Evening star., 1948-06-13

table of history a sheaf Of eviden
Mr.. Hoover, the most maligned an
johnson. If Mr.. Lyons exposition is
not exactly objective, if it leans to-
ward lyrical praise of the former
President, his character and achieve
ments, the writer is meeting the
charges Of a prosecution that never
bothered with judicial rules or even
ordinary fair play. 1t is interesting
to recall, as the author does, that
Mr.. Lyons used to be left-winger.
His experience as correspondent in
Moscow cured him. But before TAX
ing up the Hoover story in more
detail, let's glance at the other
book.
Mr.. Arnall, the progressive former
Governor of Georgia, writes cogent-
ly of the impressions he gathered
on a Nation-w wide lecture tour. In
his first book, THE Shore Dimly
Seen" he described his successful
fight to eliminate the poll tax and
the chain gang from Georgia, to
free its educational system from Ku
Kluxism. and to promote tolerance
in general Here he takes a look
at the national scene.
They Wanted No Utopia.
Everywhere, he says, he found
evidence that the people want a
common country, with opportunity
and justice for every section and
every citizen, with security and with
freedom to think, experiment and
dream. He adds: They wanted no
utopia, with ready-made happl-
ness devised on mass production
lines and sold, cheaply enough, at
the price of freedom. They wanted
to make their own dreams, as diff
ferent as they pleased from those
dreamed by their neighbors.
Mr.. Arnall sees this as no impos-
sible vision. Democracy is not an
outworn breed. 1t is a practical way
of life. 1t is the way of life that
Americans chose voluntarily.
There is every reason why they
should encourage its development
elsewhere, for democratic world
will be a world at peace
Despite this rather optimistic
view of the essential good will OF
most Americans, he is not unaware
of the currents of conflict and in
tolerance that disturb the country.
He takes up each region OF loosely
grouped States, pointing out Its
peculiar economic and social prob
lens. Some of his conclusions are
superficial, but most of them are
shrewd and rooted in fact. He is too
inclined, perhaps, to accept some OF
our political leaders at their own
valuation, particularly those adver-
tised as great liberals. Mr.. Arnall
personally feels that the world llo-
eral has fallen into disrepute; he
prefers to call himself "a democrat
with a small d. or a llbertarian.
He is indeed one of the most promis-
ing young men on the political
scene, a hopeful antidote for Bilbo-
ism in the South. In this book, he
is thoughtful and interesting ana
shows a clear comprehension OF
American history.
He's on Shaky OrOuIlu.
Incidentally, Mr.. Arnall's book
proves the need for Mr.. Lyons book.
In one of his parenthetical obserVa-
tions. Mr.. Arnall repeats all the
cliches about Mr.. Hoover which
were so effectively spread by the
Democratic National Committee
that they seem to have got into
our national folklore. The myth
of President Hoover-that he was a
cold. aloof man who watched the
depression come on and did nothing
about it. etc.-came to replace the
real man in the public view. Mr..
Arnall is on pretty shaky ground
when he says that Mr.. Harding
"possessed both sounder judgment
and sounder instincts than either
of the Republican Presidents who
followed him
AS Mr.. Lyons brings out, no man
could have had the split personality
that partisan enemies credited toI
Mr.. Hoover. At the end of the First
World War he was the humanl-
tartan hero who had fed the dis
tressed people of Europe. In 1882
he was the callous rich man who
didn't care how many Americans
we're out of work and facing starva-
ton.
The truth is, of course, that he
cared deeply about the consequences
of 1928 and did all he could, how
ever ineffectively, to stave of the
depression. The Reconstruction
Finance Corp. was organized under
the Hoover administration, and 1t
was Mr.. Hoover who instigated the
Investigation of the stock exchange
that lead to drastic reforms. He
did many other constructive things,
but he seldom troubled, having too
high a regard for the dignity OF his
office. to deny the vituperative
charges hurled at him during the
1882 campaign.
Mr.. Lyons brings out many Things
about Mr.. Hoover not generally
known. The former President was
not born to wealth, but to poverty,
worked his way through college and
made his fortune through his own
efforts. He has a sense of humor,
as excerpts from his speeches and
articles show, though it is more in
tellectual than wisecracking. The
staunchness of his integrity is illus
trated by an experience in London