The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-11-03
BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES
Within the last two and a half
years some seven books have been
devoted 70 undermining the Hoover
myth. They and their authors are
John Knox CThomas j. Dockerty),
The Great Mistake; John Hamill,
The Strange Career of President
Hoover Under Two Flags" Clement
Wood, Herbert Clark Hoover--An
American Tragedy; John j.
O'Brien, "Hoovers Millions and
How He Made Them" Walter Lig-
gett, 1.-The Rise of Herbert Hoover;
John L. Seaton, Tough Luck, Hoo
yer Again" and Robert Allen, why
Hoover Faces Defeat"
In addition, the famous scholar
and biographer, Joseph McCabe,
has gathered much material pub
lished by Haldeman-Julius.
The books by Knox, Hamill and
O'Brien are savage attacks on Hoo
ver's career down to about 1920.
Liggett's book is a learned, serious
and competent biography, though
definitely critical in tone. Woods
volume falls in between Hamill and
Liggett. Heaton and Allen devote
themselves to a critical analysis of
Hoover in the White House.
1t is not necessary here to con-
slider for a moment the thus far
improved charges of some Of the
writer's relative to many details of
Hoover's days as a mining promoter.
They are neither finally substanti-
ated nor definitely diSproved.
Myth Is Refuted
All that is important here is to
note that these books amply refute
the Hoover myth, even if we reject
every single assertion which Hoo
ver's defenders challenge.
It is clear that Hoover was not
trained as an engineer-mining or
otherwise. He took liberal arts
course and majored in geology.
There was no separate engineering
school at Stanford at this time.
The closest thing to a technical
engineering class which he attended
was one in mechanical drawing
taken as an underclasSman. He
apparently was good student of
geology, but the subject was in its
infancy in those days and many a
graduate Of one of the better tech
nical high schools of today is better
trained in science, geology, and
technique than was Mr.. Hoover
upon graduation from Stanford.
Mr.. Hoover never worked as
technical expert in metallurgy or
mining. After short period as an
assistant in various manual tasks
connected with mining operations,
he went Immediately into the de-
velopment and promotion branch
of the mining industry.
Busy in Field
He spent much of his time in the
field, however, leaving the details
of speculative finance mainly to his
associates in London and other
business offices. Hoover served as
an intermediary between the tech
meal experts and the f1nanciers. He
was very successful in his promo
tional work and earned his millions,
if we Judge his deserts according to
the conventional standards of the
profit system and contemporary
speculative finance.
Mr.. Hoover was not, then, an en-
gineer. His prizes and medals in
these fields were honorific and we're
awarded after his entry into public
life. The only achievement APP
preaching technical engineering was
a translation which he made, with
the aid of his wife, of medieval
Latin work on mining and metals.
Not Great Social Engineer
The notion that he was a great
social engineer, fiercely opposed to
the wasteful methods of the indi-
viduaistic profit system, is even
more absurd. All one needs to do
here is to read his confession of
faith, American Individualism, +"
and compare it with the writings of
Of a technician with a social point
of view, say Guido Marx, Howard
Scott or somebody of comparable
standing and interests.
Hoover is no more of a social en-
gineer-an engineer in politics.
than any other man who has gained
wealth as result of pursuing the
unchastened profit system with
gusto and persistence.
His whole career before 1914 was
a negation of social engineering and
his credo as a conventional business
man stands at exactly the opposite
pole from socialized technics.
The legend that Hoover is a
great humanitarian was based upon
his relief work in Belgium and his
career as food administrator in the
United States. But there is not the
slightest evidence that he brought
to either of these tasks any senti-
mental concern.
Just Administrative JObS