Evening star., 1928-06-15
HAS BLAzED TRAIL
. IN COMMERCE POST
Government Functions Are
Speeded Up by His Ei.
ficient Hand.

and diplomacy we're in charge Of
Hoover and his Americans. He
collaborated with the Belgian Co
mite Centraie and controlled general
distribution from Brussels. But in the
commune or town the food was Issued
TO consumers and the business details
were directed by local committee.
The American district commissioners
were only supervisors and mediators
between the Belgians and their con-
querors. When the first German food
control plan broke down in their
country the Germans adopted the
Hoover scheme and it worked.
Blocked several times by the Ger
mans, British or the French. as va
rious intricate questions arose in the
heat OF the great conflict. Hoover
would hurry TO high military officers
and government officials and fght II
out with them on the spot. He soon
became the only man who was equally
He travelled freely between the fight
ing nations. His reputation for
integrity was almost unprecedented.
The French government. for instance,
sent secretly to Hoover every month
check for 12.500.000 francs 1t was
made out merely to Herbert c.
Hoover"-not to Hoover. trustee or
chairman, or anything else
It Is doubtful whether any man IN
the history of the world ever handled
so much money in his own name.
Sometimes he held hundreds Of mil
lions Of dollars in his own bank
account. The total actually expended
by the commission was 81 SOC. 900 0O0
The account between Hoover and the
French Government amounted 70
nearly 500.000,O0o francs. Hoover
was not foolhardy. He carefully
guarded himself against any possible
charges of nlisappropriating funds BY
having his accounts double-audited By
French and British accountants.
Chosen Food Administrator.
When it seemed certain. that the
United States would be drawn into the
war Ambassador Page wrote to Pre5l-
dent Wilson, telling him what a mar
velous man Hoover was and suggesting
that he be put in charge OF getting to-
gsther munitions In the United States.
But when the time came President Will
son selected him for the more obvious
post of food administrators IN the United
| States. His Job then became os1ei not
/ only Of seeing that the AnnerfCan peO-
I pie received enough food, but that
! there was enough food 10 supply the
/ Army of the United States and the
armies and peoples Of the allied ma
4 tions. -
Hoover did not adopt the methods
/ in this country that many persons
1 expected. He realized that the Ameri-
can people were in state of idealism.
/ They did not need rigid food laws. Be-
| sides, that sort Of control would have
taken a staff of nearly 100000 per-
sons. He decided to appeal to the
| American housewife and enlist her vol
| unfairly In the tremendous job.
/ Many persons urged him not TO try
! such a scheme, but he stuck to the
| idea, and everybody knows today hoy
1 we'll ii worked Before the great wa
I-this country was not known as = 'gfea
exporter Of breadstuffs. but during tn
| critical years OF 1877 and 1918 sth
| American surplus kept alive the ailieC
| and neutral nations of Europe. esi
| Going back to Europe as a nieribei
| of the supreme economic council
| Hoover, In the curious situation tina,
| followed the war. became virtually fooC'
| administrator of the world. While Tn
| peace conference was in progress ir
/ Paris the American Relief Admintstra-
| ton, which Hoover headed. was feedinr
children In % nations and adults in
half as many. 1t coped with disease
and in many places almost took over
| government temporarily. Government
| utilization Of surplus war material
were all involved In 1891 Hoover. theT
| a cabinet member, was able to expans
the remnants Of this organization whe7
| famine In Soviet Russia led to cor
| greSsional appropriations 20 help II
starving population there.
nHa..kfo~aH -. n-~~ta.-S
| When the season for presiden
/ politics opened In 1920 Hoover
| early mentioned among the likely pre-
| Dental possibilities. For a time the
was embarrassment among his fricnG
and well wisherS, however, when 1t ay
| peared that his long career rs ininin
| engineer all over the world had dc
Drived him of political status at home
1t was not certain whether he was
Democrat or a Republican. and he ws
| prominently mentioned for the preSi-
| Dental nomination by both parties
| The New York World, for years stall
| wart Democratic organ, warmiy
espoused his candidacy, and other
Democratic papers spoke favorably OF
| him.
| A little while later Hoover issued az
| open letter declaring himself a Re
1
| were behind his candidacy and IL die
| not make any headway. His name va
| warmly applauded at the Chicago con.
! vention in 1920 but the applause cam
| almost entirely from the galleries Fl
received only a handful of votes. =
| few months later Hooyer accepted th,
post of Secretary Of Commerce In PreSi-
, dent Harding's cabinet. and he sue
/ ceeded to the same place under Presi-
| dent Coolidge. When cabinet change
| were made Hoover was rendered the
| Department of the Interior and later
! the Department OF Agriculture. But n
| declined them on the plea that n
| could be more useful as Secretary o.
| Commerce.
But Mr.. Hoover's activities have ex-
tended outside his own department. HI
| served ON the American Debt Commits
sion and has advised the White HcuSc
/ on many important matters of policy
he has greatly enlarged the field Of hia
own department. reorganizing its for
eign trade sections. summoning con-
| ferences 10 deal with unemployment
and transportation crises and repre-
senting the Government in major m
duStrial disputes. He was the PreSi-
dents representative In the initiation
OF such national engineerinr enter
| nriSeS as the st. Lawrence Canal anG
the Colorado basin compact. He or
/ ganized campaigns to reduce waste In
industrial operations, to prevent acct
dents In traffic and 10 conserve Ash
cries. Under his leadership the De-
/ partment OF Commerce has taken q far
wider interest IN industry and the vel
lare OF the people than ever before I'm
It's history t,' \
When Hoover became Secretary of
Commerce he had Just built his new
that experience, he added a small hous-
ing division 10 his department, Stis-
pension or new construction and of re-
pairs during the war had caused