Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-01
EUROPE is HELD FEARFUL
OF HOOVER AS PRESIDENT
Secretary Gained Reputation of Being
''Hardboiled' While He Was En-
gagged in Postwar Work.

DIODdSdIlud.
between the two was patiently enormous.
as was not infrequently the case, Hoo
ver's scorn and indignation were not
disguised. Out of the mess he came,
to Judge by outward appearances,
man with few or no illusions left. Ger
tainly the memories of his Paris expert
ences have exercised a profound infiu-
ence In shaping his later views about
Europe and our relation to that CONT
nent.
Recalls Hoover Dictum.
recall wildly one personal expert
ence during that time, when Mr.. Hoover
asked me to luncheon and, after follow
ing his customary course Of eating his
food in silence broken by the feWest
possible words, launched into mag
nificent and explosive Grafton on the
theme of the necessity that America
should go home and let Europe make
its own peace in its own way. our
ways, he declared, we're not their ways,
and between us the points OF view were
utterly irreconcilable.
I have always laid that particular
explosion to the consequences OF many
months of uninterrupted and desperate
effort to save the lives of the millions
who were actually on the point OF
starvation. during which time he found
himself thwarted, baffied and even de-
ceived by the statesmen and the gov
ernments which he was supposed TO DC
collaborating with. / doubt If 1t can
be challenged that Hoover came back
from Europe "hardboiled," and Europe
today feels that if he should become
President he would remain hardboiled.
A great deal of nonsense has been
talked about Hoover on the score OF
his having been AngliciZed. But IL the
comments of the British representatives
at the Paris Peace Conference are at
all illuminating, they did not find him
Anglicized. And if one chooses to re-
cali history still fairly recent, at the
time of the great rubber controversy.
the comment of the British press upon
Mr. Hoover was very far from affec-
tionate.
The striking peculiarly of Mr. Hoover
in his relation to foreigners. whether
British or Continental, is that he IS
almost completely impervious to their
influences. In the Paris Peace Confer
ence he was far and away nearer to
the hundred per cent standard OF
AmericaniSm than any one else there
discoverable Curtis. with his Indian
strain. is perhaps point or two ahead.
but Curtis has never ventured to ex-
pose himself to the corrupting in
fluence of the rest OF the world as
Hoover has,
In his individual human relations
Hoover is not only kind. but / suspect
sentimental Anyhow he has the SUI
preme art of making other men not
only do the things necessary to the
success Of the great job he happens 10
be on at the moment. but of feeling
for him personally a sense OF loyalty
hardly to be exaggerated. There are
more men scattered over the face uf
the world calling him Chief today.
because for a few weeks or q few
month they belonged to one Of his
shows than pay similar tribute to
any soldier who commanded an army
in the World War.
Impervious to appeals"
But along with this amazing genius
for enlisting loyalty goes a curious
GOODNESS and lack of sympathy for
precisely the things which count most
in the European mind and appear
most in the European phrase.
Perhaps it is an exaggeration to say
that Europe. collectively. makes Hoover
mad" but the exaggeration IS only to
a degree. Most European appeals adj
dressed to American ears affect Hoover
about as efforts to stress the emotional
side of things affect poker players in
real game. He is simply imperviouS TO
it-and Europe is at once baffied and
anxious, 1t has no clue as to how to
approach Hoover, and the simple reason
is. believe, that Mr.. Hoover is. after
all. about as typically American as they
make them"
In Europe Hoover Is both feared and
respected. because he is supposed TO be
the lasting expression in efficiency of
the meaning Of cotemporary America.
Hoover more than any enc else, SYM
bolizcS the America that Is filing the
European press and mind with its
achievement in the present decade.
In the back of most European minds
is the firm conviction that all Anleri-
cans are naive and immature Europeans
who. given time and opportunity. viii
grow up to be good Europeans. But the
trouble is that Hoover is visibly and ir-
refutahly grown I'D and he isn't the
least European. Worse than that. he
gives Europeans the very clear impress
sion that he does not believe in their
Europe. that he does not regard 1t as
going concern. And. as an efficiency
engineer. he believes 1t could be made to
go If only the present operators were
sacked and the existing methods dis
carded.
Instead of acquieScing when Euro
peans treat America as nursery and
Americans as children. Hoover Is just
as like as not 10 treat Europeans as
children--Speaking of course, econom-
ically, not politically-and Hoover hasn't
even q suspicion of politics In his syS-
tenn Few Of the European statesmen
who had dealings with Hoover In the
war and postwar period were unaware
of his contempt for most OF their meth
DDS and all of their proteStationS. That
was to be sure. eight years ago. But
the memory of Herbert Hoover IN Eu-
rope has not withered II he should be
elected, my guess is that in more than
one foreign Office the phrase Of Pitt
would be amended to read. Roll up the
map Of America for at least another
four years"
tCopyright, 1927