Evening star., 1919-10-05

Austrian ne was Wnen the war broke
out.
Mature does not often make men
like Hoover. whom success cannot
spoil On the credit side Of wars
account Hoover forms a tremendous
| seton against its dreadful debit side"
Pity the Poor Politicians
No wonder the politicians are per-
| picked and worried. The best or
ganized publicity staff any presi-
Dental candidate ever had never
was able to put over" stuff like
that in newspapers of all shades of
political complexion.
Yet. dfligent though TIC search
has been. no one has been able to
run to its lair an organized Hoover
propaganda That such an organ
lied propaganda exists is asserted
and widely believed by the poll
ticians. but they confess themselves
completely in the dark as to its
whereabouts and its methods of op-
| Grafton. Certainly it doesn't func-
tlon In any familiar way. Newspa-
per Offices are not being flooded with
Hoover ''stuff," nor has any one
been able to produce evidence that q
ietter-writing campaign is being
conducted. It Is true that considera-
bic by word-of-mouth Hoover propa.
ganda Is being spread. but that hard
ly Is a sufficient explanation for a
| campaign that has extended over SO
wide an area
About a year ago, while Mr.. Hoover
still was in this country as food ad-
ministrator. Hoover-for-President
campaign began to take on some
semblance OF organisation. It was
conducted by volunteer workers
who. when they would admit their
activities at all. insisted that they
were acting without either the
sanction or knowledge Of Mr.. Hoov-
er. Men travelling. actually or os-
tensibly, on other business visited q
number Of states and talked Hoov-
er, and very considerable amount
Of missionary work was done among
members Of Congress
Punctured His Own Boom.
But about the time the thing ap-
peared to be making headway. espe-
cially among republicans, Mr.. Hoover
came out with his now famous let
ter supporting President Wilson's de-
mand that the people elect a demo-
cratic Congress in order to support
the war policies Of the administra-
ton" And the Hoover boom burst
right there. SO far rs the republican
politicians were concerned. They
would listen to no further talk Of him
As q presidential possibility. Some
Of Mr.. Hoover's friends sought to ex-
plain the letter by saying that it was
written only under extreme pressure
from the administration: that he
didn't want to write 1t, but yielded
to fnsistent representations that It
was his duty to do so. It wasn't a
happy explanation. The answer of
the politicians was that a man SO
weak in backbone as to be dragooned
into doing a thing like that against
his will wasn't Of presidential stun.
Those who are doing the Hoover
word-of-mouth booming today insist
that the Congress letter Of last year
doesn't count now. that It is ancient
history, and that, anyhow. tho voters
next year are going to care less about
party lines and party considerations
than they ever did before.
Coupled With q. o. p.
It Is noticeable that wherever the
name Of Mr.. Hoover is coupled spe-
cincally with a party nomination It
always Is the republican party which
is mentioned. II he has been directly
advocated for nomination on the DEM
ocratfc ticket, no such instance has
come to the notice Of the writer.
Yet there has been no authoritative
announcement that Mr.. Hoover is a
republican. Even his closest friends
and confidential associates admit they
do not know where his political gym
pathies rest today. They say that he
comes Of q republican family and that
his economic beliefs naturally would
incline him to the policies-the pre-
war polfcdes-of the republican party.
Not one OF them will s2y that he
knows that Mr.. Hoover habitually
voted. or that he ever voted, tho re-
publican ticket
Tho most frequently used argument
Of tho vocal Hoover boomers is that
the greatest need Of the country is
that q business man should be at the
head of its affairs, and they insist
that no other available business man
answers tho requirements so ideally
as does the former food administrator.
They go on to argue that his business
training and business vision Is world
wide; that while he Is closely in touch
with and has q strong grasp on busi-
ness conditions In America. he has no
entangling business alliances In this
country which would handicap him
either as q candidate or as President
when elected
Not Objectionable to Labor.
And then they advance what they
think is their most telling point.
They say that great as Is the need
for q business President, no man &C.
lively identified with big business In
this country could be elected next
year because Of the state of mind OF
labor. Hoover. they point ont. has
not Of late years been identified with
hpvof d.