WHO IS HOOVER?

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1920, Page 9

WHO IS HOOVER?

■After President Wilson, Mr Hoover is America's best-known citizen. To the rest of the world his name is familiar. Hia statements received prominence in every leading newspaper. Hoover and tile war seemed to arrive together. Host people know he was Belgian Relief Commissioner and America's Food Controller. Beyond that su.prisingly few people can clearly answer, "Who is Hoover?" Herbert Hoover is a ilioroug'i America!, ot the seventh jTenenitioii. His actxns and methods proclaim h'u Quakcr origin. He was roared in an atmosphere of "ilij.-..'' and "iooii The Wood ot old and ,;o.id families runs in his veins, lie was born in lowa in 1874, one of a family of C'liv.e. His father died when ••Herbert:" v.-.-i* oniy four, ilu mother tried 1.0 ],.., i her homo together and her children .mind her. The struggle broke her. ( |i e( ! six years afler her husband: tin- home was'-sold. An orphan of ten, floorer rotated :ouud among his uncles. When thirteen tic was supporting himself by perform--ig odd jobs of all sorts, digging pota- :..>••; ami hoeing corn. When he was fifteen liis uncle applied to lowa court for a Gll-dol. grant with which Herbert might purchase a scholarship in a business college. Ho"got the grant, and the education qualified him for a real estate oiliec. .lie istill lacked money, but not industry, and frugality. When seventeen he was a candidate for admission to the pioneer class of Ireland Stanford College. The examiner felt interested in him and made inquiry concerning him. He learned that the lad was working as a carpenter for lidol. a day. He was poor, but respected in the community for his pluck and his eagerness for education. Hoover failed in the examination. Hut the examiner was so impressed with his personality that he passed him in. On the paper alone ho would have l;*on passed out, and Stanford College would have lost its most distinguished graduate. Hoover began college with a 40-dol. capital, and lie was one of 40 men who wore working their way. They lived in their own quarters; these quarters were an abandoned stable. They did their own marketing, washing, ' bed-making ■and cooking. Hoover also took on a laundry agency, collecting bundles whenever lie could get them, sending the soiled linen away, delivering it when returned ciean, and taking his commission out of the proceeds. As a student he was poor in Kng'lish. strong in mathematics, and had no time for athletic?. He was conspicuous for diligence rather than brilliance. On quitting college he worked as a miner with pick and shovel in preparation for hk profession as mining engineer. His first job was with the Arkansas State Geological Smrvey. While so engaged a syndicate, preparing for operations in Australia, visited America seeking "a young man of promise." Hoover was recommended. So Herbert Hoover came to Australia, which paid him C.WIO a year and started him on his successful career. In fSfl" Hoover was in Western Australia as chief of mining staff of Berwick, Moreing and Co., and manager of llannnn's Brown Hill mine; the following year he was manager of the Sons of ftwslia, and East Mnrchison mines, from Australia lie passed on to China in the practice of his profession. While there he took part in the defence of Tientsin against the Boxer rebels. Later he became a junior partner in a famous London mining firm, and, although he lias actually spent one-third of his 45 years in London, he has also handled big mining concerns in Russia, Burma, Central America and Mexico. The war came. Immediately Herbert Hoover abandoned mines and money making, and sought to render what service he could. For three strenuous years he served first in the interests of thousands of Americans stranded in Europe when the war began, then as chairman of the Commission for Relief of Belgium, and finally as Food Administrator to the United States. And in every capacity he won gratitude and admiration for ingenuity in method and efl'eieney in result. But Herbert Hoover's personality cannot he fully understood apart from Herbert Hoover's wife. She is not loss noteworthy. Lou Henry first met her husband at Lelancl Stanford College. They were keen on the same subjects. Their courting was conducted in terms of geology and mineralogy. At an early stage Lou Henry fell out with her. ; college friends over Hoover. The members of a girls' society did not object to a man who was working his way through, college, but they drew the line at .him delivering laundry bundles. They said so to Miss Henry, who instantly 'resigned in resentment of such snobbefv. Only last year the society from which flic resigned was in financial difficulty. It wrote to Mrs Hoover, soliciting 'a contribution. It got one. The cheque it received was signed Herbert Hoover. The Hoover-Henry wedding took place when the bridegroom returned from Australia. .Their home life has been happy and simple. Though her strength of character and scholarly attainments are worthy of her husband's, Mrs. Hoover does her own cooking and house work. Their evenings for twenty years have been spent in study rather than in social activity. The results of that study are substantial. Together husband and wife translated Agncola's "He Re Motallica," the standard mining treatise (if the Middle Ages. It is a full and complete translation, with all the technical terms resolved into their modern equivalents. Lxperts recognise the translation as a valued work of art worthy of a place in the world's renowned libraries, a place it has attained despite the modesty of its compilers. To Mr. and Mrs. Hooverit was a labour of love o'eentod in nWit hours, wsek ends, and holidays. Five years hard work was required; a decree to each from their Alma Mater was°the reward. With her husband, Mrs. Hoover wns iti the thick of the Boxer Rebellion. By organising the Chinese women into sanitary corp* and teaching them how to care for their babies, she averted tin epidemic in the city of Tientsin. When bombnrdment was flattening the houses she was among the first to care for the wounded. There are two Hoover boys, aged 13 and 17, and wherever father's profession takes him the family go. Both have been reared in the public schools. Every cent, they spend they first earn. They,, too, have the scientific tastes of their parents, and their mother is their best chum. Frequently the family takes to the woods for a week. In their oldest clothes they tramp far into the forest, striking camp at night and doing their own cooking. Mrs. Hoover is a handsome woman, with no trace about her of the blue stocking, though she is an excellent public speaker, and is specially devoted to- the higher education of women. The last six years have driven her on to iigh social altitudes, but she n.eytf..

abandons her unconventional attitude. •She always dresses tastefully, but with never a scrap of jewellery, save her plain wedding ring. Even when she entertains distinguished company, she carves the roast herself, and the plates are handed round. Her hospitality is lavish, but homely. In " these respects Mrs. Hjovor harmonise with her husband, whose recent prominence lias not in the slightest measure affected las private character. He is a man destitute of conventional frills. Ho reveals his opinion of fashion by wearing in all seasons suits of the same model and cloth, which lie orders two or three at a time. He is a man of sparse speech and direct action. Able, humble and unselfish, he represent-; a type of which America, with all her aliened materialism, is curiously productive. Li most countries the politician is becoming discredited. A new class of statesman is being demanded. It is safe to say that the type most likely to find favour has an ideal representative in Herbert Hoover.—Age.