Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-07
PRES|DENT-ELECT
FOUGHT HIS WAY Up
Eight Year-0Id Orphan Won
--RenoWn in Many
Fields.

OF Lnem framed ana IluIlB dlOIS Tile
wall of the grand staircase at his home
at 1900 S street. His son, Allan, points
out that one ascendS the steps by de-
greeS.
Four years after graduation from
Stanford University he returned from
one of his early mining expeditions
to the far corners of the world and
married his college chum, Lou Henry.
of Monterey. She has been his constant
companion and helpmate ever since.
Upon leaving college Hoover worked
as a mine laborer in Grass Valley, Cali
fornia He later landed clerkship in
the Office of Louis Janin, leading min
ing engineer of the West. He took that
job not to learn clerking, but to learn
the Janin methods of engineering.
Janin was attracted to the diligent
young college-bred clerk, and he final
ly made him an assistant to survey
mining properties in New Mexico, Cali
fornia and Colorado.
Able to Solve Big Problems.
His demonstrated knack of grasping
big problems and of devising means
and organizations to solve them won
him a bigger assignment. He went TO
West Australia to examine and manage
mining properties there. 1t was upon
his return to California from this sue
ceSsful mission that he took Lou Henry
to the altar. She left with him for
China, where he had been engaged IS
chief engineer of the Chinese bureau Of
mines.
Hoover's initial venture into the field
Of emergency relief came during his
sojourn in China. The Boxer uprising
caught him and Mrs. Hoover in Tientsin.
The foreign settlement was beSieged
with hostile troops. The settlement was
raked with gunfire, beset on all sides by
incendiarism. Hundreds fell around the
Hoovers Chief Engineer Hoover be-
came the natural leader of the defense
forces. In this capacity he established
his first food-relief organization. The
upheaval caused q cessation Of all min
ing activities. and Hoover finally re-
turned to California. He went back TO
China in 1901 and re-established vast
mining operations.
From 1902 to 1907 he was junior
partner in an international engineering
firm, with offices in London, New York,
San Francisco and other parts Of the
world. Later he hung up his own
shingle, and at the outbreak OF the
World War was the executive OF con-
Germs employing upward Of $4,000
men.
Record in World War Relief Work.
The war found him in Europe, en-
gagged in the task of arousing interest
of foreign officials in the Panama
Pacific Exposition to be held in San
Francisco the following year. 1t also
caught thousands of American citizens
stranded without funds. because of the
upheaval in banking and the trans
portation crisis.
The vast tangle needed cool head
to unravel it. American officials in
London turned unhesitatingly toward
one man as being equal to the task.
Herbert Hoover at once became head
of the American relief committee, q
creature of his faculty for organization.
The story Of his subsequent activities
in war-torn Europe is familiar to every
school child
Suffice it to say that his Commission
for Relief in Belgium was the first in
stitution to control the feeding Of an
entire nation; that it administered aid
to more than 100000 destitute people;
that in the five years Of its existence
it expended billion and half dol
lars without the loss of dollar and
with an average overhead expense Of
less than one-haH of one per cent.
That commission has been perpetuated
in the Commission for Relief in Bel
GUM Education Foundation, of which
Hoover is the chairman. and which has
turned over $4,000, 900 in surplus funds
to the cause of Belgian education.
Called Home by President.
With the entry of America into the
great conflict Hoover was called back
home by President Wilson to become
United States food administrator.
Again, 1t is unnecessary to detail his
work in this capacity. for every man,
woman and child came into contact with
1t during the war. He next created the
United States Grain Corporation, to reg
ulate the supply of foodstuffs here and
at the front. He organized the Sugar
Equalization Board and purchased the
entire sugar crop of Cuba to protect
the American people from speculation.
The scope of his operations in food re-
lief embraced the purchase and sale
of foodstuffS valued at more than So
600 10000
With the close of the war his or
ganizing abilities were even more in de-
mand. At President Wilson'S request
he returned to Europe to survey the
shambles. Millions of children were
starving-and America had a surplus of
food, left over from war preparations.
He was made executive officer of the
Supreme Economic Council, a joint al
lied committee. He established the
American Relief Administration for the
alienation of restitution and suffering
i'll Europe. More than 100000 chill
dren were given assistance. Later this
work was greatly extended to avert a
famine over the Winter of 1920-21.
The work was expanded to include Rus
STA, where million tons of food and
medical supplies were provided.
Appointed to Harding Cabinet.
Hoover was appointed Secretary of
Commerce by President Harding in 1921,
He began organizing and reorganiZ-
ing things there. Through a broad
program of cooperation with industry
he helped to expand the Nations for
eign trade. launched a campaign for
elimination of waste and furthered a
program of Standardization of manu-
featured goods.
appointment by President Coolidge as
head of presidential relief expedition.
He organized almost overnight an eff
fclent relief army. using the ground
work or tie American Red Cross as a
nucleus. No lives were lost after this
relief and rescue organization began
functioning. and three-quarters of a
million people were fed and sheltered in
refugee camps.
1t was during the flood emergency
that his name began to be mentioned In
connection with the presidency. Many
of the refugees insisted on calling him
President Hoover" under the sincere
conviction that he was the Nations
Chief Executive. Enthusiastic support
ers in the flood country sought vainly to
fete him as "the country'S next great
leader" To all of this Hoover turned a
deaf ear. He was not on political trip,
but on serious mission of relief. He let
1t be known that such overtures were
exceedingly diStasteful to him.
Summoned to Higher Post.