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

Washington, April 6.-LBy The
United Press. l-%.That's 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" anil
There she goes" with Hoover. I'm
less a visitor found him 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 Europes many
hungry countries. the fellow with the
most work to do was Herbert c.
Hoover.
~ 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
est line between Two points. As
| feeder of the world. he silently work
ed out his own plans of most eff
| ficiently distributing sustenance tC
| 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-sel
jaw; his are the bright, piercing eyes
the broad, high forehead. capped by
| short and almost stubby hair; and
medium balanced nose above deci-
sive mouth. His shoulders are broad
and his body is built stoutly. His 185
pounds rest comfortably on sturdy
but short legs.
| The man who avows he's not 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
/ a piouS Quacker preacher, passed
! away.
Started Own Career.
For several years he was passed
around" among aunts and uncles on
Iowa farms. Then he was sent to
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-
for him. Accordingly, he was cut off
| from financial assistance and that
caused him to journey to Portland
| where he got 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 its 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
on the campus in English. spelling
and such studies. In mathematics,
geology, economics and history, how =
! 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
not entirely different from that OF the
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 in 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 a mine at Grass VAL
ley. A year later he had advanced to
the position of subforeman. After
directing work for 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