New-York tribune., 1918-03-11
he Moment
By RALPH BLOCK


after them. And the company of the
lmmortals is a small one
But if to-morrows are cruel TODAY is
KIND Men are born quickly, their names
thrust up out of the crowd like flowers
that bloom for a day. full petalled already
at noon. What if the sun does travel so
swiftly? 1t is something to have lived
Washington is their garden now. Here
Is sun apenty to nourish roots with
warmth But only the strong remain. For
the wind is rude and pushing. The storms
blow in madly, the rain and hail trample
bllndiy on newly tended hopes The deli
cate break under it, the weak die and are
blown off. But the strong grow stronger,
develop resistance, become more vigorous
and crowd each other for space.
Hoover and McAdoo are of the strong.
Before 1914 there was no Hoover There
were Hoovers, hundreds and thousands Of
them; but no Hoover. Before the day Of
the Hudson tunnels there was no McAdoo,
only McAdoos In 1920 who knows whether
there will still be a McAdoo or Hoover!
But that is tomorrow, and the to-morrows
have way of taking care of themselves
Lies True Drama
1t is the little moments that are dramatic
in life. The big moments are USUALLY
staged, falsfed by scene shifting, curtain
raising arrangements of properties. They
are stupid and mechanical, meaningless
The little moments are significant, suddenly
and truthfully dramatic, revealing an inner
meaning, momentarily lifting the veil from
the hidden logic of human movement and
n l1,,oc ic
full that not even staging will conceal it.
Moments SO endowed become dramatic and
truthful despite themselves. They draw
rom the air around unintended values, are
reccmposcd and rcassert themselves
against any arbitrary law imposed on them.
Suddenly under full light they appear as
perfect incidents of contrast matured epi-
sodes of potential opposition, on the point
of action.
1t was this that came to Hoover and Nc
Adoo.
lIoover's method is psychological, sub
jectivc, slowly penetrating to hidden sources
of impulse and Of action. And he is pa
tlent. 1t appears in the soft contours of his
face in the mouth, which is almost womanly.
But he is patient because he is sure he will
not turn back on anything he wants to do.
Ard that needs patience.
Ihe sudden warning of impending food
shortage thrust upon the country's notice
was Hoovers psychology in application.
And it had its effect. 1t aroused the coun.
try as it was meant to do. 1t also aroused
McAdoo. Perhaps that had been intended
as we'll. His reply was as tart as it was
productive. McAdoo asked Hoover to show
him the food and he would send the cars
after it,
Psychology Works
Ac on ovror;,,o,+ :,
highly successful. But once released from
lioover's hand it took on an unique char
actcr of its own. For brief instant it
became an incident in history, tiny scene
fare III the Washington puppet show of
men. Before the curtain fell the lights
shone full upon the faces of Hoover and
McAdoo, both in the act of discovering
each other, each taking the others measure.
What McAdoo saw was face as calm as
his own, sluggish almost but for the fine
straight nose, thoughtful and even calcu-
latlng eyes, a persistent chin that might
make trouble if the obstacles before it were
themselves stubborn enough. Hoover comes
from Iowa, where strength is not SWIFTLY
flashing thing but slow and certain. And
after Iowa there China, where strength
AGAIN meant patience, persistence determi-
natlon--but always patience. Belgium was
an impossible situation that became pos
siblc under IIoover's slow approach. He is
an crushcr, if so soft an appearinp man
can seem natural under so harsh figure.
He is quiet, and his speech low, but his ac-
tiol! is inevitable and inescapable And he
is man who has faiths and who will give
himself wholly to them. Humanity is one
of them.
Could the Fates that watch over Washing-
ton have found greater natural opposi-
tlon than in Hoover and McAdoo? McAdoo
is another quiet man, but quiet as wheel
ing eagle or the sky before lightning. His
/ eyes are deep and almost melancholy, as if
the spectacle OF existence were not easy to
watch. But he finds relief in action. swift
thrusting action, impatient sometimes. as
it was with Ioovers impending shortage.
McAdoo is another builder, another organ
yer lie has imagination, and finds diver
sion for it in the building of great systems
He visions tremendous frameworks long
before he has put his hands to them, then
IS fired by a slow burning eagerness to get
at them. His interest is in growth itself
rather than in results. The systems them
selves entrance him. They are mathemati-
cal and abstract rather than human, how
ever their ends may serve, He, too. ia per-
ristent, but not so patient, possessing intui-
tion and travelling two. roads where
Hoover will go ahead steadily on one.
The Treasury Department is long blocks
away from tho Food Administration.
There may be never any further occasion
for Hoover and McAdoo to measure each
other But history is prolific in occa-
sions, even where their possibility does not
seem to lic And 1920 is already casting
n shadow ahead of it. Assurcdly it holds
ia bonehccnt tomorrow for one Of them.