THE TWO HOOVERS

Hokitika Guardian, 26 October 1933, Page 8

THE TWO HOOVERS

LAST YEAR AND THIS YEAR In ,n smallish room in White House Washington, official home.,of; the Presidents of the United States, a man sits at . his. desk, careworn, eyes reddened through lack pf sleep, writes the special correspondent of the Sunday Express. A; pile of papers in front of him all tell the same story—-bankruptcy, falling national,..revenue,. growing unemployment, foreign entanglements—depression at its worst. Wearily he picks up a news paper, and as wearily throws it down. It is full of abuse of him. His country waits for him to solve its troubles, and his bowed shoulders tell their own story of the weight thrust upon them. That was in 1932. *# * * . And now 1933. A sunburned, active-looking man walks with a springing step from his palatial home on the borders of Stanford ..University, in lovely California. -He whistles blithely as he steps into his j motorcar.. A- .touch,of. the. pelf-starter !—all-the beauties of the. Nevada mountain .countryside are his for the taking. iAnd with the. cool of the evening there will be a bright little dinner-party of personal friends. Newspaper men call to ask for his comments on current laffairs: “I have no comments to make” he assures them smilingly. “And I have.no plans; politically, for business, or for pleasure . . . .” Two portraits ?' Yes, but of the same man, 1932: President Herbert Hoover. 1933: Mr Herbert Hoover, a gentleman of leisure.