Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-24
PRESIDENT STANDS
RIVER TRIP WELL
Physician Pleased by Hoo
ver's Condition After Expo
sure to Heavy Rains.
BY WILLIAM HARD.


Special Dispatch to The Star.
ON BOARD PRESIDENT HOOVER'S
TRAIN, October 24.-The President this
morning is rapidly on his way back to
Washington, with many praises pro-
nounced upon his constitution by his
special physician and trainer, Comdr
Joel T. Boone, U. S. N.
"He has survived the trip with
marvellous power OF resistance to ter
rible weather and to great fatigue,
said DR.. Boone. "He is just as physi-
cally fit this minute as he was when
he left Washington. He has stood the
torrents of rain and the crowds of sight
seers and hand-shakers without losing
bit Of his fine physical condition
He is going back to Washington not
only without pneumonia but without
even trace of cold"
In DR.. Boone'S voice there was the
ncte Of feeling of great relief and of
gteat triumph. George Akerson, the
Presidents secretary for his contacts
with the public, was meanwhile talking
about the Presidents success with the
vast crowds which har greeted him.
Mr.. Akerson was glad to have the
President get through his trip with I'M
abated personal popularity. DR.. Boone
was glad to have him get through with
it alive.
Discuss Travelling.
The whole question of presidential
cross-country political steeplechaSes
was thus brought up for discussion and
debate on the presidential homeward-
bound journey.
On three successive days the Presi-
dent was drenched to the skin by ire
mendous downpourS of rain in the
of hi lie I1n 10Th r
seeing crowds in Detroit and in Gin
cinnai and along the waters of the
Ohio River. He had need of the pro-
fessional and affectionate care, not
only of his physician, Comdr. Boone,
but his watchful wardrobe master,
Boris"
Boris" has many years behind him
of solicitiouS efforts TO circumvent and
counterfeit the Presidents absolutely
negligent care Of his clothes. Boris"
therefore, thoughtfully started out from
Washington with a vast stock of spare
part clothes for emergencies. He &C.
cordingly was able, as soon as one pres
idential suit was ruined by the rain, TO
replace 1t upon the President by an
other. Honors for returning the Presi-
dent to Washington intact must be al
most equally decided between Boris"
and DR.. Boone.
Defied Pneumonia.
The President in Detroit made a re-
mark, which is thought to be a fairly
complete summary of presidential duty
in touring circumstances. He looked
at the thick endless lines of drenched
and almost drowned people along the
sidewalks of the flooded streets and
waved down the efforts of his COM
panionS to raise the shelter of the top
of his car over him, and said.
IF I'm going to leave a trail of
pneumonia behind me in the Middle
West, ought at least to go along the
trail myself
A great comic irony was lent to this
situation by the events of the Presi-
dents night in Louisville. He spoke in
Louisville in a warm and dry and
splendid auditorium. In Detroit and in
Cincinnati and along the waters of the
Ohio River, enormous crowds had stood
out in the open and in the rain just
to look at him. In Louisville, in the
inclosed waterproof auditorium, there
were hundreds of vacant seats, which
had been reserved for people who pre-
ferred to stay at home and listen to
the Presidents set formal speech over
the radio. What with people who will
brave drowning to look at President
and people who won't take a taxi
through the rain to hear him talk in
a dry place, it Is thought on this train
that the presidential problem of public
touring appearances is difficult in the
extreme.
May End Long Trips.
It seems likely to be solved only by
having the radio companies hurry up
with the art Of "television." Then every
body will be able to see and to hear the
President while he remains snugly and
safely healthy in his Second-story study
in the White House. "Television," it is
suggested, may be the end of hazardous
presidential Swings around the cir
Gle"
The saddest spectators perhaps Of the
Presidents present tour were some
sleepy members of his early morning
medicine ball cabinet" They thought
that during the Presidents absence from
Washington they might be happily
abed till half past seven, possibly, in
stead of half-past six. 1t is said that
the President wholly frustrated this
pleasant expectation of theirs by an
nouncing to them that health was a
splendid thing, and that medicine ball
activities would be permitted and con-
tinued on the White House back lawn
all through his unfortunate and una
voidable separation from his fellow ath-
letes. They accordingly presumably
have been toiling every morning at
health while he has been miraculously
preserving it in the midst of the chilling
downpours of this weeks Western
skies.
One of the keys to the miracle is
thought to be illustrated by the fact
that on the boat between Cincinnati
and Louisville the President was fast
asleep by half-past nine in the evening.
He will return fully refreshed and alb
solutely healthy to wakeful medicine
ball cabinet" Friday morning.
copyright, 1927