Evening star., 1920-01-24
HOOVER ELIGIBILITY
FORPRES|DENT|AL
OFFICE ANALYzED
Question Hinges on Meaning
of "Residence"- e"-PoIiticaI
Connections in Past.
by DAVID LAWRENCE

ny LAW
/ Several questions seem to have aris-
/ en- in connection with the availability
of Herbert Hoover for the presidential
nomination. They are:
! l. Is there an organization in his
behalf doing business with mis- sane
tion or tacit support?
. Is he the choice of the White
| House?
3. Is he a republican or democrat?
| a. Is he eligible for the presidency
under article ii of the Constitution
| of the United States which saws that
no person shall be eligible for the
presidency who shall not have at
tanned to the age of thirty-five years
| and been fourteen years resident
! within the United States?"
Herbert HOover's Citizcnship
The last question seems to have de-
veloped skeptics. because Herbert
! Hoover. as mining engineer has
moved all around the world in the last
| twenty years. and has not been in any
one country more than eighteen
months at stretch. He was born in
| Iowa in 1874, graduated from Leland
stanford University. California in 1895
! at the age of twenty-one, spent four
years in Australian mining, came back
TO California to get married and went
I off to China in 1899 for the United
/ states bureau Of mines. taking part
| in the defense of Tientsin during the
Boxer uprising and stayed in the far
east two years. He went to London in
l9oz and was there six years engaged
| in large mining operations which took
| hlm to various parts of the globe
from Russia to South Africa He
wrote for mining publications and
acted as director in numerous mining
| companies. He always kept offices in
New York as well as San Francisco.
and while his wife and children fire.
quently went abroad to join him for
| short vacations, they maintained the
| Hoover household in Monterey Calf
and have owned and paid taxes on
that house for at least fifteen years
Now If the Constitution were in
terpreted to mean that man must
De a resident within the United
States" for fourteen consecutive years
prior to his elevation to the office OF
President, then the question would
turn on what constitutes residence"
Is it the place where a mans home is
located and where he paws taxes and
for all legal purposes maintains a
residence" or does it mean that the
man must actually be in the United
states the fourteen consecutive years
before he is nominated? BY the lat
ter construction Woodrow Wilson
could have been regarded as ineligi-
bic, Tor he spent many months in Eu-
rope while president of Princeton and
the fourteen years before he took Of
flee were broken by sojourns abroad
But while there have been no deci-
sions on that point. the fact that men
have occupied the office who have
been away from this country for short
periods in the pursuit of their busf-
ness would, in the opinion of many
constitutional lawyers here seem to
argue that Mr.. Hoover would not be
ineligible on that ground.
Hoover Here Nearly Every Year.
If any fourteen years are meant.
then plainly Mr.. Hoover is eligible. 8
because ne did not leave the United
States until he was twenty-one years
of age. Similarly. Mr. Hoover has
been in the United States every year,
with one exception. in the last TWEEN
ty years and has spent at least a few
months at either New York or San
Francisco. where he maintained busi-
ness offices.
AS to whether Mr.. Hoover is the
choice of the White House. only one
man can say, and that's Woodrow
Wilson. And he hasn't said ANYTHING
not even whether he would consen.
to run for third term. However.
persons very close to the White House
have openly expressed their admira-
tion for Mr.. Hoover and spoken of
him as the probable nominee of the
democratic party, in which event of
course. President Wilson would sup
port him. as was brought out in these
the Jackson day dinner, when the
writer said that "it would not be sur
prising to find the Wilson influence
being turned in the direction of Her
bert Hoover If the republicans have
not captured him by midsummer"
Who Will Nominate Hoover.
Now that is precisely the situation:
w hlch party Will capture Herbert
Hoover? 1t is the party which puts
forth a liberal platform and stands
away from any wave of reactionary
or tory doctrine and steers clear of
the equally destructive waves of ul-
ira -radicalism and socialism Mr.
Hoover is not interested in person
alities. but fundamental issues and
principles. He is like millions of other
independent-minded citizens who are
waiting to see whether the two big
parties are merely going to have a con-
test for jobs or whether they offer Z
concrete proposals for domestic re-
form and relief.
Is there a Hoover orgs,N'on,
Nothing that has his sanction or Sup
port. Mr.. Hoover would not be a bit
unhappy if somebody found he was
legally debarred from being a candi
date. He would look upon the discov-
cry as a relief from a dilemma that
is causing him no end of embarrase-
ment But few people are taking the
question of eligibility seriously be-
cause Mr.. Hoover has maintained q
residence in this country during the
last fourteen years and has lived
within the United States for fourteen
consecutive years
VIII Make Himself Clear.
AS for the organization of Hoover
clubs and speeches being made by
intimate friends of Mr.. Hoover there
is no doubt that the former food ad-
ministrator is doing all he can to dis
courage that sort of thing and within
the next few days he will have made
his position absolutely clear on that
point. Nobody has been authorized to
speak for Mr.. Hoover. and when the
proper moment comes. he will speak
for himself in unequivocal terms, for
he is not a candidate and will not
lift a finger to become one On the
other hand, no matter what Mr..
Hoover says or may say in the hope
of detaching himself from the move
ment that has arisen spontaneously
in hi his behalf republicans and DEM
ocvrats will continue to look him
over and make overtures to him until
one or the other party finally does
nominate him. Which will il be? The
democrats seem most anxious at pres
ent writing, and the republicans very
reluctant to pick Herbert Hoover.
The republicans cannot forgive him
for supporting the democratic Con-
gress in 1915 but IL is fact that Mr.
Hoover was member of the Repub-
lican Club of New York for about FIVE
years prior to 1917, and it is also
fact that in 1912 he was sympathetic
with the bull moose platform. But
he did not vote in 1912 or 1916 either.
He took part in an antt-Tammany
campaign when Mayor Mitchell was
elected on a fusion ticket, but al
though registered to vote, was called