The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1920-04-09

Washington, April 6.-LBy The
| United Press. l--"Thats Hoover"
they used to say over at Washington,
when they would point him out COM
ing and going around the food ad-
ministration building.
But they had to say it on the wing,
for it was Here she comes" AMI
There she goes" with Hoover. I'm
less a visitor found Ilim secluded
among a mass of papers in his pri-
vate office, it was pretty much of a
sure bet he'd be hurrying off to a
conference at the capitol, or to see
some mission just freshly arrived
from Europe.
For in the days when the food
! administration was busiest scattering
foodstuffs throughout Europe's many
hungry countries, the fellow with the
most work to do was Herbert e.
sssslsso ser. -
Was Silent Worker.
And then, as now, Hoover was the
same enigma. AS an engineer and
miner. Hoover had been trained to
cut all the .Gordian knots that lay in
his pathway and to hew to the short
| cSI lllc UclWccu Two pOlhto. Ao
feeder of the world, he silently work
ed out his own plans of most ef-
| ficiently distributing suStenance to
! the greatest number of people at the
least inconvenience to those at home,
AS a presidential possibility" there
has been no indication he will alter
his habit of being shy, unassuming
and sphinx like.
Hoover's is the square, solidly-set
sn,, I,;, l~rser
| the broad, high forehead, capped by
short and almost stubby hair; and
! medium balanced nose above a deci-
sive mouth. His shoulders are broad
| and his body is built StOutly. His 1856
| bounds rest comfortably on sturdy
| but short legs.
The man who avows he's mot a
| candidate, and is alternately claimed
and rejected by both parties, got his
start August 10, 1874, at West
| Branch. Iowa, way station on the
Rock Island railroad between Cedar
Rapids and Burlington. When he was
four years old his father died, and
four years later the mother, who was
ia pious Quacker preacher. passed
away. o..
Started Own Career.
| For several years he was passed
around" among aunts and uncleS on
| IOWA uCu "dS ScuL W
! Newburg, Oregon. to live with other
relatives in the new Northwest. At
fourteen young Hoover announced his
| intention of entering scientific uni
versity" instead OF the Quaker insti-
| tuition his relatives had picked out
for him. Accordingly, he was cut off
from financial assistance and that
| caused him to journey to Portland
! where he got a job, worked and
studied for his scientific career"
In the fall of 1891, Hoover had
made enough to so down to Palo Alto.
| Cal, where Leland Stanford junior
| university was just opening it's doors.
He successfully passed the advertised
| entrance examinations and was one
of the first boys to register at the
| new university.
1t Is open gossip around Stanford
| that Hoover was the poorest. student
and such studies. In mathematics,
! ever, tradition had it he excelled,
and even his enemies in the English
department were forced to give him
credit for clearness in expressing his
thoughts in themes on scientific sub
jects.
~ Ability As Organizer.
Hoover's undergraduate life was
HUI llUIl lhdL vi LILO
average college fellow. He won
honors here and there when a class
election was up and on some occa-
sions he was instructed with student
finances. Acquiring himself we'll in
that line, his friends say, proved he
was successful i'll his first job of or
ganization.
When he got his degree of A. B. in
engineering and mining, he sought
the advice Of one of his professors,
who told him he ought to enter min
ing in the Sierras. Accordingly,
Hoover hied himself across the
mountains and got job as a. COM
mon laborer in mine at Grass VAL
ley. A year later he had advanced to
the position of subforeman After
directing work for a few months, he
decided he had learned all he was
likely to learn by manual labor, and
SO went to San Francisco.
After a year or two with Louis
! Janin, the coasts foremost mining
engineer, Hoover seized an opportun-
| ity to go to Western Australia when
the 1897 mining boom was on there.
IA little later the young engineer
found himself in China, holding the