HOOVER THE MAN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 506, 8 November 1928, Page 13

HOOVER THE MAN

Work for Humanity in War and Peace HUMBLE BEGINNING The new President of the United States, Mr. Herbert Clark Hoover, like many of America’s foremost men, began life in humble circumstances. Born in lowa on August 10, 1874, he was the son of a blacksmith, who was also a Quaker preacher. Both parents died when he was seven years old, and he was subsequently adopted by an uncle in a Western State of Washington. At 13 he had begun to earn his own living and worked his way through Leland Stanford University, graduating in 1895 with a degree in mining engineering and geology. In 1899 lie was appointed DfrectorGeneral of Mines by the Chinese Government, and during the Boxer rising took part in the defence of Tientsin. i His profession during the next 15 years took him to Western Australia, China, Burma and Russia, to some of them more than once. He was seldom at his home in San Francisco, and then only for short intervals. WAR RELIEF WORK The outbreak of the war found him in Bondon, and there he undertook the self-imposed task of organising the work of repatriating stranded Americans. That work completed, he found another ready to hand in organising relief for the people of invaded Belgium. When America entered the war he was appointed chairman of the United States Food Commission of the Council of National Defence, and soon afterwards became Federal Food Administrator. Ho was also entrusted with the chairmanship of the American and Allied Food Supply Commission, which he filled until peace was signed. The end of the war brought further relief work in Europe, notably in Vienna. Mr. Hoover was a candidate for the Presidency in 1920, but his vote at the convention was negligible. After President Harding took office Mr. Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce. He was confirmed in the office by President Coolidge. His first experience of flood relief work was in 1900, when he organised relief for Chinese and other refugees in Tientsin, and so when he was sent by President Coolidge to organise relief in the areas devastated by the Mississippi floods, the task was admirably performed. REPUTATION FOR SILENCE Mr. Hoover is a man of fine physique, tall and well built. He has all the appearance and vigour of an athlete, and he is fond of an open-air life. He has never been one who sought to be in the limelight and has always taken his duties quietly, but he ha§ performed them with such skill and care that he has gradually won the esteem and confidence of American manufacturers and traders. His aim has always been to give his country a high place in the trade and commerce of the world, and to ensure that none of her rights are anywhere encroached upon or withheld. He has been a quiet, steady worker, with a reputation for silence almost equal to that of the proverbial silence of President Coolidge himself. Mr. Hoover has a larger individual and non-partisan following than any recent figure in United States politics. Without any of Roosevelt’s spectacular qualities, he seems to have inspired much of the personal admiration which the nation gave to that notable character.