Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1929-03-08
The Thirty-First President
4fWritten for this paper by George
B. LOCKWOOD

b. 1OckWoOdtF
The source of human greatness is
never obvious. 1t is to be found moi
in one, but in many qualities, and in
the manner of their blending. 1t is tc
be found not in mere mentality, but
in the combination of intellect with
character. Experience plays nc
small part in it's 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 a I'M
iversity in which courses are con-
tinuous.
No man has ever come to the
Presidency of the United States,
since the first President, better
known at the time of his assumption
of the chief magistracy, than Her
bert Hoover. Better known, that is,
throughout the world for his record
of achievement; for what he has
said and done. But the personal
qualities of many President have
been better known; partly because
they had been longer in public life;
partly because they were more OBJ
vious. No man ever went into the
Presidency through more striking
manifestations of public confidence;
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 a far
sounder basis of confidence than
Partially for personality. To most
people, including some who know
him fairly well, Mr. Hoover is some
thing of mystery; but what he has
been able to accomplish is no mys-
terry; it stands out as one of the
most striking record of achievement
ever set to the credit of an Ameri-
can; record impressive not in one
field, but in many; beginning with
small things and broadening to mat
tiers of worldwide moment; and ev-
cry job well done.
Some explanations of Mr.. Hoo
ver's achievements, however, are
First must be placed the
factor of motive. The element of
first Importance in any life is the
purpose that guides it. That may be
it may be acquired
contacts; it may be willed.
AS one reads of the earlier life of
Herbert Hoover, it is evident that |
from the beginning of his adventur- |
0us life he saw something in his |
work beside means of gaining |
lame or fortune. His warm magma
ion saw the broader relationships |
IF all tasks. So in Australia, as a
1outh called to the SUPPLEMENTARY
If a mine, he saw something others
lad stumbled over, namely, that in
lustry was human and not mere
Mechanical thing, and that the
learts as well as the hands of men
must be put into it if it was to suc-
eed even from a dollar and cent
tandpoint. So one of the first tasks
0 which he set himself was that of ;
laking the conditions of labor en-
urable. He made the success of the
worth while to his asso- s
iates who worked with pick and '
howell, as well as to those who drew ]
ividends from the enterprise in Lon |
on. He did not wait until he be- q
anne a candidate for the Presidency e
the United States to preach the t
1ctrine that all worth while pro- /
-ess is based on comfort and op-
for the every day man. He o
1t that theory into practice in the v
st great enterprise he managed. Il
nd it worked; worked so well that a
, soon rose to the management of h
large group of mines, and was G
lied thence to even larger respon- b
0ilities. Ii
So it may be said that Mr.. Hoover VI
IS in public service from the be- W
ming, for he saw in industry an hi
strumentality of public service. Ii
lie illustration of that ideal may m
seen in all his career as a man. ty
er of mining enterprises on four lie
and the altruism which pl
: at the bottom of it found in the al
lief work of the World War, the
,st prodigious field of action ever 81
ened to humanitarian leadership. m
severed all business connection ce
throw himself into that work; in We
ed, he closed the door on COM hs
rcial endeaYor forever. lie;
friend of Mr.. Hoover, returning Sc
m Russia by way of London after wi
. Hoover had become Secretary of go
mmerce, carried to him at the re- sti
sst of a group of business leaders be
traveller had met in the British
,ital, an offer of a salary of a tic
f million dollars a year and in De
est in profits that would probably mi
re netted as much more, to I'M WI
take the direction of one of the CHI
gest mining operations in the of
I'D. This was an annual return lily
alter than Mr.. Hoover's entire I
unite. Secretary Hoover's reply MI
The tender was: Civ
When was younger man I AM
some ambition to acquire hin
18th. After passing through the but
rid War, witnessing the agonies Ger
and feeling it's desper- int,
needs, have lost interest in les
!. made up my mind some time Am
that the rest of my life would be on
n to public service, either in Of of
or out of it." the
hat, obviously, is Mr.. Hoover's 7
i've? He sees in government, as are
aw in business, a means of MAX tor
political machinery count for a an
ID of greater happiness and wild and
for humankind. abo
lat motive has animated men viii
nave done more harm than be 4;
in the world IT is usually link s1
With lack of practical sense. 1t and
| inspires men with patent pro- poir
IS for making the world over in nota
sht through some device of eco fine
. OF polltlcal legerdermaln. peri
WIZ CneIr eyes on the stars us unlC
walk into some bog and of r
n and draw others after them. bas
nftnl, nEenatad Z -