Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-03

The man who had a lot to do with
Herbert Hoover's start in public life has
Just arrived in Washington. He is
Robert Peet Skinner, now American
Minister to Greece and one of the sea-
Soned veterans of the United States
foreign service. When the World War
broke out in August, 1914, Skinner was
American consul general at London.
To his Offices in "the city" Yankee
tourists streamed in serried and strand
ed ranks. British banks had declared
To-day moratorium and American let
tiers of credit and travellers checks were
Just scraps of paper. The consulate
general, of course, couldn't come to the
rescue, and corresponding panic seized
the marooned expatriates. One day, in
the midst of their lamentations. a
young mining engineer named Hoover,
who had an Office near the consulate
general, turned up. He said he'd OBJ
tanned possession of 100000 or $1,000
Of real money and thought the best
war service" he could render at that
particular juncture was to help out his
impoverished compatriots. Mr.. Skinner
gave Hoover the back room Of the con-
Sulate for an Office, out of which in
day or two grew a typical Hoover or
ganization for the speedy and effective
relief of every American in the British
Isles who could present convincing
tale Of woe.
~ * *
Although the only Indians now ex-
tant there are q few wooden oldtimers
in front of cigar stores, it's to the City
of Brotherly Love that President Hoover
has gone for the full new high COM
mand of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Recent appointment of Charles j.
RhoadS Of Philadelphia as Indian COM
missioner has now been followed by the
naming of brother Philadelphia,
j. Henry Scattergood, as assistant COM
missioner. Both Rhoads and Scatter
good are prominent Quakers. Each of
them, too, served in the Friends over
seas relief work after the war and
made Hoover'S acquaintance in those
activities. 1t is the first time In many
years that the Indian Bureau has not
been manned by Westerners from reser-
walton districts. Rhoads and Scatter
| good have long been active in the af-
fairs Of the Indian Rights Association.
Fortunate WaShingtonianS are CRATE
full recipients, with the compliments of
the National Lumber Manufacturers
Association, of wooden candlesticks
claiming historic origin. When 1t was
QGClQ6Q 1871 W Tie WTllCe
| House the association successfully bid
on several trusses from the old roof
as soon as the timberS from the de-
| molished structure were put up at
auction. Out of the wood candleSticks
of artistic design were fashioned and
have now been presented to the lumber
manufacturers friends. A printed
legend attached to the base of the
candlesticks attestS that the pine tim
bers from which they were turned sup
ported the roof of the White House
for 112 years and that the wood pre-
served its soundnesS throughout that
| period. GaVels, also made from White
House timber, have been sent to several
patriotic societies and public organiza-
| tiorS.
In this column attention recently
was called to the fact that Herbert
Hoover once had his picture taken with
the man who is now the Pope of
Rome. AS that sensational disclosure
failed to agitate the Senator who has
appointed himself defender of the
American faith against the pretensions
Of the Vatican, here's another revela-
| ton that seems worthy of his vigilance.
On the famous Rodgers bronze doors,
which practically form the main portal
of the United States Capitol on the
east lTOTC, Lie SIdCuc VI EUpe AISAdI-
der VI. stands out in bold relief. The
figure. ID inches high. is part of an
allegorical design depicting the life of
Christopher Columbus and is one of a
series of statues of sovereigns en-
throned when America was discovered
Besides Pope Alexander VI, there are
| figures representing Ferdinand and Isa-
bella, Charles VIII, Henry VII and
John II. The Rodgers doors were cast
in Munich in 1865 and are some Of
the finest bronzes of their kind extant
| X X X X
Eugene Meyer, who retires as farm
loan commissioner after IL years of
continuous Federal service. has long
ranked as one Of the financial best
minds of the Government. Four Pres
dents-Wilson, Harding, Coolidge and
Hoover-and four Secretaries of the
Treasury-McAdoo. Glass. Houston and
Mellon-held him in high esteem.
Meyer quit his own lucrative private
banking business in 1917 to serve Uncle
Sam during the World War, and has
been kept in service by. successive adj