“HOOVERIA.”

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17606, 10 January 1929, Page 6

“HOOVERIA.”

Mr Hoover, the President-elect of the United States, has an experience which even the Roman Emperors were not permitted to have in life. Not till their death did they ascend to the stars. But the Viennese, grateful to Mr Hoover for what he did for their relief after the war, have apotheosiscd him, placing him in their skies between Jupiter and Mars. The Senate of Austria gave his name to a “planet discovered by one of their astronomers in 1920. It was the fortuity of finding that particular planet when even the professors in the university had to be fed in public kitchens, and Dr. Pirquoet was measuring children to determine their nutritional needs, that gave his name to that newly-found wanderer of the skies. “ Hoover was their friend in need, and it was natural that they should put him among the stars that they thanked for life itself (says the New York Times). It has been said Lhat Mr Hoover is a man who “ thinks planetarity,” who is able from his own experience to think of America in relation to the rest of our own planet. He has lived and worked in nearly every civilise 1 part of it. And now he is to supplement his earlier travels by a comprehensive study of South America. He has known the round world in our latitude. He will know it henceforth in new zones. Alexander Hamilton, wishing people of his own day to avoid provincialism and to become acquainted with the whole of America, urged them to “ think continentally.” But with the advances made in physical and geographical sciences we have Jong since passed beyond continental bounds in our interests. We must think “planetarily” if we are to find our true place in the world and know our obligations and our opportunities. Mr Hoover knows the continent, , East and West, North and South. He will be in close relation with our own hemisphere when he comes into office, and withal will have literally done what the poet long ago suggested: “Surveyed mankind from China to Peru.”