The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1929-02-28
Written for The Republican by
GEORGE B. LOCKWOOD

in one, but in many qualities, and in
the manner of their blending. 1t is
to be found not in mere mentality,
but in the combination of intellect
with character. Experience plays no
small part in its development with
those who are capable of wisely as
Stimulating experience. The school is
only one step in education; the man
headed for greatness finds life uni
versity in which courses are contin-
uous.
No man has ever come to the presi-
dency of the United States, since the
first president, better known at the
time of his assumption of the chief
magistracy, than Herbert Hoover.
Better known, that is, thruout the
world for his record of achievement;
for what has been said and done. But
the personal qualities of many presi-
dents have been better known; partly
because they had been longer in pub
lie life; partly because they were
more obvious. No man ever went in
to the presidency through more
striking manifestation of public con-
fidence; but that confidence was based
not upon what people know about Mr..
Hoover personally, but because of the
ideas and deeds which constitute his
known record. That is far sounder
basis of confidence than partially for
a personality. To most people, in
Guiding some who know him fairly
well, Mr.. Hoover is something of
mystery; but what he has been able
to accomplish is no mystery; it stands
out as one of the most striking re-
cords of achievement ever set to the
credit of an American; a record i'm
pressive not in one field, but in many;
beginning with small things and then
broadening to matters of worldwide
moment; and every job we'll done.
Some explanations of Mr.. Hoover's
achievements, however, are apparent.
First must be placed the factor of
motive. The element of first import
ance in any life is the purpose that
guides it. That may be inherited; it
may be acquired through contacts; it
may be willed. AS one reads of the
earlier life of Herbert Hoover, it is
evident that from the beginning of
his adventurous life he saw some
thing in his work beside a means of
gaining fame or fortune. His warm
imagination saw the broader rela-
Ups of all tasks. So in Aus
as youth called to the super
ency of mine, he saw some
others had stumbled over,
lely that industry was human
d not mere mechanical thing, and
nat the hearts as we'll as the hands
of men must be put into it if it was
to succeed even from a dollar and
cent standpoint So one of the first
tasks to which he set himself was
that of making the conditions of la
Dor endurable.
He made the success of the enter
prise worth while to his associates
who worked with pick and shovel, as
well as to those who drew dividends
from the enterprise in London. He
did not wait until he became candi-
date for the presidency of the United
States to preach the doctrine that all
worth while progress is based on
comfort and opportunity for the ev-
cry day man. He put that theory in
to practice in the first great enter
prise he managed. And it worked;
worked so we'll that he soon rose to
the management of a large group OF
mines, and was called thence to even
larger esponsibilities.
So it may be said that Mr.. Hoover
was in public service from the begin
ming, for he saw in industry an in
strumentality of public service. The
illustration of that ideal may be seen
in all his career as a manager of min
ing enterprises on four continents,
and the altruism which lay at the bot
tom of it found in the relief work of
the World war, the most prodigious
field of action ever opened to human
itarian leadership. He served all bust
ness connections to throw himself in
to that work; indeed, he closed the
door on commercial endeavor forever.
A friend of Mr. Hoover, returning
from Russia by way of London after
Mr.. Hoover had become secretary of
commerce, carried to him at the re-
quest of a group of business leaders
the traveller had met in the British
capital, an offer of salary of half
million dollars a year and an interest
in profits that would probably have
netted as much more, to undertake
the direction of one of the largest
mining operations in the world. This
was an annual return greater than
Mr.. Hoover's entire fortune. Secre-
tary Hoover's reply to the tender was
when l was a younger man had
some ambition to acquire wealth. AT
ter passing through the World war,
witnessing the agonies of humanity