Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-24
HUMAN, FiARD-FIITTING HYDE
AT HIS BEST ON DROUGHT TOUR
Agriculture Secretary Prefers
Contacts With People to.
Office Charts.
Dangerous Campaign Orator
Is Both Urbane and Pug
nacious to Foes.
BY wrLLrAM HAND.

Arthur Mastick dyoe, MetnonlSt,
Mason, Mystic shriner. Odd Fellow,
dry. uplifting. joking. Secretary Of
Agriculture, chairman Of the National
Drought Committee, now on . motor
tour Of some Of the drought-stricken
| districts near washington, Is on that
tour naturally and characteristicaily.
He likes TO nee from partaking Of the
tabulations Of the high Hccverites to
mixing with his fellow man. He gazes
with awe at the charts and graphs COM
| posed by the statistical scientists Of the
Department Of Agriculture and finds
restoration In taking train to address
mass meetings Of citizens, delighting In
oratory. His style II more graphic than
graphed. He Is one Of the few init
mates Of the President who can both
take deep counsel and harangue the
| populace.
Best Haranguers Lost.
The two best Hoover haranguers in
| the last campaign were lost by the
/ withdrawal Of Charles Evans Hughes
! into the silence Of the Supreme Court
and by the departure Of William Edgar
Borah into the waters Of the ehb tide
after the food tide Of his regular irA
regularity. The spacious vacancies left
| by MIR. Hughes and Mr.. Hprah viii be
/ only gradually filled, but among the
filters Mr.. Hyde will undoubtedly bulk
ultimately extremely large and audible
He, oddly-or perhaps not oddly
has both q sensitive demeanor and q
common touch. He Is Of almost deli
and Observation-Disclosures but he Is 1.-the
and alert and conbative. He Is q
strong believer In amiability and in
treating opponents rough. He does
| large part Of the laughing in admins
| tratton circles and also large part Of
| the elugging for Il. He II constitution
ally opposed to policies Of mute meek
ness and Of covert Cancellation. His
notion Of how TO deal with Democrats
He would also meanwhile cfeerily chat
with them and let them have 0 loan
on the grass roots Of the burned pas
ture. He Is very pugnacious and very
urbane.
Reared In Small Town.
He acquired his urbanity in the town
of Princeton, Mo-, his birthplace, where
he spent his boyhood and where he
subsequently practiced law for is years
| IN the midst Of Q population OF some
| 1900. The town had had manufac-
| turing district In which there was
| factory II feet or 80 long and 10 feet
or so wide, in which q citizen fabri-
Gated brooms from broom corn grown
| by himself. This was the extent Of the
| local manufactures interest to balance
| the otherwise agricultural interest Of
the community and neighborhood.
OF Princeton Mr.. Hyde became the
mayor. He then moved to the metro
politan environment Of the nearby city
| population Of some 5000. he learned
further cosmopolitan ways, but re-
manned dry. He had enlisted In the
political expeditionary forces OF Theo-
dore Roosevelt in the year 1912 and had
taken q vigorous and voluble part IN
the warfare first against William
Howard Taft and then against both
Mr.. Taft and Mr. Woodrow Wilson. BY
1920 Mr.. Hyde had gained associates
and followers throughout Missouri and
| came forward as q candidate Tor Gov
error. His opponent had been Endorsed
by drys on the countryside and by vets
in st. Louis. Meeting him In Joint
debate on . public platform, Mr.. Hyde
began his speech BY saying:
II AM dry. ] WIZ now SIT Gown
while by opponent tells YOU whether
He tiereupon did sit down and his
opponent rose and endeavored TO dis.
| pei the issue. The crowd urged him
| not to try to dispel It, but to meet 1t.
1 He did not meet 1t TO the extent OF r-
retrievably classifying himself. When
he had concluded Mr.. Hyde rose ana
rejoined, In effect:
"You have seen where my opponent
is dry and where he Is wet i am
He won. The incident is q con-
densation Of his method. He Is Tor
what he Is for, and his theory OF now
to win Is to say 1t and say II hard.
He is reputed to be one OF the few
men ever created who could say thing
hard enough to give q JOLT to that
greatest Of all rough tumble. CATCH
as-catch-car, oratorical wrestlers and
boxers, ex-senator James A. Reed, also
of Missouri. Both Mr.. Reed and Mr..
Hyde think that II the boxing gloves
won't do 1t, you had better let drive
with the water-bottle or stanchion
wrenched from the ropes.
In a quite Quaker administration.
Mr.. Hyde Is q large proportion of the
able proportion Of the human contact.
| He will be pleasantness and COM
panionableness itself to everybody he
meets IN the drought-stricken districts
till he meets Democratic orator.
OF the ancient American political style
| when opponents were opponents, and
Mr.. Hyde viii come back to Washing
| ton sufficiently revived 10 endure once
| more the spectacle OF the charts and
| graphs Of the scholars OF his depart
/ Copyright. isso.)
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