morrow. “He doesn’t stand a chance. The politicians are against him.” Those were the statements going the rounds at Kansas City last Spring. ‘But Hoover's friends, trained in the Hoover methods of getting things done, were beating an inexorable, distracting tattoo on the cranfums of Republican leaders. Adopting Hoover plans of or- ganization, the thought was hammered into their brains that “It must be Hoover.” There was little ballyhoo to the Hoover pre-convention boom, but lots of systematic, forceful, constructive campaigning, nevertheless. Candidate Declines to Talk. Hoover himself maintained a char- | acteristic sence. He explained he was in the hands of his friends. Since he possessed the widest circle of loyal friends, perhaps, of any man in Amer- jca, it may be seen this was arwell considered statement. Organization again had gained him this valuable| asset of friendship. Any one who had ever worked with Hoover in any of his far-flung national and international relief enterprises—from the Boxer up- rising, through the World War and tol the Mississippi flood emergency—be- | came a Hoover booster. The Hoover enthusiasm and loyalty were con- tagious. g Insidiously the hard-boiled politicians found themselves, to their own amaze- ment, repeating the crescendo chorus— “Who But Hoover?” It was just beyond comprehension, somehow, but what can one do in the face of such overwhelm- ing odds? Hoover, as all the world knows, re- ceived the nomination unanimously on the first ballot, something almost” un- heard of in modern political history. The first step in what had been regarded in “informed” circles as an impossible undertaking had been nego- tiated safely and decisively. There were some who had regarded that step as the greatest potential stumbling block of the program. The remainder of the journey toward the big goal would be easy, they held. Unceasing Work His Motto. Hoover, however, is not given to over- confidence. His formula for achieving an objective is to work unstintingly until the end is attained. Keep your mouth closed, set your jaw and keep plugging away—that is his motto for success. He set an example for his supporters to follow. He announced his campaign would be waged solely on_constructive, defensive lines. He warned against mud-slinging in any form. He fixed a limit on the number of campaign speeches he would make. He began the formation of an organization. Don't let any one tell you that Her- bert Hoover did not run his own cam- paign. Ask the politicians—they know. He began by choosing as generalissimo THE "EVENING- STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, '1928. of his campaign organization Dr. Hu- bert Work of Colorado, an original Hoover booster, an organizer in his own right and . a_believer in the Hoover methods of “less talk and more work.” Here was going to be presented a most unusual presidential campaign, if there ever was one. Imagine a political crusade dcvoid of all fanfaronade! But the politicians charily .refrained from making another explosion. They were beginning to sit back and learn things hhey had never heard of before in poli- cs. Organizes Far-Reaching Campaign. Around the skeleton of a completely reorganized Republican national com- mittee Hoover built a far-reaching cam- aign structure imbued with Hoover deas of campaigning. In accordance with his belief in individualism, au- thority was decentralized, strong State organizations were formed, city groups were approved, precinct committees were set up. The genius for organization which had saved a nation from starving, averted post-war chaos and saved hun- dreds of lives of his own fellow-citizens during America’s greatest flood catas- trophe soon became manifest. The Hoover campaign spread into the States like a fungus. Hoover clubs sprang up everywhere, Women's com- mittees appeared from nowhere. Vet- erans’ units espoused the cause. En- gineers and lawyers and educators and financiers and working men formed a shoulder-to-shoulder army under the Hoover banner. The radio was brought into play, as it never before has been used in a ences. Literally tons of® “constructive” literature flooded the mails. House-to- house canvasses of the voters were ef- fected. Everywhere the Hoover mes- sage was hammered home with con- vincing force. It was a promise of prosperity, of support of the Constitu- tion, of wise, progressive government. Manifests Faith in His Program. Hoover had the utmost confidence in his organization from the moment of its completion. ‘None. of his organiza- tions of his engineering days or of his relief services had failed him, and he had no fear that his campaign set-up would fall short of his appraisal. That is why he saw no necessity for taking the stump himself more than a few times. He never departed from his original plan of delivering only-sufficient formal speeches to make clear his stand on the major issues. In his speech of acceptance at the outset of the cam- paign he made a general exposition of his views on all questions deemed by him of national importance. At West Branch he specidlized on the needs of the farmer, at Elizabethton-on water- power, at Boston on the tariff, at New York on foreign trade, at St. Louis on inland waterways. As the campaign progressed he be~ came more accustomed to his new role | in politics. - He began to feel thoroughly at home amid cheering throngs. At first he had shrunk from personal ac- claim, but his friends convinced him that his modesty might give offense to his well meaning admirers. He ap- peared on train platforms more fre- quently, and, to his own surprise, found himself enjoying the experience. Back at his “G. H. Q., on Massachusetts political campaign. “Minute men” ad- dressed countless seen and unseen audi- BY MARY BAINBRIDGE HAYDEN, Associated Press Staff Writer. PALO ALTO, Calif, November 7.— When Mrs. Lou Henry Hoover hears the crowds cheering her husband as the next President of the United States she takes it serenely, for she is a wom- an with a complexity of background that amazes her friends and gives her an air of calm in almost any situation. She is of medium height, about 5 feet 6 inches, but with her erect slen- derness appears taller. Her soft, white ! hair, parted in the middle and drawn | down to a flat knot at the nape of her | neck, setting off, as it does, the broad | forehead and wide-apart, clear gray | eyes, does much to emphasize the air i | { of quiet dignity that is her outstand- ing characteristic. Gifted as Hostess. She is especially gifted as a hostess, and has that special “sixth sense” that sees which guests belong together {and will interest each other. Without any apparent effort she can give each guest on the tiled terrace above the garden in Palo Alto or in the wide back porch under the trees of Wash- ington the feeling of having had her | particular attention. At the same |time she can shift them about until all ‘are in congenial groups without realizing how they got there. Few people know that by the personal training of her father, the late Charles D. Henry, bank cashier of Waterloo, Towa, and Whittier and Monterey, Calif., Lou Henry Hoover is fully equipped to hold a position as a bank cashier, book- | keeper or teller. Through her university training she is also a geologist, and could be a teacher of geology, metal- lurgy or English. She is, in addition, widely read. Her taste for literature was in her student days at Stanford University, as much as her geology, one of the common interests that brought about her romance with Her- bert Hoover, It enabled her to-help avenue he put in'a full day recelving him through the pitfalls of his Eng- lish examinations. ‘The further help she gave him as co-translator from the Latin of Georgius Agricola’s de re Ma- tallica is already famous. In spite of this classical training and her full equipment for a professional career, Lou Henry was married almost immediately after graduation, for her young engineer fiance had a three-year start and was already well launched in his profession when he came home from Australia on his first vacation in 1893 to marry and take her back to China. His Career Is Her’s. Since then, his career has been her's, She has walked beside him through the years of peace and war, revolution, famine and ceaseless work to ultimate success with the same happy helpf: ness that she gave him -as a fellow student, and with a sureness that must often have been a secret source of strength for him. This lifelong comradeship with her husband and the merging of her life in his is perhaps the outstanding thing that impresses one about Mrs. Hoover. She has a strong individuality of her | own and a reserve that sets her person- ality apart in clear relief, but beneath the ‘cool and ynemotional friendliness of her manner one senses & deep strength of loyalty that has made her life a shar- ing of her husband’s and made it pos- sible for so essentially a home loving na- ture as hers to pull up roots again and again to make and remake homes for him around the world. The tale of their travels reads like the introduction to a cartographer’s lexicon. Mongolia, Burma, Indo-China, South Africa, Australia, Russia, all had a place | in their career, and Lou Henry Hoover's | first baby, Herbert, jr., born after the revolution in Tientsin, circled the globe three times, once for each of the three first years of his babyhood. His mother . proved extraordinarily adaptable, and seemed to be able to fit her life serenely into the surroundings of any country. It is a fayorite saying of friends who have known the Hoovers in many . corners of the world that \ delegations and greeting individual call- ers. He even overcame, to a marked extent, his known aversion to the camera. Takes Lead at Critical Juncture. Hoover did not sit back in comfort and view the battle from the sidelines. He threw himself into the thick of it; when necessary—to reinforce a waver- ing sector here or bolster the esprit de corps of a division there. There were times when he found himself forced to step into the front rank and take com- mand of a threatening situation, as, for example, when the sniping of whisper- ers from the opposition or the activi- ties of intolerant individuals within ;1115 own purview called for drastic ac- on. At no_time during the entire cam- paign did the Republican nominee men- tlon the name of his Democratic oppo- nent. He insisted -that personalities be kept out of the fight. He refused to be drawn into petty scraps. His code was one of strict adherence to what he con- sidered the paramount issues. He would succeed or fail under that policy. He held that to dignify with official wherever she was she always made a] home. Mrs. Hoover is known for her im- | partial sense of justice, an attribute since their coming to Washington. hogaes,” when the guests were always made to feel recognition the flying charges and coun- er-charges of a singularly slanderous “whispering campaign” was to direct the attention of.the voters away from the that may also have its share in the smooth running of her household. She is the first, for example, to give full credit to her domestic staff for their Residence at 2300 S street, which has been occupied by the Hoover family t has been the scene of many interesting “at that they were welcome AP real issues, and to attach to intolerance an importance it did not deserve. He broke this policy of silence only on iso- lated occasions, once to repudiate, ve- Mrs. Hoover’s Complexity of Background Amazes Friends and rivers and mountain solitudes.” work. In illustriation of this, she was the only contributor to the Congres- slonal Gook Book who credited to her | cook, Mary Battley, the recipes submit- ted for mushroom soup, spoon bread, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and other delicacies entered by her. Like many of the Washington host- esses whose homes are known for the special delicacy of the food served, Mrs. Hoover often markets herself, very early after breakfast, so that she can have the best choice in the flowers on sale there, as well as in meats and vege- tables. In her husband’s Department of Commerce days, she would often drive him to his office on those early morning excursions. Mrs. Hoover's controlling impulse is to help and second her husband in every small or big thing in life. This shows frequently in incidents of their daily life. In her own home Mrs. Hoover has an unusual way of having time for everything. She is the real head of her household, yet she has time for a large number of outside activities. She is a vice president of the National Girl_Scouts’ Association, president of the Women's Auxiliary to the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, vice president of the District of Columbia Overseas League and an active and interested worker in the Playground and Recreational Associa- tion of America. Yet she has time for wide reading, for active support of all the opera and good concert courses that come to Washington, and for the gar- den that she loves and that makes her home seem beautifully remote from the city that surrounds it. Fond of Camping. In her girlhood, she “loved every stick and stone of the countryside, rode like a boy, and the days went by like a dream.” Today she still camps when- ever the opportunity comes, and at home she will “dig around in the garden and plant things, because I can never lose: my passion for forests | Herbert Hoover was enrolled as the firsf | resident student in the boys’ dormitory hemently, an appeal to religious preju- dice sent out over the signature of a Virginia national committeewoman and again, during the closing days of the campaign, to authorize a denial of a charge by the Governor of Mississippi intended to create race prejudice. Hoover Keeps Nerves Steady. Hoover learned to keep his temper, maintain steady nerves and stick to the duties before him by dint of long experience in the school of hard knocks. Orphaned at the age of seven, he was thrown on his own resources, in the care of Quaker relatives. He moved with them to the great Northwest be- fore he was in his 'teens and began to earn his own living at the age of 13. He worked in truck gardens near Portland, Oreg.; got a job as office boy at Salem, Oreg., and graduated to a clerkship in Portland. Young Hoover had become a thor- ough believer in the Quaker ideas | about education. He aspired to attain a college degree. So he began attend- ing night school at Newburg, Oreg., and another night school at Salem, when he moved there to work. He had heard much of a new uni- versity being founded at Palo Alto by a man named Stanford. Opportunities were to be provided there for students to work their way through the halls | of learning. He made up his mind to go to Stanford University. ‘When the university opened its doors, | in yet uncompleted shape, in 1891, To pay his way through the engineer- ing course he established himself as the campus laundry man. He first demonstrated his capacities as a lead- er of men during his college days, becoming an outstanding figure of the student body. Winner of Many Honorary Degrees. Four years from the date of his ma- triculation he received his first degree, B. A, in mining engineering. Today he is said to be the possessor of more | honorary college degrees than an other | person in the world. Scan part of the contributors to the list: Brown, Penn-| sylvania, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, George Wash- ington, Dartmouth, Rutgers, Alabama, “One of the reasons I love this house,” she said in Washington, “is that bit ¢f woodland out there. I'm grateful to the former tenants for leav- ing the trees and rocks and honey- suckle as they were. Most household- ers would have chopped down the trees and landscaped the rest. The only trouble now is that there is so much shade I can't get my plants to bloom. So my neighbors nurse them to the blooming point, then hurry them to me to enjoy.™ Mrs. Hoover's dress harmonizes with everything else in her life. It is simple and dignified, with skirts of a “com- fortable length,” but not too long to be unfashionable, and shoes with “sensible heels” but always smart, though com- fortable enough for her to stand three hours receiving guests at the formal “at | homes” required of the wife of a cabinet officer and still say, “it is not an ordeal, I really enjoy it.” Since she is in mourning for her father, she wears only black in public, | usually unrelieved by even a touch of | white. But it is a graceful style of | black, in soft, flowing crepe de chine | or Georgette crepe. e CHINA PLANS SCHOOLS. Will Go in for Mass Education of | Adults and Children. PEKING (#).—Mass education schools are to be opened in Peking by the na- tional education bureau. Adults as) well as children will be taught to read | and write by a specially arranged sim- | plified system. 1t is expected that the majority of the WORK PRESIDENT-ELECT FOUGHT HIS WAY UP Eight-Year-Old Orphan Won Renown in Many Fields. Oberlin, Liege, Brussels, Warsaw, Cra- cow, Oxford, Manchester. He has some of them framed and hung along the wall of the grand staircase at his home at 2300 S street. His son, Allan, points out that one ascends the steps by de- grees. Four years after graduation from Stanford University he returned from one of his early mining expeditions to the far corners of the world and married his college ehum, Lou Henry, of Monterey. She has been his constant companion and helpmate ever since. Upon leaving college Hoover worked as a mine laborer in Grass Valley, Cali~ fornia. He later landed a clerkship in -| the office of Louis Janin, leading min- ing engineer of the West. He took that job not to learn clerking, but to learn the Janin methods of engineering. Janin was attracted to the diligent young college-bred clerk, and he final- ly made him an assistant to survey mining properties in New Mexico, Cali~ fornia and Colorado. Able to Solve Big Proktlems. His demonstrated knack of grasping big problems and of devising means and organizations to solve them won him a bigger assignment. He went “to West Australia to examine and manage mining properties there. It was upon his return to California from this suc- cessful mission that he took Lou Henry to the altar. She left with him for China, where he had been engaged 3s chief engineer of the Chinese bureau of mines. Hoover’s initial venture into the field of emergency relief came during his sojourn in China. The Boxer uprising caught him and Mrs. Hoover in Tientsin. The foreign settlement was besieged with hostile troops. The settlement was raked with gunfire, beset on all sides by incendiarism. Hundreds fell around the Hoovers. Chief Engineer Hoover be-~ came the natural leader of the defense forces. In this capacity he established his first food-relief organization. The upheaval caused a cessation of all min- ing activities, and Hoover finally re- turned to California. He went back to China in 1901 and re-established vast mining operations. PFrom 1902 to 1907 he was a junior partner in an international engineering firm, with offices in London, New York, San Francisco and other parts of the world. Later he hung up his own shingle, and at the outbreak of the ‘World War was the executive of con- cerns employing upward of 175,000 men. Record in World War Relief Work. The war found him in Europe, en- gaged in the task of arousing interest of foreign officials in the Panama- Pacific Exposition to be held in San Francisco the following year. It also caught thousands of American citizens stranded without funds, because of the upheaval in banking and the trans- portation crisis. The vast tangle needed a cool head to unravel it. American officials in London turned unhesitatingly toward one man as being equal to the task. Herbert Hoover at once became head of the American relfef committee, & creature of his faculty for organization. The story of his subsequent activities in war-torn Europe is familiar to every school child Suffice it to say that his Commission for Relief in Belgium was the first in- stitution to control the feeding of an entire nation; that it administered aid to more than 5,000,000 destitute people; * that in the five years of its existence it expended a billion and a half dol- lars without the loss of a dollar and with an average overhead expense of less than one-half of one per cent. That commission has been perpetuated in the Commission for Relief in Bel- gium Education Foundation, of which Hoover is the chairman, and which has turned over $15,000,000 in surplus funds to the cause of Belgian education. Called Home by President. With the entry of America into- the great conflict, Hoover was called back home by President Wilson to become United States food adminiustrator. Again, it is unnecessary to detail his vork in this capacity, for every man, voman and child came into contact with it during the war. He next created the United States Grain Corporation, to reg- ulate .the supply of foodstuffs here and at the front. He organized the Sugar Equalization Board and purchased the entire sugar crop of Cuba to protect the American people from speculation. The scope of his operations in food re- lief embraced the purchase and sale of foodstuffs valued at more than $9,- 000,000,000. With the close of the war his or- ganizing abilities were even more in de- mand. At President Wilson’s request he returned to Europe to survey the shambles. Millions of children were starving—and America had a surplus of food, left over from war preparations. He was made executive officer of the Supreme Economic Council, a joint al- lied committee. He established the American Relief Administration for the alleviation of destitution and suffering in Europe. More than 6,000,000 chil~ dren were given assistance. Later this work was greatly extended to avert a famine over the Winter of 1920-21. The work was expanded to include Rus- sia, where a million tons of food and medical supplies were provided. Appointed to Harding Cabinet. . Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Harding in 1921, He began organizing and _reorganiz- ing things there. Through a broad program of co-cperation with industry he helped to expand the Nation's for- cign trade, launched a campaign for elimination of waste and furthered a program of standardization of manu- factured goods. Came the Mississippi flood and his appointment by President Coolidge as head of a presidential relief expedition. He organized almost overnight an ef- ficlent relief army, using the ground- work of te American Red Cross as a nucleus. No lives were lost after this relief and rescue organization began functioning, and three-quarters of a million people were fed and sheltered in refugee camps. It was during the flood emergency that his name began to be mentioned in connection with the presidency. Many of the refugees insisted on calling him “President Hoover,” under the sincere | conviction that he was the Nation's Chief Executive. Enthusiastic support- ers in the flood country sought vainly to fete him as “the country’s next great leader.” To all of this Hoover turned a deaf ear. He was not on a political trip, but on a serious mission of relief. He let it be known that such overtures were exceedingly distasteful to him. Summoned to Higher Post. But the die was cast. The niche which he had been ham- mering for himself, all unconsciously, was nearly ready. He foresaw the in- evitable, finally, and not without some degree of satisfaction, either. But there was yet a missing rung in puplls will be able lo learn the most useful thousand Chinese characters in about four months when they will be “graduated.” Night schools will be con- ducted for the ricksha “boys” ard oth- ers of the coolle class. N the ladder before he could make a move to reach the top. Calvin Coolidge sup. plied it when he made his curt an- nouncement that he did not choose to run. . The rest of the way was compara- mely easy. Herbert Hoover had proved theory.