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diff --git a/29489-h/29489-h.htm b/29489-h/29489-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..771a74e --- /dev/null +++ b/29489-h/29489-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10953 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Herbert Hoover, by Vernon Kellogg. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .bb {border-bottom: 1px solid black;} + .bt {border-top: 1px solid black;} + .br {border-right: 1px solid black;} + .box {border: thin dotted gray; margin: auto; text-align: center; padding: 15px;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + ins.correction { + text-decoration:none; /* replace default underline.. */ + border-bottom: thin dotted gray; /* ..with delicate gray line */ + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .right {text-align : right; padding-right:10%;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + img {border:0} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Herbert Hoover, by Vernon Kellogg + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Herbert Hoover + The Man and His Work + +Author: Vernon Kellogg + +Release Date: July 22, 2009 [EBook #29489] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HERBERT HOOVER *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Jason Isbell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p class="box">Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographical errors corrected and noted +with hover text, <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: This is what a correction looks like">like this</ins>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/frontispiece-lg.jpg"><img src="images/frontispiece-sm.jpg" width="400" height="695" alt="Herbert Hoover" title="Herbert Hoover" /></a> +</div> + +<h1>HERBERT HOOVER</h1> +<h2>THE MAN AND HIS WORK</h2> + +<p class="center">BY</p> +<h2>VERNON KELLOGG</h2> + +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF "HEADQUARTERS NIGHTS," ETC.</p> + +<p class="center">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY<br/> +NEW YORK LONDON<br/> +1920</p> + +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY<br/> +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY</p> + +<p class="center"><!-- Page vi --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> + +<p class="center">DEDICATED<br/> +TO MY COMPANIONS OF THE<br/> +C. R. B. +<!-- Page vii --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> +<a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a> +</p> + + +<h3>PREFACE</h3> + + +<p>No man can have reached the position in the +public eye, can have had such influence in the +councils of our own government and in the +fate of other governments, can have been so +conspicuously effective in public service as has +Herbert Hoover, without exciting a wide public +interest in his personality, his fundamental +attitude toward his great problems and his +methods of solving them. This American, who +has had to live in the whole world and yet has +remained more truly and representatively +American than many of us who have never +crossed an ocean or national boundary line, is +an object of absorbing interest today among +the people of his native land. He is hardly +less interesting to millions in other lands. He +has carried the American point of view, the +American manner, the American qualities of +heart and mind to the far corners of the earth. +He has no less revealed again, as other great +Americans have done before him, these American +<!-- Page viii --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>attributes to America itself.</p> + +<p>Many questions are being asked about the +life and experiences of this man before he entered +upon his outstanding public service and +about the details of his personal participation +in the work of the great wartime private and +governmental organizations under his direction.</p> + +<p>This book is the attempt of an observer, associate +and friend to tell, simply and straightforwardly, +the personal story of the man and +his work up to the present.</p> + +<p class="right"> +V. K. +<!-- Page ix --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr><td>CHAPTER</td><td>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td> +</td><td><a href="#PREFACE"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></a></td><td>vii +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">Children</span></a></td><td>1 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">The Child and Boy</span></a></td><td>10 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">The University</span></a></td><td>31 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">The Young Mining Engineer</span></a></td><td>59 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">In China</span></a></td><td>80 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">London and the Rest of the World</span></a></td><td>102 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">The War: The Man and His First Service</span></a></td><td>124 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">The Relief of Belgium; Organization and +Diplomatic Difficulties</span></a></td><td>140 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">The Relief of Belgium; Scope and Methods</span></a></td><td>165 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">American Food Administration; Principles, +Conservation, Control of Exports</span></a></td><td>199 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">American Food Administration; General +Regulation; Control of Wheat and Pork, +Organization in the States</span></a></td><td>225 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">American Relief Administration</span></a></td><td>256 +</td></tr> +<tr><td> + +</td><td>APPENDICES +</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> +<a href="#APPENDIX_I"><span class="smcap">Appendix I</span></a></td><td>283 +</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> +<a href="#APPENDIX_II"><span class="smcap">Appendix II</span></a></td><td>291 +</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> +<a href="#APPENDIX_III"><span class="smcap">Appendix III</span></a></td><td>311 +</td></tr> +<tr><td></td><td> +<a href="#APPENDIX_IV"><span class="smcap">Appendix IV</span></a></td><td>334 +</td></tr> +</table> +<p><!-- Page 1 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HERBERT_HOOVER" id="HERBERT_HOOVER"></a>HERBERT HOOVER</h2> + +<h2>THE MAN AND HIS WORK</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h2>CHILDREN</h2> + + +<p>It was a great day for the children of Warsaw. +It was a great day for their parents, too, +and for all the people and for the Polish Government. +But it was especially the great day +of the children. The man whose name they all +knew as well as their own, but whose face they +had never seen, and whose voice they had never +heard, had come to Warsaw. And they were +all to see him and he was to see them.</p> + +<p>He had not announced his coming, which +was a strange and upsetting thing for the government +and military and city officials whose +business it is to arrange all the grand receptions +and the brilliant parades for visiting guests to +whom the Government and all the people wish +to do honor. And there was no man in the +world to whom the Poles could wish to do more<!-- Page 2 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +honor than to this uncrowned simple American +citizen whose name was for them the synonym +of savior.</p> + +<p>For what was their new freedom worth if +they could not be alive to enjoy it? And their +being alive was to them all so plainly due to +the heart and brain and energy and achievement +of this extraordinary American, who sat +always somewhere far away in Paris, and +pulled the strings that moved the diplomats +and the money and the ships and the men who +helped him manage the details, and converted +all of the activities of these men and all of these +things into food for Warsaw—and for all Poland. +It was food that the people of Warsaw +and all Poland simply had to have to keep +alive, and it was food that they simply could +not get for themselves. They all knew that. +The name of another great American spelled +freedom for them; the name Herbert Hoover +spelled life to them.</p> + +<p>So it was no wonder that the high officials +of the Polish Government and capital city +were in a state of great excitement when the +news suddenly came that the man whom they<!-- Page 3 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +had so often urged to come to Poland was +really moving swiftly on from Prague to +Warsaw.</p> + +<p>Ever since soon after Armistice Day he had +sat in Paris, directing with unremitting effort +and absolute devotion the task of getting food +to the mouths of the hungry people of all the +newly liberated but helpless countries of Eastern +Europe, and above all, to the children of +these countries, so that the coming generation, +on whom the future of these struggling peoples +depended, should be kept alive and strong. +And now he was preparing to return to his +own country and his own children to take up +again the course of his life as a simple American +citizen at home.</p> + +<p>But before going he wanted to see for himself, +if only by the most fleeting of glimpses, +that the people of Poland and Bohemia and +Servia and all the rest were really being fed. +And especially did he want to see that the children +were alive and strong.</p> + +<p>When he came to Paris in November, 1918, +at the request of the President of the United +States, to organize the relief of the newly liber<!-- Page 4 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>ated +peoples of Eastern Europe, terrible tales +were brought to him of the suffering and wholesale +deaths of the children of these ravaged +lands. And when those of us who went to +Poland for him in January, 1919, to find out +the exact condition and the actual food needs +of the twenty-five million freed people there, +made our report to him, a single unpremeditated +sentence in this report seemed most to +catch his eyes and hold his attention. It did +more: it wetted his eyes and led to a special +concentration of his efforts on behalf of the suffering +children. This sentence was: "We see +very few children playing in the streets of +Warsaw." Why were they not playing? The +answer was simple and sufficient: The children +of Warsaw were not strong enough to +play in the streets. They could not run; many +could not walk; some could not even stand up. +Their weak little bodies were bones clothed +with skin, but not muscles. They simply could +not play.</p> + +<p>So in all the excitement of the few hours possible +to the citizens of Warsaw and the Government +officials of Poland to make hurried<!-- Page 5 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +preparation to honor their guest and show him +their gratitude, one thing they decided to do, +which was the best thing for the happiness of +their guest they could possibly have done. +They decided to show him that the children of +Warsaw could now walk!</p> + +<p>So seventy thousand boys and girls were +summoned hastily from the schools. They +came with the very tin cups and pannikins +from which they had just had their special +meal of the day, served at noon in all the +schools and special children's canteens, thanks +to the charity of America, as organized and +directed by Hoover, and they carried their little +paper napkins, stamped with the flag of +the United States, which they could wave over +their heads. And on an old race-track of Warsaw, +these thousands of restored children +marched from mid-afternoon till dark in +happy, never-ending files past the grand stand +where sat the man who had saved them, surrounded +by the heads of Government and the +notables of Warsaw.</p> + +<p>They marched and marched and cheered and +cheered, and waved their little pans and cups<!-- Page 6 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +and napkins. And all went by as decorously +and in as orderly a fashion as many thousands +of happy cheering children could be expected +to, until suddenly from the grass an astonished +rabbit leaped out and started down the track. +And then five thousand of these children broke +from the ranks and dashed madly after him, +shouting and laughing. And they caught him +and brought him in triumph as a gift to their +guest. But they were astonished to see as they +gave him their gift, that this great strong man +did just what you or I or any other human sort +of human being could not have helped doing +under like circumstances. They saw him cry. +And they would not have understood, if he +had tried to explain to them that he cried because +they had proved to him that they could +run and play. So he did not try. But the +children of Warsaw had no need to be sorry +for him. For he cried because he was glad.</p> + +<p>But the children of Warsaw were not the +only children of Poland that Hoover was interested +in and wanted to see. His Polish family +was a large and scattered one; there were +nearly a million children in it altogether, and<!-- Page 7 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +some of them were in Lodz and some in Cracow +and others in Brest-Litovsk and Bielostok +and even in towns far out on the Eastern frontier +near the Polish-Bolshevist fighting lines. +But of course he could not visit all of them, +and much less could he hope to visit all the +rest of his whole family in Eastern Europe. +For while an especially large part of it was in +Poland, other parts were in Finland, Esthonia, +Latvia and Lithuania, and some of it was in +Czecho-Slovakia and Austria, and other parts +were in Hungary, Roumania, and Jugo-Slavia. +Altogether this large and diverse family of Mr. +Hoover's in Eastern Europe numbered at least +two and a half million hungry children. And +it only asked for his permission to be still +larger. For at least a million more babies and +boys and girls thought they were unfairly excluded +from it, because they were sure that +they were poor and weak and hungry enough +to be admitted, and being very hungry, and not +being able to get enough food any other way, +was the test of admission to Mr. Hoover's +family.</p> + +<p>When the American Relief Administration,<!-- Page 8 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +which was the organization called into being +under Hoover's direction in response to President +Wilson's appeal to Congress soon after +the armistice, saw that its general assistance +to the new nations could probably be dispensed +with by the end of the summer of 1919, the +director realized that some special help for the +children would still be needed. The task of +seeing that the underfed and weak children in +all these countries of Eastern Europe, extending +from the Baltic to the Black Sea, received +their supplementary daily meals of specially fit +and specially prepared food, could not be suddenly +dropped by the American workers. +There could be no confidence that the still unstable +and struggling governments would be +able to carry it on successfully. But with the +abolition of the blockade and the incoming of +the year's harvest, and with the growing possibility +of adequate financial help through government +and bank loans, the various new nations +of Eastern Europe could be expected to +arrange for an adequate general supply of +food for themselves without further assistance +from the American Relief Administration.<!-- Page 9 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just what the nature and methods of this +assistance were, and how the one hundred million +dollars put into the hands of the Relief +Administration by Congress were made to +serve as the basis for the purchase and distribution +to the hungry countries of over seven +hundred million dollars' worth of food, with +the final return of almost all of the original +hundred million to the United States Government +(if not in actual cash, at least in the form +of government obligations), will be told in a +later chapter. Also how it was arranged, without +calling on the United States Government +for further advances, that the feeding of the +millions of hungry children of Eastern Europe +could go on as it is now actually going on every +day under Hoover's direction, until the time +arrives, some time this summer, when it can be +wholly taken over by the new governments.</p> + +<p>But just now I want to tell another story.<!-- Page 10 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h2>THE CHILD AND BOY</h2> + + +<p>The account of Mr. Hoover's sympathetic +interest in the child sufferers from the Great +War, and of his active and effective work on +their behalf, makes one wonder about his own +childhood. He is not so old that his childhood +days could have been darkened by the one war +which did mean suffering to many American +children, especially those of the South. He +was not born in the South, nor of parents actually +afflicted by poverty, and did not spend his +early days in any of the comparatively few +places in America, such as the congested great +city quarters and industrial agglomerations of +poor and ignorant foreign working-people, +where real child distress is common; so he certainly +did not, as a growing child, have his ears +filled with tales of child suffering, or with the +actual crying of hungry children.</p> + +<p>There was one outstanding fact, however,<!-- Page 11 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +in his relations as a child to the world and to +the people most closely about him, which may +have had its influence in making him especially +susceptible to the sight of child misfortune. +This is the fact that he, like many of his later +wards in Europe, was orphaned at an early +age. But he was by no means a neglected orphan. +So I hardly think that his own personal +experience as an orphan is a sufficient explanation +of the passionate interest in the special +fate of the children, which he displayed +from the beginning of the war to its end.</p> + +<p>Nor can the explanation lie in the coldly reasoned +conclusion that the most valuable relief +to a people so stricken by catastrophe that its +very existence as a human group is threatened, +is to let whatever mortality is unavoidable fall +chiefly to the old and the adult infirm for the +sake of saving the next generation on which +alone the future existence of the group depends. +This actual fact Hoover always +clearly saw; but the thing that those close to +him saw quite as clearly was that this alone +accounted for but a small part of his intensive +attention to the children.<!-- Page 12 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is, then, neither any sad experience in his +own life, nor any sociologic or biologic understanding +of the hard facts of human existence +and racial persistence, that does much to explain +his particular devotion to the health and +comfort of the millions of suffering children in +Europe. The explanation lies simply, although +mysteriously, in his own personality. I say +mysteriously, for, despite all the wonderful new +knowledge of heredity that we have gained +since the beginning of the twentieth century, +the way by which any of us comes to be just +the sort of man he is is still mostly mystery. +Herbert Hoover is simply a kind of man who, +when brought by circumstances face to face +with the distress of a people, is especially +deeply touched by the distress of the children, +and is impelled by this to use all of his intelligence +and energy to relieve this distress. +What we can know of his inheritance and early +environment may indeed reveal a little something +of why he is this kind of man. But it +certainly will not reveal the whole explanation.</p> + +<p>Herbert Hoover, or, to give him for once +his full name, Herbert Clark Hoover, was born<!-- Page 13 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +on August 10, 1874, in a small Quaker community +of Iowa which composed, at the time +of his birth, most of the village of West Branch +in that state. That is, he usually says that he +was born on August 10, but sometimes he says +that this important day was August 11. He +seems to slide his birthday back and forth to +suit the convenience of his family when they +wish to celebrate it. He does this on the basis +of the fact that when, in the midst of the general +family excitement in the middle of the +night of August 10-11, one of the busy Quaker +aunts present bethought herself, for the sake +of getting things straight in the family Bible, +to say: "Oh, doctor, just how long ago was +it that baby was born?" she got the following +answer, "Just as near an hour ago as I can +guess it." Thereupon she looked at the clock +on the wall, and the doctor looked at his +watch, and both found it exactly one o'clock of +an important new morning!</p> + +<p>Herbert's Quaker father, Jesse Clark +Hoover, died in 1880, and his Quaker mother, +Hulda Minthorn, in 1884. The father had +had the simple education of a small Quaker<!-- Page 14 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +college and was, at the time of Herbert's birth, +the "village blacksmith," to give him the convenient +title used by the town and country +people about. But really he was of that ambitious +type of blacksmith, not uncommon in +the Middle West, whose shop not only does +the repairing of the farm machines and household +appliances, but manufactures various +homely metal things, and does a little selling +of agricultural implements on the side. Jesse +Hoover's mind was rather full of ideas about +possible "improvements" on the machines he +repaired and sold. And his two sons, Herbert +and Theodore, and Herbert's two sons, +Herbert, Jr., and Allan, are all rather given +to the same "inventiveness" about the home.</p> + +<p>Hulda Randall Minthorn Hoover, Herbert's +mother, was a woman of unusual +mental gifts. After her husband's death +she gave much attention to church work, +and became a recognized "preacher" at +Quaker meetings. In this capacity she revealed +so much power of expression and exhortation +that she was in much demand. Her +death, in 1884, came from typhoid fever.<!-- Page 15 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +Those who knew her speak of her "personality." +They say that she had color and attractiveness, +although she was unusually shy and +reserved. One can say exactly the same things +of her son Herbert.</p> + +<p>The immediate Hoover ancestry is Quaker. +The more remote is Quaker mixed with Dutch +and French Huguenot. The Dutch name was +spelled with an <i>e</i> instead of the second <i>o</i>. All +of Herbert's grandparents were Quakers, and +the Quaker records run back a long time. One +of the family branches runs into Canada, with +the story of a migration there of a group of +refugees from the American colonies during +the Revolution. These emigrants came from +prosperous farms in Pennsylvania, but while +they wanted to be free from England's control, +they could not, as Quakers, agree to fight for +this freedom. So as the neighbors were inclined +to be a little "unpleasant" about this, and as +Canada was just then offering free farms to +colonists, they packed up their movables and +<i>trekked</i> north.</p> + +<p>Another Canadian branch, French Huguenot +in origin, has traditions of hurried removals<!-- Page 16 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +from France into Holland before St. Bartholomew's +Night, and of later escapes into +the same country. But all finally decided that +Europe anywhere was impossible, and hence +they determined on a wholesale emigration to +Canada. Here by chance they settled down +side by side with the little Quaker group which +had come from Pennsylvania. Close association +and intermarrying resulted in the Quakerizing +of the European Huguenots—their beliefs +were essentially similar, anyway—so in +time all the descendants of this double Canadian +line were Quakers.</p> + +<p>There were two other children in Jesse and +Hulda Hoover's family: one a boy, Theodore, +three and a half years older than Herbert, and +the other a girl, Mary, who was very much +younger. Theodore, like his younger brother, +became a mining engineer, and after a dozen +years of professional and business experience +with mines all over the world—part of the time +in connection with mining interests directed +by his brother—is now the head of the graduate +department of mining engineering in Stanford +University.<!-- Page 17 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>After the father's and mother's death, the +three Hoover orphans came under the kindly +care of various Quaker aunts and uncles, and +especially at first of Grandmother Minthorn. +This good grandmother took special charge of +little Mary, and pretty soon carried her with +her out to Oregon, where she had a son and +daughter living. There had been a little property +left when the father died, enough to provide +a very slender income for each child. But +if the dollars were few the kind relatives were +not, and the little Hoovers never suffered from +hunger.</p> + +<p>These relatives were not limited to Iowa, and +the boy Herbert soon found himself in a new +and strange environment, surrounded by a different +race of human beings, whose red-brown +skin and fantastic trappings greatly excited +his boyish wonder and imagination. For he +was sent to live with his Uncle Laban Miles, +U. S. Government Indian Agent for the Osage +tribe in the Indian Territory, who was one of +the many Quakers who had dedicated their +lives to the cause of the Indians at that time. +Here Herbert spent a happy six or eight<!-- Page 18 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +months, playing with some little cousins and +learning to know the original Americans. For +when other pastimes palled there were always +the strange and wonderful red people to watch +and wonder about.</p> + +<p>But his life among the original Americans +was interrupted by the solicitous aunts and +uncles, who, realizing that an abundance of +barbarians and a paucity of schools might not +be the best of surroundings for a child coming +to its first years of understanding, decided on +bringing him back into a more civilized and +Quakerish environment; at least one less +marked by tomahawks, bows and arrows, and +other tangible suggestions of a most un-Quakerish +manner of life.</p> + +<p>So he was sent back to Iowa, where he lived +for two very happy years in the home of Uncle +Allan Hoover. To this uncle, and to his wife, +Aunt Millie, the impressionable boy became +strongly attached. And there were some energetic +young cousins always on hand to play +with. The older brother Theodore, or Tad, was +living at this time with another uncle, a prosperous +Iowa farmer, also much loved by both<!-- Page 19 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +of the boys. He lived near enough to permit +frequent playings together of the two, and on +another farm, with Grandmother Minthorn, +was still the baby sister Mary, who was, however, +too young to be much of a playmate for +the brothers. Indeed, the country all around +bristled with the kindly uncles and aunts and +other relatives and playmates, all interested in +making life comfortable and happy for the +little orphans.</p> + +<p>There was also an especially attractive little +black-eyed girl, Mildred Brook, who lived +on a near-by farm, who later went to the same +Quaker academy at Oskaloosa as Theodore, +and is now Mrs. Theodore Hoover. In those +days she was known as "Mildred of the berry-patches," +as all the children for miles around +associated her in their minds with the luxuriant +vines on the farm of her Uncle Bransome with +whom she lived. Her home was the children's +Mecca in the berry season.</p> + +<p>Herbert Hoover's memories of those days +are filled with lively incidents and boyish farm +adventure. There was the young calf, mutual +property of himself and a cousin of like age,<!-- Page 20 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +which was fitted out with a boy-made harness +and trained to work, eventually getting out +of hand in a corn field and dragging the single-shovel +cultivator wildly across and along rows +of tender growing grain. Later the calf was +restored to favor when it was triumphantly attached +to a boy-made sorghum mill, which +actually worked, and pressed out the sweet +juice from the sorghum cane.</p> + +<p>Winter had its special joys of skates and +sled; spring came with maple-sugaring, and +summer with its long days filled with a thousand +enterprises. There were fish in the creek +which you might catch if you could sit still +long enough, without too violent wiggling of +the hook when the float gave its first faint indications +of a bite. It was two miles to school, +and most of the time the children had to walk. +But that was only good for them, and there +was, of course, a good deal of churchgoing and +daily family prayers, but there were always +convenient laps for tired little heads—being in +church was the necessary thing, not being +awake in church.</p> + +<p>It was a joyous and wholesome two years,<!-- Page 21 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +the kind that thousands of Mississippi Valley +farms have given to hundreds of thousands of +American little boys; the kind that gives them +a good start in health and happiness towards +a sturdy and simple adolescent life. But the +time had come for young Herbert to learn +new surroundings. For some reason, apparently +not clearly remembered now, it was decided +by the consulting uncles and aunts that +young Herbert should go to Oregon, and join +the Hoover and Minthorn relatives there. +Perhaps, even probably, it was because of the +presumably superior educational advantages +of Oregon in the existence of the Newberg +Pacific Academy that led to the decision. We +may imagine that Herbert uttered no affirmative +vote in the conclave that decided on his +departure from the Iowa farm, and when he +once got out to the superior place, he was less +than ever in favor of the proceeding. But the +conscientious uncles and aunts were inexorable +as the Fates.</p> + +<p>They meant to be the kindest of Fates, of +course. They knew that they knew so much +better than the little boy what was best for<!-- Page 22 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +him. And probably they did. But this little +pawn on the chessboard of life, moved about +with ever so excellent intention by firm and +confident hands, must have thought sometimes +that he would have liked to have some little +part in deciding these moves. But if one starts +as pawn, one must find the way as pawn clear +across the board to the king row before one can +come to the higher estate of the nobler pieces.</p> + +<p>The actual going from Iowa to far-away +Oregon was not so unbearable, because of the +excitement of the tremendous journey and the +actual fun of it. It was not made, to be sure, +as Herbert would have preferred it, in a long +train of picturesque prairie schooners, drawn +up in a circle each night to repel attacking Indians, +as his storybooks described all transcontinental +journeys; but in an overfull tourist-car +on the railroad. Herbert's most vivid +memories of the week's journey are of the wonderful +lunch baskets and boxes filled with +fried chicken, boiled hams, roast meats, countless +pies and layer-cakes, caraway-seed cookies, +and great red apples. Herbert Hoover had no +food troubles in those days!<!-- Page 23 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>Arrived in Oregon he found himself in the +family of Uncle John Minthorn, his mother's +brother, a country doctor of Newberg, and the +principal of the superior educational institution. +Uncle John did not live on a farm, but on +the edge of a small town, which was a mistake, +according to Herbert's way of looking at it. +And the Pacific Academy of Newberg, Oregon, +could not be compared in interest with +the district village school of West Branch, +Iowa.</p> + +<p>After two or three years of life with Dr. +John, young Herbert was handed over to the +care of a Grandfather Miles, for Dr. John decided +to give up country doctoring in order +to go into the land business "down in Salem," +the capital city. Therefore, as little Herbert's +schooling in the academy which he was attending +all the time he was living with Dr. John, +could not be interrupted, he was placed in the +home of this Grandfather Miles on a farm just +on the edge of the academy town.</p> + +<p>Herbert's life with Grandfather Miles does +not seem to have been a very happy one, for +the old gentleman did not believe in spoiling<!-- Page 24 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +little boys by too much kindness. There were +many chores to do before and after school, and +little time for playing. And the chores just +had to be done, and not be forgotten as they +sometimes were. Probably this strictness of +discipline was a good thing for the small boy. +But, like other small boys, he did not like it. +So, also, like many other small boys, he decided +to run away.</p> + +<p>Running away may not be the exclusive prerogative +of young Americans, but some way +it is hard for me to picture European boys of +fourteen going off on their own. And yet perhaps +they do. At any rate it is such a favorite +procedure with us that hardly one of us—I +mean by us, American males—has not had a +try at it or connived at some neighbor's son +trying it. My own experience was only that +of a conniver. A schoolmate of thirteen, whose +father believed in a more vigorous method of +correcting wayward sons than my father did, +ran away from his house to as far as our house. +There my brother and I secreted him in a +clothes-closet for the nearly three hours of +freedom that he enjoyed in half-smothered<!-- Page 25 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +state. Then the stern father came over, discovered +him and haled him away to proper +discipline. I shall never forget the howls of +the captured fugitive, nor the triumphant and +accusing remark to us, shouted by the terrible +capturer as he dragged off his victim: "Now +ye see what liars ye are!" For, of course, we +had done our impotent best to throw the hunter +off the track. It was several days before I +could lie again without a violent trembling.</p> + +<p>But Herbert Hoover ran away for keeps. +He did not run away to ship before the mast +or to kill Indians. Nor did he run very far, +only to Portland and to Salem, which his geography +had already taught him were the principal +city and capital, respectively, of the state +of Oregon. And he ran away with the full +knowledge and even tolerance of his relatives. +But he went away to be independent, and to +fit himself for the special kind of college to +which he had already decided to go. In Salem +he lived again with his Uncle John, helping in +the real estate business, but in Portland he +lived entirely on his own.</p> + +<p>That part of his reason for running away<!-- Page 26 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +which was connected with preparing for a college +of his own choosing seems to have come +about because of a difference of opinion that +had arisen between young Herbert and his +Quaker relatives with regard to the future +course of his education. They had taken it +quite as a matter of course that from the little +Quaker academy in Newberg he would go +to one of the reputable Quaker colleges of the +country. But Herbert had come to a different +idea about this matter of further education, +and, as is characteristic of him, this idea had +led to a decision, and the decision was on the +rapid way to lead to action. In other words, +Herbert had made up his mind that he wanted +to study science, and for that purpose wanted +to fit himself for and go to a modern scientific +university. Also, he wanted to be, just as soon +as he possibly could, on an independent financial +footing. He probably did not express these +wishes, in his boy's vocabulary, by any such +large mouthful of phrases; he probably said +to himself, "I want to earn my own living, and +go to a university where I can learn science."</p> + +<p>Just what led him to the decision about the<!-- Page 27 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +modern university and science is not easy for +the grown-up Herbert Hoover of <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: to-day in original">today</ins> to +tell. But he is pretty sure that a large part of +this determination came from the casual visit +of a man whom he had never seen before and +has never seen or heard of since, but who was +an old friend of his father.</p> + +<p>This man, on his way through the town to +look at a mine he owned somewhere in eastern +Oregon, dropped off at Newberg so that he +might see the little son of his Iowa friend. He +was a "mining man," and, from the impression +that Mr. Hoover still has of him, probably a +mining engineer. He stayed at the local hotel +for two or three days, and saw what he could +of young Herbert between school-hours and +chore-times. His conversation was apparently +mostly about the difference in the work and +achievements in the world of the man who had +a profession and the one who had not. It was +illustrated, because the speaker was a miner, +by examples in the field of mining. The talk +also was much about engineering in general +and about just what training it was necessary +for a boy to have in order to become a good<!-- Page 28 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +engineer, with much emphasis put on the part +in this training which was to be got from a university. +He also explained the difference between +a university and a small academy-college.</p> + +<p>And then the man went on to his mine. He +invited the fascinated boy to go with him for +a little visit, but permission for this was +not obtained. The trails of this man and Herbert +Hoover have never touched again, and +yet this stray mining engineer, whose name, +even, we do not know, almost certainly was +more responsible than any other external influence +in determining Hoover's later education +and adopted profession.</p> + +<p>In Portland Herbert got a job in a real estate +office as useful boy-of-all-work, including +particularly the driving of prospective purchasers +about to see various alluring corner lots +in town and inviting farmsteads in the surrounding +country. For his work he received +sufficient wages to pay for all of his very modest +living. He had hoped to go to the high +school to prepare himself for college, but found +that he could not do this and earn his full<!-- Page 29 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +wages at the same time. So as the wages were +a first necessity, he gave up his high-school +plans and devoted himself to study at nights +and odd hours of the day. He discovered a +little back room in the real-estate office half +filled with old boxes and bags, of which no one +else seemed to be aware, and this he fitted up +with a bed, a little table and a lamp, and made +of it, with a boy's enthusiasm—especially the +enthusiasm of a boy who had known Indians—a +secret cave in which he lived in a mysterious +and exciting way. He slipped out to little +restaurants and cheap boarding-places for his +meals.</p> + +<p>He remembers once standing fascinated before +a sign that read: "Table d'hôte, 75 cents"; +but after thinking twice of indulging in a single +great eating orgy, he decided that no human +stomach, much less his own small one, could +possibly hold all the food that seventy-five +cents would pay for, and that therefore he +could not get all of his money's worth. So he +went on to some fairer bargain.</p> + +<p>There was a bank-vault just across the alley +from his secret back room in the real estate<!-- Page 30 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +office, and many a night did young Herbert lie +awake in his cave hearing his imaginary bank-robbers +mining their way into the vault and +escaping with much rich treasure. But mostly +young Herbert studied in that secret cave of +his, and that he studied hard and to good purpose +is proved by the fact that in little more +than two years he felt himself ready to attempt +the entrance examinations for college.<!-- Page 31 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h2>THE UNIVERSITY</h2> + + +<p>For some time the newspapers had been full +of accounts of the founding and approaching +opening of Stanford University at Palo Alto, +California. Soon after Leland Stanford, Jr., +the only child of Senator and Mrs. Leland +Stanford, died in Rome in 1884, the Stanfords +announced their intention to found and endow +with their great wealth a new university in +California. The romantic character of the +founding and the picturesque setting of the +new university in the middle of a great ranch +on the shores of lower San Francisco Bay, with +the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains rising +from its very campus, its generous provision +for students unable to meet the expenses +of the older institutions of the East, and the +radical academic innovations and freedom of +selection of studies decided on by the Stanfords +and David Starr Jordan, the eminent scientific<!-- Page 32 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +man selected to be the first president of the +new university—all this, together with the evident +strong leaning of the institution toward +science, as revealed by the character of the +president, faculty and curriculum, combined +to assure young Hoover that this was the +modern scientific university of his dream, just +made to order for him. It was exactly the +place where he could become a mining engineer +like the wonderful man he had always remembered.</p> + +<p>So when it was announced in the Portland +papers that a professor from Stanford would +visit the city in the early summer of 1891, to +hold entrance examinations for the university, +which was to open in the autumn, Herbert +decided to try the examinations. But when +he came to compare thoughtfully his store of +knowledge with the published requirements he +would have to meet, he found that his self-preparation +had been rather one-sided. For +in this preparation he had followed his inclinations +more than the prescribed schedules of +college entrance requirements. Why should +one waste a lot of time, he had thought, and be<!-- Page 33 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +bored during the wasting, by studying grammar +if one could already talk intelligibly to +people? And why should one not revel in +complicated problems of figures and geometrical +designs that really took some hard thinking +to work out, if hard thinking was just what +one liked to do?</p> + +<p>So, much to his distress he found out, as the +examinations went on, that he was decidedly +unprepared in some of the required lines such +as grammar, rhetoric, etc. And even in mathematics, +his favorite study and the one in which +he made his best showing, he had not been able +to cover, in his limited time for study, the +whole ground required for college entrance. +He seemed doomed to be refused the coveted +certificate of admission.</p> + +<p>But the Fates worked for him. In the first +place, Professor Swain, the examining professor—now +president of Swarthmore College—was +the head of Stanford's department of +mathematics. In the second place, he was a +Quaker, and a man who liked the right sort of +boys. And so a candidate who was a little +weak in the languages, but was strong in arith<!-- Page 34 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>metic +and geometry—and was a brave Quaker +boy, besides—was not to be too summarily +turned down.</p> + +<p>This kind and wise examiner has described +to me, recently, how he was first attracted to +the young Quaker in the group of candidates +before him by his evident strength of will. "I +observed," said President Swain, "that he put +his teeth together with great decision, and his +whole face and posture showed his determination +to pass the examination at any cost. He +was evidently summoning every pound of energy +he possessed to answer correctly the questions +before him. I was naturally interested +in him. On inquiry I learned that he had studied +only two books of Plane Geometry, and +was trying to solve an original problem based +on the fourth book. While he was unable to +do this, he did much better; for the intelligence +and superior will he revealed in the attempt +convinced me that such a boy needed only to +be given a chance. So although he could not +pass all of the tests, I told him to come to my +rooms at the hotel after the examinations, as +I would like to talk with him. He came<!-- Page 35 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +promptly at the appointed hour with a friend +of his, the son of a banker in Salem, Oregon. +The two boys invited me and Mrs. Swain to +stop at Salem to visit them, which we did. I +learned there that Herbert Hoover, for that +was the boy's name, was an industrious, +thoughtful, ambitious boy earning his own living +while he studied."</p> + +<p>All this was enough for the wise teacher. +And an arrangement was mutually agreed on +between examiner and examined to the effect +that if young Hoover would work diligently +for the rest of the summer on the literary necessities +of the situation, and come on early to +Stanford for a little special coaching, he might +consider his probabilities for admission to the +university so high as to be reckoned a sure +thing.</p> + +<p>Well, it all turned out as desired by both +candidate and examiner. And Herbert Hoover +was enrolled the following October among the +first students, the "pioneer class" of Stanford +University, and was actually the first Stanford +student to inhabit the beautiful great new dormitory +called Encina Hall. It was not only<!-- Page 36 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +his university of dreams come true, but it was +really to be the university of his graduation, the +<i>alma mater</i> of a boy without any other mother. +And it was the university of which he was to +become, in later successful years, a patron and +trustee. Stanford did much for Herbert +Hoover; but so has he done much for Stanford.</p> + +<p>Any university means many things, for all +their lives, to those who have come timidly and +wonderingly to its doors as boys and girls, +and have gone out on that final day of happy +reward and tearful good-byes as men and +women eager to try themselves against the +world outside of sheltered school-rooms. And +most of these things are to most persons who +have known them, things of pleasant and loving +memory.</p> + +<p>Stanford is like any other university in this +relation to its graduates. But there seems to +be something unusually strong and yet at the +same time unusually intangible in the ties that +bind its former students to it. Perhaps the +explanation lies as much in the special character +of its students, at least its pioneer ones, as in<!-- Page 37 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +the special character of the institution itself. +The students who came to Stanford in its earlier +years came because it was different from +other colleges, and because they did this it is +likely that they themselves were different from +other students. Like the restless, seeking pioneers +that came over the desert and mountains +to the Pacific Coast to find a different life +from that of worn tradition and old ways, their +descendants and the later coming youth, who +had mixed with them and been infected by +their seeking spirit, flocked to this institution +that offered a different kind of college atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Its low-arcaded quadrangle of mission buildings +of yellow stone and heavy red tiles, nestling +under high hills that run back to mountains, +surrounded by wide grain fields flecked +with rounded live-oaks and tall strange eucalyptus +trees, and neighbored by great barns +and well-kept paddocks and exercising tracks +in which sleek trotting horses of famous Palo +Alto breeding lounged or trained, was a +strange new setting for studying Greek and +Latin and mathematics and science.<!-- Page 38 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>Die Luft der Freiheit weht</i>" is the Stanford +motto; and there was truly no more likely place +for the winds of freedom to blow than over +and through this college on a California ranch. +And its founders did well to find for its first +head a man than whom no other American +scholar had given clearer indications of being +anxious to break with clogging scholastic tradition.</p> + +<p>The university itself, so tenderly conceived +as a memorial to a boy lost to his parents, and +so generously established as an opportunity +for other boys, some of whom, like the hero of +our story, might have had their parents lost +to them, is an almost unique example of a great +educational institution maintained by the fortune +of a single family. All of the Stanford +millions are returned today to the country in +which they were accumulated in the form +of a great endowment and of the beautiful +halls in which thousands of students have +found a free training for independent existence +and right citizenship. These students +wear the Stanford cardinal as a red badge of +obligation, not anarchy. No other college in<!-- Page 39 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +the country had more of its sons and daughters, +in proportion to their total number, devoting +themselves to their country's service during the +Great War. If Herbert Hoover was the most +distinguished of the serving sons of Stanford +he was not more eager and devoted than many +others.</p> + +<p>But we leave Our Hero waiting too long +upon the threshold of his dream university +come true. It had been agreed, you remember, +between young Hoover and his friendly examiner +in Portland that the candidate for admission +should come to the Stanford Farm—which +is the students' name for the campus, +and which literally described it in those beginning +days—before the time of the opening of +the university to be coached in the two or +three studies in which his preparation was +deficient.</p> + +<p>So he came down from the North a month +before the announced time for opening, a lonesome +boy without any friends at Stanford except +the good Quaker professor of mathematics, +and with all of his savings from the +"real estate business" tucked away in an inside<!-- Page 40 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +pocket. They amounted in grand total to +about two hundred dollars.</p> + +<p>It was less simple getting to Stanford in +those first days than it is now. There was not +even a beginning then of the beautiful thriving +town of Palo Alto that stands today with convenient +railway station, just at the entrance to +the long palm-lined avenue that runs straight +up to the main university quadrangle. It was +all grain field then, part of the great Hopkins +estate, where now the college town welcomes +the annually incoming Freshmen, and offers +them convenient lodging places of all grades +of comfort and quick trams and motor busses +to the university.</p> + +<p>Young Hoover had to get off at Menlo +Park, the station for a few great country +houses of California railway and bonanza +kings, which offered no welcome for small boys +with a few saved dollars in their inside pockets. +He had to find a casual hackman to carry him +and his bag and trunk to the university a +couple of miles away. But even there he found +no place yet ready to house him. So someone +advised him to go to Adelanta Villa, a mile or<!-- Page 41 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +more back from the university, in the hills, +where a number of the early arrivals among +the men of the new faculty were living. And +there he did go, and found a warm and simple +welcome and hospitality. He was soon ensconced +in the old mansion and doing odd jobs +about the establishment to help pay for his +board and lodging.</p> + +<p>Between jobs he was feverishly at work on +the finishing touches for his final entrance tests, +and probably quite as feverishly worrying +about them. He felt pretty safe on everything +but the requirements in English composition. +As a matter of fact, when he +came to that fearful test he ignominiously +failed in it, and, indeed, did not finally get +the required credit in it until nearly ready +to graduate! But he was passed in enough of +the entrance requirements to be given Freshman +standing, "conditioned in English," a +phrase not unfamiliar to other college students. +He had, however, added something to +his score by a Hooverian <i>tour de force</i>.</p> + +<p>Noting that a credit was offered in physiology, +about which he knew nothing techni<!-- Page 42 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>cally, +he reasoned that as everyone, of course, +knew already a little something about his insides +and how they worked, one ought to be able +to find out a little more from some textbook, +and that the two littles might make enough for +passing purposes. Thereupon with that +prompt and positive reaction to stimulus which +has been conspicuously characteristic of him +all his life, he got a book, read it hard all of +the day and night before the examination—and +passed in physiology!</p> + +<p>The story of Herbert Hoover's college life +reveals no startling features to distinguish it +from the college careers of other thousands of +boys, endowed with intelligence, energy, and +ambition, but not with money, and hence forced +to earn their living as they went along. Nevertheless +it does reveal many of the main characteristics +that we know so well today. For +he did things all through those four years in +the same way that he does them today, +promptly, positively, and quietly. They were +mostly already done before it was generally +recognized that he was doing them.</p> + +<p>His two hundred dollars could not last long<!-- Page 43 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +even in a college of no tuition fees and an unusually +simple student life. He had to earn +his way all the time, and he earned it by hard +work, directed, however, by good brains. Many +a story, most interesting but, unfortunately, +mostly untrue, has been told of his various expedients +to earn the money necessary for his +board and lodging, clothes, and books. Not a +few of these stress his expertness as waiter in +student dining-rooms. Undoubtedly he would +have been an expert waiter if he had been a +waiter at all. But he was not. A famous San +Francisco chef has often been quoted in interesting +detail as to the "hash-slinging" cleverness +of the future American food controller in +the dining-room which this chef managed—by +the way, just <i>after</i> Hoover left college—in the +great Stanford dormitory in those early days. +But, though interesting, these details are +mythical. As are also the accounts of the care +he took of professorial gardens, although that +would have been an excellent substitute for +the outdoor exercise and play which he found +little time for in college except in geological +field excursions and camps. Nor was he ever<!-- Page 44 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +nurse to the professorial babies, which also has +been often placed to his credit by imaginative +story-tellers.</p> + +<p>For at the very beginning of his college life +Herbert Hoover and another distinguished son +of Stanford, known to the early students as +Rex Wilbur and to the present ones as Prex +Wilbur—for he is now the university's president—put +their heads together and decided +that if they had any brains at all in those heads +they would make them count in this little matter +of earning their way through college. And +both of them did.</p> + +<p>In most of the things that Herbert Hoover +did as a college boy to earn his needed money +he revealed an unusual faculty for "organizing" +and "administering" which is precisely a +faculty that as a man he has revealed to the +world in highest degree. He organized, at +some profit to himself, the system of collecting +and distributing the laundry of the college boys +which had been done casually and unsatisfactorily +by various San José and San Francisco +establishments. He acted also as impresario, +at a modest commission, for various lecturers<!-- Page 45 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +and musicians, developing an arrangement for +bringing visiting stars from San Francisco to +the near-by university.</p> + +<p>More important in its permanent influence +on student activities was his work in reorganizing +the system of conducting general student +body affairs, especially the financial side of +these affairs. In his Senior year he had been +made treasurer of the student body and on taking +office found little treasure and much confusion. +Each of the many student activities +had its own separate being, its own officers and +own funds—or debts—and a dangerous freedom +from general student control. Hoover +worked out a system by which all control was +vested in the officers of the general student +body, and all funds passed into and out of a +general treasury. The Hoover system of student +affairs management prevails, in its essential +features, in the university today.</p> + +<p>In later years, as trustee of the university, +he was the initiating figure in reorganizing the +handling of all the institution's many million +dollars worth of properties, and so his organizing +genius is evidenced today at Stanford<!-- Page 46 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +both in the management of student activities +and in the handling of the financial affairs of +the whole university.</p> + +<p>But the work that he did in his student days +that paid him best, because it brought him more +than money, was that which he did partly for, +and partly at the recommendation of his "major" +professor, Dr. John Casper Branner, a +great geologist and remarkable developer of +geological students.</p> + +<p>Dr. Branner has been one of Stanford's +greatest assets from the day of its opening in +all his successive capacities as professor, vice-president, +and president, and he still wields a +benign influence on the institution as resident +professor and president emeritus. It was the +particular good fortune of young Hoover to +find that his early decision to become a mining +engineer, like the wonderful man who had visited +him in Newberg, led him, when he came +to the university, into the class-rooms and laboratories +of this kind and discerning scholar. +Dr. Branner quickly discovered "good material," +something that he was always looking +for, in this industrious, intelligent, and ambi<!-- Page 47 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>tious +Quaker boy; and Herbert Hoover found +in his major professor not only a teacher but +a friend, who, in both relations, has had a great +influence, all for the best, in his life. It is +an interesting illumination of the democracy +of American education to note that while the +professor became the university's president the +student became one of its trustees.</p> + +<p>The first money-earning work that student +Hoover did for Dr. Branner, except for various +little jobs about the laboratory or office, +was a summer's work on a large topographic +model of Arkansas which that state was having +prepared by Dr. Branner after a new +method devised by him. Part of this summer +was spent in the field in Arkansas and the rest +of it wrestling with the model in the basement +of the professor's house.</p> + +<p>Two summers were spent in work with the +U. S. Geological Survey in the California +Sierras around Lake Tahoe and the American +River under Waldemar Lindgren, one of the +greatest of American scientific mining engineers. +This work was on the relations of the +famous Sierra placer gold deposits to the<!-- Page 48 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +original gold-bearing veins and lodes, and resulted +in tracing those comparatively recent +placers back to the old mountain slopes and +valleys. It was a fascinating problem successfully +carried through. The young geologist's +association with Lindgren, whose standards of +personal character and regard for the dignity +and ethics of his profession were of the highest, +was a source of much valuable education.</p> + +<p>All this summer activity was of value to +young Hoover not only for the help it afforded +him in his struggle for existence, and for the +outdoor exercise it involved, but for the practical +experience in geological work which it +gave him to mix in with his lecture room and +laboratory acquisitions and to test them by. +He seemed to have no difficulty in getting all +of this kind of work he had time to do. In +fact, some of the other students used to +speak a little enviously and suggestively +about "Hoover's luck" in this connection. Dr. +Branner happened to overhear some remarks +of this kind from a group around a +laboratory table one day and promptly broke +out on them in his forcible manner.<!-- Page 49 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What do you mean," he said, "by talking +about Hoover's luck? He has not had luck; +he has had reward. If you would work half as +hard and half as intelligently as he does you +would have half his luck. If I tell any one of +you to go and do a thing for me I have to come +around in half an hour to see if you have done +it. But I can tell Hoover to do a thing, and +never think of it again. I know it will be done. +And he doesn't ask me how to do it, either. If +I told him to start to Kamchatka tomorrow to +bring me back a walrus tooth, I'd never hear of +it again until he came back with the tooth. And +then I'd ask him how he had done it."</p> + +<p>Dr. Branner was as kind to his boys as he +was stern when sternness was needed. Hoover +came down with typhoid in his Junior year, just +at a time when his finances could not afford +such an expensive luxury. So Dr. Branner +sent him to a hospital and saw that he was +cared for by the best of physicians and nurses +and told him to forget about paying for it all +until after he had graduated. And that probably +meant that the good professor had to go +for some time without buying books, which<!-- Page 50 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +was what he usually did with his extra money.</p> + +<p>Another unfortunate illness was announced +to the busy student by an outbreak of little red +spots on his body which were declared by the +college physician to be the result of poison +oak. But they were not; they meant measles, +and measles needs prompt attention. Unfortunately +young Hoover's neglected case +affected his eyes to such an extent that for +several years afterward he had to wear glasses. +And out of this grew the familiar Stanford +tradition that Herbert Hoover ruined his eyes +while in college by over-much night work on +his studies!</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact Hoover was no college +grind. He studied hard enough at what he +liked or thought important for his fitting to +be a mining engineer, but he did not dodge getting +a few credits from well-known "snap" +courses, and he got through other required, but, +to his mind, superfluous ones without doing +much more work on them than necessary. He +had a disconcerting habit of starting in on a +course and then if he found it uninteresting or +unpromising as a contributor to the special edu<!-- Page 51 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>cation +he was interested in, of simply dropping +out of the class without consultation or permission. +But he did dig hard into what he +thought really counted; his record in the geology +department was an unusually high one.</p> + +<p>But with all his work and study he found +time for some other kinds of activity. At least +the two Irwin boys, Will and Wallace, who +were Stanford's most ingenious disturbers of +the peace in pioneer days, claim that Hoover, +in his quiet effective way, made a few contributions +of his own to the troubles of the faculty. +But such contributions from others were generally +credited—or rather debited—to the +more notorious offenders, so that they had to +suffer not alone for their own brilliant inspirations +but for those of other less conspicuous collaborators. +Wallace, for what seemed to the +faculty sufficient reasons, was, as he has himself +phrased it, "graduated by request," while +Will had his Senior year encored by the faculty, +so that it took him five years, instead of +the more conventional four, to graduate. In +fact, I remember that even as this fifth year +was drawing near its close, the faculty com<!-- Page 52 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>mittee +of discipline, of which I was a reluctant +member, seriously considered letting Will go +in the same way that Wallace had gone. But +some of us argued that if we should let Will +graduate in the more usual way we should be +rid of him soon anyway and without risking +the bare possibilities of doing him an injustice. +President Jordan always maintained that +Will had good stuff in him, and he used his +ameliorating influence with the faculty committee. +So Will Irwin is today one of Stanford's +best-known alumni.</p> + +<p>Herbert Hoover's haunting trouble all +through his college course was that unpassed +entrance requirement in English composition. +Indeed, he did not pass in it until about a week +before he graduated, although he tried it regularly +every semester all through his four years. +How he finally got his passing mark has +been told me by Mrs. Hoover. She knows because +she was there through most of the long +agony.</p> + +<p>After failing regularly at each semester's +trial principally, he thinks (and Mrs. Hoover +is inclined to agree), because he always had<!-- Page 53 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +to take it under a particularly meticulous +instructor, his predicament began to worry +even his professors in the geology department. +It looked as if their star student might not be +allowed to graduate. Finally a date was set +by the English department for a last trial before +the end of his Senior year.</p> + +<p>A day or two before this date the professor +of paleontology, J. P. Smith, famed not only +for his erudition but for his especial kindness +to all geology students—especially if they did +well in paleontology—came to the worrying +Senior with a paper that Hoover had written +sometime before on a paleontological subject, +and said to him: "Look here, you will never +pass that examination in the state you are in. +Take this paper; it's fine. Copy it in your best +hand; remember that handwriting goes a long +way with professors of English; look up every +word in the dictionary to be sure you have got +the right one; then put in all the punctuation +marks you ever saw, and bring it back to me." +Hoover did it.</p> + +<p>Then Professor Smith disappeared with the +paper in his study, but soon came out with it,<!-- Page 54 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +abundantly blue-penciled. "Now take it and +re-copy it with all these indicated changes, and +bring it back again." Again the interested +Senior obeyed his mentor. Then the professor +left the laboratory with the paper in his hand. +Hoover awaited his return with ever-increasing +interest. Pretty soon he came back with +a cheerful smile, handed Hoover the paper, and +said: "Well, you've passed; although you probably +don't deserve it."</p> + +<p>Professor Smith, it seems, had carried the +paper, not to the fatal instructor, but to the +head of the English department and had said +to him: "See here; your instructor is holding +up the best man we have from graduating. +Now look at this paper of Hoover's. Is there +anything the matter with it? Doesn't it make +good sense? Isn't it well written? Isn't it +well punctuated?"</p> + +<p>The English head glanced over it impatiently—he +was translating Dante, his dearest +recreation, at the moment—and then roared +out: "Well, it looks all right. I suppose Instructor +X has to live up to the rules, but if +the boy can do this well for you it's good<!-- Page 55 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +enough for us." And with his Dante pencil he +wrote a large "Passed" across the paper.</p> + +<p>Someway all this does not sound like an account +of life at the conventional university. +Nor does Professor J. P. Smith, who used to +interrupt his lecture to wake up a dozing student +with a sharp but kindly "Here, Jack, +wake up, this is an important point and I will +surely ask about it in examination," seem to be +of the conventional type of professor. And +most Freshmen coming to Yale or Harvard +would hesitate a little before taking the advice +of some workman about the campus to go, with +bag and trunk, in search of board and lodging +to a house full of professors.</p> + +<p>But as I said at the beginning, Stanford was +different. It is precisely because it was, that +Hoover's particular college experiences and acquisitions +were what I have tried to suggest, +and not what you might think they would be +from your knowledge of other universities. +And while Stanford has converged somewhat +with years toward the more usual university +type—colleges get more alike as they get older—it +has still an atmosphere peculiarly its own.<!-- Page 56 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +But it was in the first days that this atmosphere +was so very distinctive. Its president and faculty +and students, all living closely together in +the middle of a great ranch of seven thousand +acres of grain fields, horse paddocks, and hills +where jack rabbits roamed and coyotes howled, +were thrown together into one great family, +whose members depended almost entirely on +one another for social life. And each department +was a special smaller family within the +great one. Life was simple and direct and +democratic. Real things counted first and +most; there was little sophistication. Work +was the order of the day; recreations were +wholesome.</p> + +<p>The geology family was an especially close +and happy one. Some of Dr. Branner's former +assistants and students had followed him +out to California. They were the older members +of the family. Almost all of them are now +well-known geologists and mining engineers. +So also are many of his younger ones. The +family went on long tramps and camps together. +The region about Stanford is singularly +interesting from a geologist's point of<!-- Page 57 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +view; and in those days it was a <i>terra</i> more or +less <i>incognita</i>. Everybody was discovering +things. It was real live geology. Lectures +and recitations were illustrated, not by lantern +slides, but by views out of the window and +revelations in the field.</p> + +<p>And at the same time these young geologists +learned real life; they had come to know intimately +real men and women, all fired with the +enthusiasm of a new venture, new opportunities, +and a high ideal. With all this, Herbert +Hoover learned, in particular, one additional +very important thing. He learned that a certain +unusual girl, beautiful, intelligent, and unspoiled, +a lover of outdoors, and, as proof of +her unusualness, a "major" student in geology, +was the girl for him. Having learned this he +decided to marry her. And later, she decided +that he had decided right.</p> + +<p>And so with all his experience at earning his +living by organizing anything needing organizing, +and with his stores of geological lore +gained from lecture room and textbook and +field work and close personal association with +his able and friendly professors, and, finally,<!-- Page 58 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +with the knowledge that he had already found +exactly the right girl for him, Herbert Hoover +went out from Stanford, in 1895, with his Pioneer +Class, ready to open his oyster. But he +had only himself to rely on in doing it.<!-- Page 59 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h2>THE YOUNG MINING ENGINEER</h2> + + +<p>Herbert Hoover began his mining career +very simply and practically by taking his place +as a real workman in a real mine, with no favors +shown, following in this the emphatic advice +given by Dr. Branner to every student +graduating from his department. He went up +into the mining region near Grass Valley in +the Sierras where he had already studied with +Waldemar Lindgren, and became a regular +miner, a boy-man with pick and shovel working +long hours underground or sometimes on +the surface about the plant. But always he +had his eyes wide open and always he was +learning. He preferred the underground work +because he wanted first to know more about +the actual occurrence of the ore in the earth +than about the mill processes of extracting the +mineral from it.<!-- Page 60 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<p>Here he worked for several months, and +gradually rose to the position of night shift-boss +or gang foreman. But he began to realize +that he was exhausting the learning opportunities +of this particular place and kind of +work, and so one night deep down in the mine, +when for sudden lack of ore-cars or power or +some other essential, work was held up for the +last half hour of his shift, he went off into a +warm corner, curled himself up in a nice clean +wheelbarrow and slept away the last half hour +of his pick and shovel experience.</p> + +<p>He had decided to get into association, some +way, with the best mining engineer on the +Coast. There was no question about who this +was at that time. It was Louis Janin in San +Francisco. So he appeared at Mr. Janin's office +as a candidate for a job, any job so that it +was a job under Louis Janin.</p> + +<p>But the famous engineer, well disposed as +he was toward giving intelligent, earnest +young men who wanted to become mining engineers, +a chance, had to explain that not only +was there no vacant place in his staff but that +a long waiting list would have to be gone<!-- Page 61 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +through before Hoover's turn could come. He +added, as a joke, that he needed an additional +typist in his office, but of course——. +The candidate for a job interrupted. "All +right, I'll take it. I can't come for a few days, +but I'll come next Tuesday, say." Janin was +a little breathless at the rapidity with which +things seemed to get settled by this boyish, very +boyish, young man, but as they were apparently +really settled he could only say, "All +right."</p> + +<p>Now the reason that the new typewriter boy +could not begin until next Tuesday—this was +on a Friday—was that he had in the meantime +to learn to write on a typewriter! Trivial matter, +of course, in connection with becoming a +mining engineer, but apparently necessary. +So learning what make of machine he would +have to use in the office, he stopped, on his +way to his room, at a typewriter shop, rented +a machine of proper make, and by Tuesday +had learned to use it—after a fashion.</p> + +<p>That kind of boy could not remain for long +a typist in the office of a discerning man like +Louis. Perhaps certain idiosyncrasies of<!-- Page 62 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +spelling and a certain originality of execution +on the machine helped bring about a +change of duties. But chiefly it was because +of a better reason. This reason was made especially +clear by an incident connected with an +important mining case in which Janin was +serving as expert for the side represented by +Judge Curtis Lindley, famous mining lawyer +of San Francisco. The papers which indicated +the line of argument which Judge Lindley and +Mr. Janin were intending to follow came to +Hoover's desk to be copied. As he wrote he +read with interest. The mine was in the Grass +Valley region that he knew so well. He not +only copied but he remembered and thought. +The result was that when the typewriter boy +delivered the papers to the mining engineer +they were accompanied by the casual statement +that the great expert and the learned attorney +were all wrong in the line of procedure they +were preparing to take! And he proceeded to +explain why, first to Mr. Janin's indignant surprise +but next to his great interest, because the +explanation involved the elucidation of certain +geologic facts not yet published to the world,<!-- Page 63 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +which the <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: type-writer in original">typewriter</ins> boy had himself helped +to discover during his work in the Grass Valley +region.</p> + +<p>The outcome was that Janin and his new boy +went around together to Judge Lindley's office +where after due deliberation the line +of argument was altered. The further +result was that the boy parted from his typewriter, +first to begin acting as assistant to various +older staff men on trips to various parts of +the Coast for mine examinations, then to make +minor examinations alone, and finally to handle +bigger ones. The letters from the young mining +engineer to the girl of the geology department, +still at Stanford, came now in swift succession +from Nevada, Wyoming, and Idaho, +and then very soon after from Arizona and +New Mexico. Little mines did not require +much time for examination and reports signed +"Hoover" came into Janin's office with bewildering +rapidity. Janin liked these reports; they +not only showed geological and mining knowledge, +but they showed a shrewd business sense. +The reporter seemed never to lose the perspective +of cost and organization possibilities in<!-- Page 64 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +relation to the probable mineral richness of the +prospects. And the reports said everything +they had to say in very few and very clear +words.</p> + +<p>Herbert Hoover was not only moving fast; +he was learning fast, and he was rising fast in +Janin's estimation. He had a regular salary +or guarantee now with a certain percentage of +all the fees collected by Janin's office from the +properties he examined. What he was earning +now I do not know, but we may be sure it was +considerably more than the forty-five dollars +a month which he had begun with as typewriter +boy, a few months before.</p> + +<p>The work was not entirely limited to the +examination of prospects and mines. In one +case at least it included actual mine development +and management. Mr. Janin had in +some way taken over, temporarily—for such +work was not much to his liking: he preferred +to be an expert consultant rather than a mine +manager—a small mine of much value but +much complication near Carlisle, New Mexico. +This he turned over to his enterprising +assistant to look after.<!-- Page 65 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was Hoover's first experience of the kind, +and it was made a rather hectic one by conditions +not technically a regular part of mining. +The town, or "camp," was a wild one with +drunken Mexicans having shooting-bees every +pay day and the local jail established at the +bottom of an abandoned shaft, not too deep, +into which the prisoners were let down by +windlass and bucket. It was an operation +fairly safe if the sheriff and his assistants +were not too exhilarated to manage the windlass +properly, or the malefactors, too drunk +to hang on to the bucket. Otherwise, more or +less regrettable incidents happened. Also, it +led to a rather puzzling situation when the +sheriff had to take care of his first woman prisoner, +a negro lady of generous dimensions and +much volubility.</p> + +<p>But the mine was well managed and Hoover +acquired more merit with his employer. And +soon came the new chance which led to much +bigger things. It was now the spring of 1897, +two years after Hoover's graduation, and the +time of the great West Australia mining boom. +English companies were sending out many<!-- Page 66 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +engineers, old and young, to investigate and +handle mining properties in the new field, and +were looking everywhere for competent men. +Janin was asked by one of these London firms +to recommend someone to them. He talked it +over with Hoover, telling him that it might be +a great opportunity. It might, of course, not +be; it would depend on the prospect—and the +man who handled it. Janin expressed his entire +confidence in the young man before him, +and his belief that the opportunity was greater +than any the Pacific Coast then had to offer. +He would be more than glad to keep Hoover +with him, but he wanted to be fair to him and +his future. The young man was all for giving +hostages to fortune, and so the recommendation, +the offer, and the acceptance flew by cable +between San Francisco and London, and +Hoover prepared to start at once to England +for instructions, as had been stipulated in the +offer.</p> + +<p>Just before he started, however, Janin +caused him some uneasiness by saying, "Now +look here, Hoover, I have cabled London +swearing to your full technical qualifications,<!-- Page 67 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +and I am not afraid of your letting me down +on that. But these conservative Londoners +have stipulated that you should be thirty-five +years old. I have wired that I was sorry to +have to tell them that you are not quite thirty-three. +Don't forget that my reputation depends +on your looking thirty-three by the time +you get to London!" And Hoover had not yet +reached his twenty-third birthday, and looked +at least two years younger even than that. He +began growing a beard on his way across the +continent.</p> + +<p>The London firm had stipulated, too, that +their new man should be unmarried. Hoover +was still that, although he had begun to get +impatient about what seemed to him an unnecessary +delay in carrying out his decision +already made in college. As a matter of fact, +there was still no definite engagement between +him and the girl of the geology department, +but there was an informal understanding that +some day there might be a formal one. So +<ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: Hooved in original">Hoover</ins> appeared before the head of the great +London house—perhaps the greatest mining +firm in the world at that time—without en<!-- Page 68 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>cumbering +wife and with the highest of recommendations, +but with a singularly youthful +appearance for an experienced mining engineer +of thirty-five. In fact, the great man after +staring hard at his new acquisition burst out +with English directness, "How remarkable you +Americans are. You have not yet learned to +grow old, either individually or as a nation. +Now you, for example, do not look a day over +twenty-five. How the devil do you do it?"</p> + +<p>The days were days of wonder for the homegrown +young Quaker engineer. Across +America, across the ocean, then the stupendous +metropolis of the world and the great business +men of the "city," with week-ends under the +wing of the big mining financier at beautiful +English country houses with people whose +names spelled history. And then the P. and +O. boat to Marseilles, Naples, Port Said, Aden, +and Colombo, and finally to be put ashore in +a basket on a rope cable over a very rough sea +at Albany in West Australia. There he was +consigned, with the dozen other first-class passengers, +mining adventurers like himself, to +quarantine in a tent hospital on a sand spit out<!-- Page 69 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +in the harbor with the thermometer never registering +below three figures, even at night.</p> + +<p>And then he came to the Australian mine +fields themselves in a desert where the temperature +can keep above one hundred degrees +day and night for three weeks together. Also +there is wind, scorching wind carrying scorching +dust. And surface water discoverable only +every fifty or sixty miles. Of course one expects +a desert to be hot and dry—that's why +it is a desert—but the West Australian desert +rather overemphasizes the necessities of the +case. It is a deadly monotonous country although +not wholly bare; there is much low +brush just high enough to hide you from others +only half a mile away; a place easy to get lost +in, and hard to get found in when once lost.</p> + +<p>All of this desert was being prospected by +thousands of men of a dozen nationalities, all +seeking and suffering, for gold. The railroad +had got in only as far as Coolgardie, but the +prospectors were far beyond the rail head. +They carried their water bags with enough in +them to keep themselves and their horses alive +between water holes. In the real "back blocks"<!-- Page 70 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +they could not carry enough for horses, so they +used camels with jangling bells and gaudy +trappings of gay greens, orange, scarlet, and +vivid blues, making strange contrasts with the +blue-gray bush. Along the few main roads +moved dusty stages, light, low, almost spring-less +three-seated vehicles, with thin sun-tops +overhead and boxes and bags in front, behind +and underneath, and all swarmed about by pestilential +flies, millions of flies, sprung from nowhere +to harass the thirsty, weary travelers.</p> + +<p>But only the agents and engineers rode in +the stages; it cost too much for the little prospectors, +the "dry-washers," who carried their +few provisions and scanty outfit in packs on +their backs, and tramped the trails, stopping +here and there to toss the dry soil into the air +and watch for the gold flakes to fall into the +pan while the lighter earth blew off in the wind.</p> + +<p>In the camp were gathered a motley crew, +mostly hard, reckless men, who drank and bet +their gold dust away as fast as they found it. +But everywhere they were finding gold, and +all the time came new reports and rumors of +more farther on. The headquarters of Hoov<!-- Page 71 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>er's +employers were in Coolgardie when he arrived, +but were soon moved on to Kalgoorlie, +following the railroad. The offices were in one +of the three or four stone, two-story buildings, +which lifted themselves proudly above the +ruck of sweltering little toy-like houses of corrugated +iron. Forty thousand people were +supposed to be living in this "camp" at one +time, buying water at two shillings six pence +the gallon, which was cheap—they were paying +seven shillings in some other camps. At +first it was all brought by rail from the coastal +plains four hundred miles away, but when the +mines began to get down they struck water at +a few hundred feet. But it was salt, and expensive +condensing plants had to be set up, +which kept the price still high. Coolgardie +once boasted of having the "biggest condensing +plant in the world," with rows on rows of +enormous cylindrical corrugated iron tanks lying +on their sides, over acres of ground, with +all the pumps and boilers and steam pipes to +keep these tanks supplied. Water was cheap +there, only twelve or fifteen shillings the hundred +gallons.<!-- Page 72 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>But out in the prospects and on the trails +there was no such aqueous luxury. There was +no water for washing and little to drink. And +that little was mostly drunk as a terrible black +tea, like lye, heated and re-heated, with now a +little more water added, now another handful +of leaves. I have a well-vouched-for story of +an Australian girl who went into this gold-paradise +with her husband who was manager, +at a large salary, of one of the first mines. She +used to take a cupful of water and carefully +wash the baby and afterward the little girl, and +then herself. After that it was saved for the +husband to rinse the worst off when he came +home from the mine. But he could have an +additional half cup to finish with because he +was so dirty. And they tried not to use soap +with it so that finally, after letting it settle, it +could be added to the horses' drinking water. +It was not that the family could not afford to +pay for water, but there was simply no water to +buy.</p> + +<p>Into this cheerful hell came the young +Quaker engineer, from the heaven of California +and the "city" offices of London where<!-- Page 73 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +sat the big men who were intent on having +their share of the big things in West Australia. +He was to do his best for his particular +big men, but how he was to do it was mostly +for him to find out. His firm had already acquired +interests in several promising properties. +He was to help develop these mines and +perhaps to find new ones to be taken on. A +junior member of his firm was already on the +ground when Hoover arrived, but he remained +only a few months. It was a long way to London +and Hoover could get few instructions. +It was up to him. It was a hard life with +many opportunities to go wrong in any of +many ways. But he kept his brain clear, his +body and soul clean, and just everlastingly +worked.</p> + +<p>There were all kinds of work to do, and all +sorts of new things to learn about mines and +mining. The ore occurred in the rock in a manner +different from that in any other known +gold field, so finding it and getting it out, and +then getting the mineral out of the strange new +kind of ore, required resourcefulness, "original +research," as the scientists say, and constructive<!-- Page 74 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +imagination. And the technical problems of +discovering and manipulation once solved, +there was still needed organization, system, and +administration to make the mine a paying one.</p> + +<p>But all these things were exactly the young +engineer's specialties. He was from the beginning, +as we already know, and conspicuously +is today, resourceful, original, capable of +prompt decision, an organizer and administrator. +Although there were many trained engineers +in West Australia, there was no one to +equal him in these specialties of his. And very +soon his firm's mines, which had so far had little +benefit of executive ability coupled with +technical knowledge and originality, began to +pay and their stocks went up on the London +market—which was the criterion of success in +the eyes of the men in the "city." About the +stock ratings Hoover knew little and perhaps +cared less. He did care, however, about making +good mines out of bad ones. And that was +exactly what he was doing.</p> + +<p>And very soon he did the other successful +thing that the big men in London hoped for +and that he kept always working for. He un<!-- Page 75 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>covered +the big new mine. He had turned up +several promising leads but their development +proved disappointing. But the "Sons of +Gwalia" realized his hopes from the beginning. +It was out from Kalgoorlie four or five days +hard riding, near a smaller camp called Leonora. +He went out and took personal charge +of the opening up and equipping of the whole +mine and plant, living in a little "tin" house and +gathering about him a staff of the best of the +firm's assistants collected from all over the +Colony. It was hot, although the climbing +mercury usually stopped at about one hundred +degrees. But that only further inflamed the +enthusiasm of the group. They had the real +thing, and they had a real leader—a very boyish +looking boy of scant twenty-five. They +forgot to watch the thermometer. They were +more interested in water and transportation +and labor and all the other things that are as +necessary to a good mine as the gold in the +ore-veins.</p> + +<p>Occasionally, however, they had some relaxation. +For one thing, they thought sometimes +about food. One of the men had his wife<!-- Page 76 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +with him, and she imported chickens and later +even ducks which never, however, set web-foot +in water. And they had a garden because they +decided they were so in need of green vegetables. +They turned a little priceless water +from the condenser into the garden; but not +enough for the vegetables and too much for +the accountant's books. After estimating that +the one undersized cabbage they raised cost +them £65 worth of water, he discouraged +further gardening.</p> + +<p>They had also a pet emu. So did the wife +of the manager of another mine near-by. They +used to arrange to have the emus meet occasionally +and there was always a glorious fight. +Once when they had got the lady's emu over +for a visit, one of the Australian boys thought +it would look amusing in trousers. So he took +off his overalls and after immense exertion got +them on the legs of the creature, with the straps +securely fastened over its neck and back. But +the great bird became so enraged that the men +could not safely get near enough to it to get +off its clothing, and even its mistress feared +ever to approach it again. There was also a<!-- Page 77 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +pet goat named Sydney that ate several boxes +of matches and had to have its internal fires +extinguished by the only available liquid, which +was the tinned butter that had yielded to the +one hundred and ten degrees. Sydney lived +through the experience but had always after +that a delicate interior and was petted more +than ever in consequence. And there was a +tennis court occasionally wetted down with the +beer that always went stale while they were +saving it for state occasions. It was all a +happy, glorious time—because they had discovered +and were making one of the great mines +of West Australia.</p> + +<p>Hoover was now twenty-four, and a man of +large reputation in mining circles in Australia +and London, with a salary to correspond. He +had spent about twenty-four months in West +Australia, although they ran over all of one +and parts of two other years, so that he is generally +credited with having remained there +three years. And he could have gone on among +the Australian mines for as many years as he +liked, for the big men in London now fully +realized that they had in this young American<!-- Page 78 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +engineer the unusual man, and that his only +limit in Australia would be the limit of the possible. +But the new opportunity and the new +experience were calling.</p> + +<p>Just about this time a young Chinaman of +royal family in Peking had made a successful +<i>coup d'état</i> and had formed a cabinet for the +first time in the history of China, and this cabinet +decided, naturally also for the first time +in the history of China, to effect a coördinated +control of all the mines of the Empire. There +was, therefore, established a Department of +Mines, with a wily old Chinaman, named +Chang Yen Mow, at its head. He understood +that Chinamen knew little about mining, and +hence decided to find a foreigner to help him +manage the mines of the Empire. He also +thought that a foreigner, thus attached as an +official to his department, could be of particular +help to him in dealing with other foreigners +inclined to exploit Chinese mines more for their +own benefit than China's. This official was +to be in a position much like that of an undersecretary +in a cabinet department, and +was to be given the title, in the Chinese equiva<!-- Page 79 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>lent, +of "Director-General of Mines." He was +to have a salary appropriate to such a large +title. With all this decided, it only remained +to find the proper foreigner, who should be a +man who knew much about mines and was honest. +There was, as we know, just such a man in +Western Australia.<!-- Page 80 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h2>IN CHINA</h2> + + +<p>When Chang Yen Mow, the new head of +the new Department of Mines of the new Chinese +Government, began to look about for the +foreigner who should know much about mines +and be honest, and who would therefore be a +fit man to occupy the new post of Director-General +of Mines, he bethought himself of an +English group of mining men with whom he +had once had some business relations. The +principal expert advisor of this group had +been the man who was now the head of the +great London mining firm for which Herbert +Hoover was working, and working very successfully, +in West Australia. Chang applied +to this group for a recommendation of a suitable +man for him. And this group in turn applied +to the head of Hoover's firm. Or, perhaps, +Chang applied directly to the great Lon<!-- Page 81 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>don +mining man. The exact procedure, which +is not very important, anyway, by which the +head of Hoover's firm came to have the opportunity +of making the recommendation, is a little +obscure today. The important points in +the whole matter, however, which are not at +all uncertain, are that he did have it, and that +he recommended Herbert Hoover, and that +Chang Yen Mow, acting on the recommendation, +offered the place, through him, to the +youthful Quaker engineer, and, finally, that +the competent and confident boy of twenty-four, +always ready for the newer, bigger thing, +promptly accepted it.</p> + +<p>In two weeks after the cable offer and answer, +a feverish fortnight devoted to a rapid +clearing up of things in Australia, Hoover was +on his way to London, to report personally to +his employers about their own affairs as well +as to get some information about the new undertaking. +He wanted to find out before he +got to China, if he could, something of what +would be expected of a Director-General of +Mines of the Chinese Empire. Perhaps he had +in mind the possible necessity of "getting up"<!-- Page 82 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +a little special knowledge about Chinese mines +and mining ways before he tackled his new +job, just as he had got up enough physiology +in thirty-six hours to help get him into Stanford +University, and enough typewriting in a +week-end to fit him for entrance into Louis +Janin's office in San Francisco.</p> + +<p>However, after two weeks in the metropolis, +eight or nine days on the Atlantic, two or three +in New York, and five on the transcontinental +trains, he found himself again in California and +ready to make from there his second start to +the far-away lands from which his loudest +calls seemed to come—ready, that is, except for +one thing. He was now, let us remember, at +this beginning of the year 1899, not yet twenty-five +years old, not that by half a year, indeed, +and a half year could mean, as we have already +seen, a great deal in his life. And he was a +boy-man with a record already behind him of +achievement and a position already in his hands +of much responsibility and large salary. So +he declared that the time had now come for the +carrying out of the decision he had made in his +college days of four years before. It was the<!-- Page 83 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +little matter, you will promptly guess, and +guess correctly, of marrying the girl of the +geology department. He arrived in San Francisco +the first of February, 1899. He spent +the next few days in Monterey, "the old Pacific +capital" of Stevenson's charming sketch, but of +chief interest to Hoover as the place where Lou +Henry—that was her name—lived. And here +they were married at noon of Friday, February +10. At two o'clock they left for San Francisco, +and at noon the next day sailed for the +empire of China.</p> + +<p>Into the sleepy, half Mexican, historic town +on the curving sands of the shores of the blue +Bay of Monterey this swift, breathlessly swift, +boy engineer had come from distant Australia, +by way of Marseilles and London, had clutched +up the beautiful daughter of the respected town +banker, and was now carrying her off to distant +China, where she was to live in all the +state becoming the wife of the Director-General +of Mines of the Celestial Empire. It was +a bit too much for the old Pacific capital, which +did not know—for it was not told—that the +sudden appearance of the meteor bridegroom<!-- Page 84 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +had been preceded by many astronomical +warnings in the way of electric messages that +came to the prospective bride from Australia +and London and New York. Anyway, it +wasn't quite fair to the town, which tries to +maintain old Mexican traditions, that go back +to Spain, of a full assortment of festivities incident +to any proper marrying. But Monterey +has long been reconciled to this missed opportunity, +and now reveals a just pride as the +home town of the woman who has played such +an active rôle in the career of her distinguished +husband.</p> + +<p>The hurrying couple, at least, had time for +breath-taking—and honeymoon—when once on +board ship. For it is a month's voyaging from +San Francisco to China—or, at least, was then. +They had for seat-mates at table Frederick +Palmer, the war correspondent, and wife, which +was the beginning of a friendship that still endures. +And there were for other interesting +companions a secretary of our legation at +<ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: Pekin in original">Peking</ins> and his wife, and a missionary pair who +may or may not have survived the Boxer +massacres.<!-- Page 85 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>The work in China was at first rather simple. +Mines, of course, there were and had been for +uncounted centuries. But what was needed +by the new Department was some sort of +survey of the mineral resources and mining +possibilities of the Empire, and a tentative +framing of a code of mining laws, so that the +new development of the mines of the country +which Chang hoped to initiate could be carried +on to best advantage, and in such a way that +private enterprise could participate in it. For +centuries the mines had been Crown property +and the ruler had simply let them out directly, +or through the viceroys, for either a stipulated +annual rental or for as much "squeeze" as could +be wrung from the lessees in any of several +various ways. And there had to be some rental +or "squeeze" for each of the many officials that +could get within arm's length of the mining +business. The tenure of the use of the mines +by the lessees was usually simply the period of +the continued satisfaction of the lessor.</p> + +<p>All this had not made for any extensive new +opening up of the country's mineral resources, +or for the scientific development of the mines<!-- Page 86 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +already long known. One could not afford to +put much capital into prospecting or into modernizing +the mining methods when each improvement +simply meant either more rent or +"squeeze," or the giving up of the mine. So +the ores were mined and the metals extracted +from them by the miners according to the +methods of their ancestors as far back as history +or tradition went, and it was all done under +a set of mining laws as primitive as the mining +methods themselves. There were enormous +possibilities of improvement. It would have +been hard for any mining engineer to do anything +at all to the situation without improving +it. For Hoover, with his technical education +in metallurgical processes, his experience in +handling various and difficult mining situations, +and his genius for organizing and systematizing, +the opportunity was simply unique. +He plunged into the work of examining and +planning and codifying with the zest of a naturalist +in an unexplored jungle. In the day +time he made his examination; at nights he +studied the mining laws of all time and all the +world.<!-- Page 87 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>He built up a staff as rapidly as it could be +put together and correlated with the tasks before +it. He had sent in advance for two or +three men he had worked with in America and +for some of his most able and dependable associates +in West Australia, including Agnew, +a mill expert, and Newbery, a metallurgist, +son of a famous geologist, both of them devoted +to "the Chief." That was Hoover's +<i>sobriquet</i> among his early mining associates; +just as it was later among the members of his +successive great war-time organizations. He +has just naturally—not artificially—always +been "the Chief" among his co-workers and +associates.</p> + +<p>His Caucasian staff of perhaps a dozen was +greatly overshadowed in number by his Chinese +staff, composed chiefly of semitechnical +assistants, draftsmen, surveyors' assistants, +interpreters, etc. A few of the Chinese helpers +had had foreign training; there was one from +Yale, for example, and another from Rose +Polytechnic; the latter so devoted to American +baseball that he was greatly disappointed in the +new Director of Mines when he found he was<!-- Page 88 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +not a baseball player. But he thought better +of him when he learned that he had at least +managed his college team. The staff had its +headquarters in Tientsin, where were also the +principal laboratories for the mineralogists, assayers, +and chemists. Some of the men gave +their time to the technical work, and others +were engaged in collecting and correlating +everything that had been published in the foreign +languages about the geology and mines' +of China, while Chinese scholars hunted down +and translated into English all that had been +printed in Chinese literature. But the Director +and most of his immediate experienced +assistants were chiefly occupied with the exploring +expeditions into the interior and the +examination of the old mines and new prospects. +Especially did some immediate attention +have to be given to the mines already being +actually worked, for the Minister let it be +known that he expected the new Director to +pay the way of the Department as soon as possible +from the increased proceeds of the mines +which were to arise from the magic touch of the +foreign experts.<!-- Page 89 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>These expeditions were elaborate affairs, +contrasting strangely with Hoover's earlier experiences +in America and Australia. The +Chinese major-domo in charge insisted that +the make-up and appearance of the outfit +should reflect the high estate of the Director +of Mines, so that every movement involved the +organization of a veritable caravan of ponies, +mules, carts, men on foot, and sedan chairs carried +by coolies. These chairs were for the Director +and his wife, who, however, would not +use them, preferring saddle horses. But the +proud manager of the expedition insisted that +they be carried along, empty, to show the admiring +populace that even if the strange foreign +potentates amazingly preferred to ride +in a rather common way on horseback they +could at least afford to have sedan chairs. Imagine +a prospecting outfit in the California +Sierra or the West Australian bush with sedan +chairs! And there were cooks and valets +and cot beds and folding chairs and mosquito +bed curtains and charcoal stoves and an array +of pans and pots like Oscar's in the Waldorf +kitchens, and often a cavalry guard of twenty<!-- Page 90 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>-five +or fifty men, superfluous but insistent and +always hungry. Whether the expedition found +any mines or not it was at least an impressive +object lesson to the Celestial myriads that the +new Imperial Department of Mines knew how +to hunt for them in proper style. When Mrs. +Hoover once remonstrated with one of the interpreters +of the cavalcade about such an unnecessary +outfit, the answer was: "Mr. Hoover +is such expensive man to my country we +cannot afford to let him die for want of small +things."</p> + +<p>A similar state had to be lived up to in the +Director's home in Tientsin. The house was a +large, four-square, wide-veranded affair, in +which a dozen to fifteen servants, carefully +distinguished as "No. 1 Boy," "No. 2 +Boy" and so on down the line, waited, according +to their own immemorial traditions, on the +Director and his wife. These servants had +curious ways, and a curious language in the +odd pidgin English that enabled the door boy +to announce that "the number one topside foreign +devil joss man have makee come," when +the English Bishop called, and the table boy<!-- Page 91 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +to announce a dish of duckling as "one piecee +duck pups," or of chicken as "one piecee +looster." The social scale among the few foreign +residents was very precisely defined, and +the social life of the foreign colony highly conventionalized, +so that the unassuming, practical-minded +young engineer of the high title and +social position who was terribly bored—as he +is today—by social rigmarole, and who was +thought rather queer by the conventional-minded +small diplomats and miscellaneous foreign +residents because, as one of them put it, +"he always seems to be <i>thinking</i>," was glad to +be out of all this as much as possible and on +the road, even if it had to be with the ludicrous +caravan of state. Sometimes even all the attempted +comfort and superfluous luxury of +the caravan did not prevent the expedition from +having serious hardships and running into real +danger. An expedition across the great Gobi +desert that lasted for thirty-nine days was successfully +accomplished only after hard battling +with heat, hunger and thirst, and even with hostile +natives.</p> + +<p>Some of the results expected from this im<!-- Page 92 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>ported +miner were rather startling. For instance, +age-long rumor had it that the Emperor's +hunting park at Jehol overlay immensely +valuable gold deposits. The Minister intimated +to the Director that he would like to +know the real facts about this as soon as possible. +As the park lay in a little-explored +region of southern Manchuria and was a place +of much historical as well as geological interest, +the Director decided to make a personal examination +of it. After the expedition had been out +several days, he was told that on the next they +would come in sight of the Great Royal Park. +Accordingly on the next day the guide of the +caravan took him, with one or two of the Caucasian +members of his staff and an interpreter, +off from the road the grand retinue was following, +and by winding paths up to a hill top +which commanded a superb prospect.</p> + +<p>"There," said the interpreter, with a wave of +his hand toward the stretching prospect of +beautiful valleys, low broad hills and mountain +side, "there is the Hunting Park of Jehol." +Then, turning complacently to the Director of +Mines, he asked, simply: "Is there gold be<!-- Page 93 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>neath +it?" And interpreter and guide, and +later, even more important officials, were stupefied +to learn that the wonderful imported man +who knew all about gold could not say offhand, +from his vantage point, miles away, whether +there was gold under the Park or not. And, +more disturbing still, that he probably could +not say anything about it at all without actually +tramping over the sacred soil and perhaps +sacrilegiously digging into it.</p> + +<p>Such occasionally necessary confessions of +incompetence made a little trouble, but only a little. +However much the under men lacked +knowledge about minerals and mines and how +to find out about them, the head of the Department, +Chang, knew enough to know that if his +young Director confessed inability to meet certain +demands it was because there was more +wrong with the demands than with the engineer. +But the real fly in the ointment soon began +to make itself visible. It was not a disillusionment +on the part of the Chinese officials +in connection with their foreign expert, but a +disillusionment on his part in regard to his real +position and opportunities for accomplishing<!-- Page 94 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +something for China. He began more and +more clearly to realize that he could investigate +and advise as much as he liked but that he could +really do, in his understanding of doing, comparatively +little. The modern West cannot +make over the immemorial East in a day or +even a year.</p> + +<p>Gradually the young engineer came to realize +that while his examinations and reports +were all very welcome, and whatever he could +suggest for improvement in technical detail, +resulting in immediate greater output of the +mines already working, was gladly accepted, +there was no willingness to accept advice leading +to changes in administrative and general +organization matters. And to the modern engineer +efficiency in these matters is as much a +part of successful mining as skilled digging +and good metallurgy. Suggestions looking toward +getting more work out of the men, or cutting +down the payrolls by removing the thirty +per cent of the names on them that seemed to +have no bodily attachments, were frowned on. +These things interfered with "squeeze," and +"squeeze" was a traditional part of Chinese<!-- Page 95 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +mining. Foreign advisors and helpers were +all very well when they found gold, but not so +well when they found graft. A crisis was visible +in the offing. But this particular crisis +did not arrive, for another larger and more +serious one came more swiftly on and arrived +almost unheralded. It was the Boxer Uprising.</p> + +<p>The outbreak found Hoover at Tientsin +having but recently returned from Pekin +with Mrs. Hoover, and both just recovering +from severe attacks of influenza. If opportunity +for thorough organizing of the mines of +China had failed him he now had full scope for +organizing a military defense of his home and +wife and his many employees, foreign and native, +for Tientsin, for a month, was the scene of +hot fighting. It was a besieged household in +a beleaguered city. Hoover could have gotten +out with his wife and few Caucasian assistants +at the beginning of the trouble, but he +would not desert his few hundred Chinese helpers +and their families—and his wife would not +desert him. So they staid on together through +all the rifle and shell fire and conflagrations<!-- Page 96 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +of the Tientsin siege, building and defending +barricades of rice and sugar sacks, organizing +food and water supplies, and cheerfully "carrying +on" in the face of certain death, and +worse, if the outnumbering fanatic Boxers +happened to win.</p> + +<p>But there were occasional lighter incidents +amid the many grave ones of the fighting +weeks. Mrs. Hoover tells one, her favorite +story of those days, in something like the following +words. "We had a cow, famous and influential +in the community, which cow was the +mother of a promising calf. One day the cow +was stolen and Mr. Hoover set out to find her. +With three or four friends and half a dozen +attendant Chinese boys he took out the tiny +calf one night and by the light of a lantern +led the little orphan, bleating for its mother, +about the streets of the town. Finally, as +they passed in front of the barracks of the German +contingent of the international defending +army, there came, from within, an answering +moo, and Mr. Hoover, addressing the sentry, +demanded his cow. The sentry made no move +to comply, but, summoning all his <i>Wörterbuch</i><!-- Page 97 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +English, countered with the inquiry: 'Is that +the calf of the cow inside?' Upon receiving +an affirmative reply to his Ollendorff question, +he calmly declared, 'Also, then, calf outside +must join itself to cow inside.' And thereupon +by aid of a suggestive manipulation of +his bayonet, he confiscated the calf, and sent +Mr. Hoover home empty-handed."</p> + +<p>As one of the precursors of the Boxer affair +Chang Yen Mow got into the bad graces of +the government, gave up his position and was +forced to flee from Pekin and take refuge in +Tientsin. Even here he was dragged out of +his palace and stood up before a firing squad, +and escaped with his life only through vigorous +interference by his Director of Mines. Because +he thought that he might save from +probable confiscation a valuable coal mining +property at Tongshan about eighty miles from +Tientsin, he desired to transfer this property +outright to Hoover's name for the protection +of the foreign title. Hoover refused this, but +did undertake to go to Europe on a contract +with Chang to enlist the aid of the Belgian and +British bondholders of the Company to pro<!-- Page 98 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>tect +the property. These men rescued and reorganized +the Company, dispatched their own +financial agents to China, and appointed +Hoover chief engineer to superintend the real +development of the great property.</p> + +<p>The wily old Celestial finding, after all, +that China was not to be partitioned by the +powers that had defended it against the Boxers, +and that private property was not to be +confiscated, now proposed to break his contract +so eagerly made. And there seemed to be no +hope that the curious course of Chinese law +would ever compel him to recognize his previous +agreements. But there was something in +the persistent, indomitable pressure of the +quiet but firm young Belgian agent, named +de Wouters, who had come back with Hoover, +and of the young American, which did finally +compel the old Chinaman, after much trouble +and delay, to live up to his contract.</p> + +<p>Years later the situation, with kaleidoscopic +picturesqueness, took on another hue, and +Hoover found himself defending Chang's interests +from the overzealous attempts of some +of the foreign owners to get more out of the<!-- Page 99 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +mines than was their fair share. In making the +original contracts it had been agreed to have +a Chinese board with a Chinese chairman, as +well as a foreign board. This led to much difficulty +and some of the Europeans declared +that the young American had been much at +fault in consenting to an arrangement which +left so much share in the control to the Chinese, +and they repudiated this arrangement. Hoover +and de Wouters had a long hard struggle in +getting justice for old Chang, but just as their +persistence had earlier held Chang up to his +agreements for the sake of the European owners +of the undertaking, so now, directed in +the opposite direction, it succeeded in getting +justice for Chang and his Chinese group.</p> + +<p>The affair brought him into business relations +with another Belgian named Emile +Francqui, of keen mind and great personal +force, who, with de Wouters, were, strangely +enough, later to be chief and first assistant +executives, respectively, of the Great Belgian +Comité National during the long hard days +of the German Occupation. It was with these +men among all the Belgians that Hoover was<!-- Page 100 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +to have most to do in connection with his work +as initiator and director of the Commission for +Relief in Belgium.</p> + +<p>But we are now, in the story of Herbert +Hoover, only in the year 1900, and the Belgian +Relief did not begin until 1914. And +Hoover was still to have many experiences as +engineer and man of affairs, before he was to +meet his Belgian acquaintances again under +the dramatic conditions produced by the World +War.</p> + +<p>He had now his opportunity really to do +something in China in line with his own ideas +of doing things in connection with mines, and +not with those of Chinese mining tradition. As +consulting engineer, and later general manager +of the "Chinese Engineering and Mining Company" +he attacked the job of making Chang's +great Tongshan coal properties a going concern. +This job involved building railways, +handling a fleet of ocean-going steamers, developing +large cement works, and superintending +altogether the work of about 20,000 employees. +A special one among the undertakings +of the twelve months or more given to this<!-- Page 101 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +enterprise was the building of Ching Wang +Tow harbor to give his coal a proper sea outlet. +Altogether it was a "mining" job of all +the variety and hugeness of extent that the +twenty-seven-year-old miner and organizer +found most to his liking. And despite obstacles +and complications due both to his Chinese +and Caucasian company associates he did +it successfully, enjoyed it immensely, and got +from it much education and experience. But +he was ready after about a year of it to turn +his attention to the rest of the world.<!-- Page 102 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h2>LONDON AND THE REST OF THE WORLD</h2> + + +<p>In 1902, now twenty-eight years old, Herbert +Hoover returned to London as a junior +partner in the great English firm with which +he had been earlier associated as its star field +man in West Australia. But, though with +an actual headquarters office in London, he +was mostly anywhere else in the world but +there. He was still the firm's chief engineer +and principal field expert and upon him fell +much of the responsibility of the firm's actual +mining operations in the field as distinguished +from its financial operations in the "city." He +probably spent little more than a tenth of his +time in London, and this was also true in his +later career when he had given up his connection +with the firm and was wholly "on his own" +as independent consulting engineer and mine-organizer. +And this explains what has often +puzzled many of the people who came to know +him and his household in London. He and<!-- Page 103 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +it were so little "English." His home in London +seemed always to be a bit of transplanted +America, and, in particular, a bit of transplanted +California. As a matter of fact, in +all his years of London connections there was +hardly one that did not see him and his family +in America including an inevitable stay in +California. He maintained offices in New +York and San Francisco and had no slightest +temptation, much less desire, ever to become +an expatriate.</p> + +<p>But this is getting ahead of the story. There +is one outstanding happening in his London +experience that insistently demands telling. +It is the happening that meant for him the +greatest setback in his otherwise almost monotonously +successful career. And yet, although +this happening meant temporary financial +ruin for him, it was, in its way, only another +success, a success of revealing significance +to those who would like to know the real +man that Herbert Hoover is.</p> + +<p>After one of his returns to London, and in +the absence of the head of the firm in China, he +discovered a defalcation of staggering pro<!-- Page 104 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>portions. +A man connected with the firm had +lost in speculation over a million dollars obtained +from friends and clients of the firm, +by the issuance and sale of false stock. Technically +the operations of the defaulter were +of such a character that the firm could not be +held legally liable. But the junior partner +swept the technicalities aside with a single +gesture. He announced that they would make +good all of the obligations incurred by the +defaulter. This meant the immediate loss of +his own personal fortune, and it meant a serious +difference of opinion with the absent head +of the firm, whose frantic cables came, however, +too late to overrule the decision of the +junior partner.</p> + +<p>There ensued a long bitter struggle, most +of it falling on the junior partner with the +Quaker conscience, to make good the losses +without actually putting the firm out of business. +For going on with the business was essential +to the making good. It was a gruelling +four years' struggle, but with success at the end +of it. And then the American engineer, now +grown forever out of youth to the man who had<!-- Page 105 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +experienced the down as well as the up in life, +gave up his connection with the firm and +launched on that career of independent and +self-responsible activity which has been his +ever since. This was in 1908. Hoover was +now thirty-four years old and probably the +leading consulting mining engineer in the +world.</p> + +<p>His work soon took him back to Australia, +the land of his first notable success, but this +time into South Australia instead of West +Australia. Here he took personal charge of +a large constructive undertaking in connection +with the rehabilitation of the famous +Broken Hill Mines. These mines were in the +inhospitable wastes of the Great Stony Desert, +four or five hundred miles north of Adelaide, +the port city. The living and working conditions +in the desert were a little worse than awful, +but by his technical and organizing ability +he brought to life the two or three abandoned +mines which constituted the Broken +Hills properties, and, adding to them some +adjoining lower grade mines, converted the +whole group from a state of great but un<!-- Page 106 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>realized +possibilities into one of highly profitable +actualities. An important factor in this +achievement was his origination and successful +development of a process for extracting the +zinc from ores that had already been treated +for the other metals and then cast aside as +worthless residues. There were fourteen million +tons of these residues on the Broken Hills +dumps and from them he derived large returns +for the company that he had organized to +purchase the property.</p> + +<p>He also introduced new metallurgical processes +for the profitable handling of the low-grade +sulphide ores that constituted most of +the mineral body of the mines. Indeed, this +work in South Australia did much to help +prove to him what has long been one of his +cardinal beliefs, namely, that the safe backbone +of mining lies in the handling of large bodies of +low-grade ores. When such great ore-bodies +are given the benefit of proper metallurgical +processes and large organizing and intelligent +building up of exterior plants, mining leaves +the realms of speculation and becomes a certain +and stable business operation.<!-- Page 107 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>All this successful work in South Australia +occupied but seven months. Back in London +again he gathered about him a remarkable +staff of skilled young mining engineers, +mostly Americans. There were thirty-five or +forty of them, indeed, not on salary or fixed +appointment, but men eager to attach themselves +to him for the sake of working with +him or for him in connection with the +ever-increasing number of his large enterprises +in the way of reorganization and +rehabilitation of mines scattered all over +the world. He became the managing director +or chief consulting engineer of a score +of mining companies, and the simple association +of his name with a mining enterprise gave +investors and other engineers a perfect confidence +in its success and its honest handling.</p> + +<p>Two of his largest undertakings were in +Russia, one at Kyshtim, in the Urals, the other +at Irtish on the Siberian plains near Manchuria. +The Kyshtim property was a great +but run-down historic establishment, on an estate +of an area almost equal to that of all Belgium. +One hundred and seventy thousand<!-- Page 108 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +people lived on the estate, all dependent on the +mining establishment for their support. The +ores were of iron and copper, but the mines +were so far from anywhere that not only did +these ores have to be smelted at the mine +mouths, but factories had to be erected to +manufacture the metal into products capable +of compact transportation. When Hoover +took over the bankrupt properties he found +himself not only with mining and manufacturing +problems to solve, but with what was practically +a relief problem to face. For the underpaid +workmen and their unfortunate families +were in a state of great misery. He succeeded +not only in modernizing and rehabilitating +the material part of the great establishment, +but at the same time in rescuing and revivifying +a suffering laboring population of +helpless Russians.</p> + +<p>The Irtish properties were near the Manchurian +border, a thousand miles up the Irtish +River from Omsk, a mere remote bleak spot +on the wild, bare Siberian steppes. But at this +spot lay extensive deposits of zinc, iron, lead, +copper and coal, all together. He had first of<!-- Page 109 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +all to build 350 miles of railroad to make the +spot at all accessible. And the actual "mining" +operations included everything from digging +out and smelting the ores to manufacturing +all sorts of things from metal door-knobs +to steel rails and even steamboats to ply on the +Irtish River. He put a large sum of English, +Canadian and American money—including +much of his own—into the work of building up +a great establishment which was just on a paying +basis when the war broke out. It is all now +in the hands of the Bolsheviki, with a most +dubious outlook for the recovery of any of the +money put into it.</p> + +<p>Other large operations under his direction +were in Colorado, Mexico, Korea, the Malay +Straits Settlement, South Africa, and India +(Burma). The Burma undertaking has been, +in its outcome at least, and, indeed, in many +other respects, Hoover's greatest victory in +mining engineering and organization. It is +today the greatest silver-lead mine in the +world, although it started from as near to nothing +as a mine could be and yet be called a +mine. It took him and his associates five years<!-- Page 110 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +to transform some deserted works in the heart +of a jungle into the foremost producer of its +kind in all the world. This mine is far away +in the north of Burma, almost on the Chinese +border. They had first to build eighty miles +of railroad through the jungle and over two +ranges of mountains, a sufficient feat of engineering +in itself, and then to create and organize +at the end of this line everything pertaining +to a great mining plant. Thirty thousand +men were employed in establishing the +mine.</p> + +<p>Altogether Hoover and his associates had in +their employment, in the various mining undertakings +under way in 1914, about 175,000 men, +and the annual mineral output of the mines +being handled by them was worth as much as +the total annual output of all the mines in +California. And practically all of these successful +mines had been made out of unsuccessful +ones. For Hoover really developed a new +profession in connection with mining; a profession +of making good mines out of bad ones, +of making bankrupt mining concerns solvent, +not by manipulation on the stock exchange but<!-- Page 111 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +by work in the earth, in the mills, in the mine +offices. He works with materials, not pieces of +paper. It takes him from three to five years +to bring a dead mine to life; the mine must +have mineral in it, to be sure, to start with, but +he does all the rest. That little matter of having +mineral in it is the whole thing, you may +think. But if you do, you must think again. +The history of mining is more a history of how +mines with mineral in them have not succeeded +in becoming mines where the mineral could be +profitably got out of them, than of how such +mines have succeeded. A successful mine is +infinitely more than a hole in the ground with +mineral at its bottom. It is railroads and +steamers, mills, housing for men, men themselves, +organization, system, skill, brains, all-around +human capacity. Herbert Hoover is +a great miner because he is—I say it bluntly +and not from any blind hero-worship—a great +man.</p> + +<p>If he is, he can do more than mine greatly; +he can do other things greatly. Well, he can, +and he has done them. We come to that part +of his story now, the part that begins when<!-- Page 112 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +the World War began, when the world saw +with amazement that grew into ever greater +amazement an unknown miner, that is, unknown +except to other miners, calmly do +things that only great men can do. But we +who know now the story of the boy and the +man of the years before the war are not so +much amazed. We know that he is the kind +of man, who had had the kind of experience, +the kind of world education, who with opportunity +can do things the world calls great and +be the great man. But just for a few minutes +before we begin with August, 1914, the +time when Herbert Hoover began a new chapter +in his work because the world had begun +a new epoch in its history, let us have a glimpse +of this man outside of his mines and his offices. +Let us see him in his home, with his +family, with his books if he has any, and with +his friends of whom he has many.</p> + +<p>His two children, Herbert and Allan, were +born in 1903 and 1907 respectively. Living +first in apartments, the Hoovers felt that they +and the boys and the dog Rags needed more +room, or perhaps, better, different kind of<!-- Page 113 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +room, room for an energetic family of Americans +to grow up in Western American fashion, +as far as this could be compassed in London. +And so they found, farther west, in a short +street just off Kensington High Street and +close to Kensington Gardens, a roomy old +house with a garden with real trees in it and +some grass and flower-beds. It had been built +long before by somebody who liked room, and +then rebuilt, or at least made over and added +to, by Montin Conway, the Alpinist and author. +For generations it had been called "The +Red House," a name that became in the succeeding +years more and more widely known +to Americans living in, coming to, or passing +through London, for it became a well-known +house of American foregathering.</p> + +<p>I knew it first in 1912 when I was doing some +work in the British Museum Library. The +bedroom to which my wife and I were shown +was inhabited already by a happy and very +vocal family of little Javanese seed birds and +green parrakeets, a part of the boys' menagerie +which had to find refuge from the other +animals already housed in their adjoining<!-- Page 114 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +rooms. Out in the garden there were pigeons +fluttering in and out of a cote, and hens solemnly +inspecting the newly-seeded flower-beds. +A big silver Persian cat, and a smaller yellow +Siamese one regularly attended breakfasts, and +Rags irregularly attended everything. The +cats were Mr. Hoover's favorites. He liked to +have one on his lap as he talked.</p> + +<p>There were bookshelves in all of the rooms, +and I noted that the owner, however many the +guests had been, or long the evening, never +went up to bed without a book in his +hand. I came later to know how fixed this +night-reading habit had become, for in the +Belgian relief years when we had frequently +to cross the perilous North Sea together on +our way from Thames-mouth to Holland or +back in one of the little Dutch boats which used +to run across twice a week until most of the +boats had been blown up by floating mines, +Hoover used always to fix an electric pocket +lamp or a stub of a candle to the edge of +his bunk and read for a while after turning +in. He has had little time for reading +in daytime, but yet he has read enorm<!-- Page 115 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>ously. +It is this night-reading that explains it.</p> + +<p>The shelves in "The Red House" contained +many books about geology and mining and +metallurgy. But they contained many others +as well. Especially were they burdened with +books on economics and political science. And +they bore lighter loads of stories. Sherlock +Holmes was there <i>in extenso</i>. The books on +civics and economics and theories of finance +were well thumbed and some of them margined +with roughly penciled notes. I should say +they had been studied. A frequent evening +visitor, who came by preference when there +had been no guests at dinner, was a well-known +brilliant student of finance and economics, +formerly editor of the best-known +English financial weekly and now editor +of a very liberal, not to say radical, +weekly of his own. He and Hoover held +long disquisition together, each having clear-cut +ideas of his own and glad to try them out +on the keen intelligence of the other. As a +mere biologist, whose little knowledge was +more of the domestic economy of the four and +six-footed inhabitants of earth than of the so<!-- Page 116 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>cial +science and politics of the bipedal lords of +creation, my rôle was chiefly that of fascinated +listener.</p> + +<p>Although he likes books and even likes writing, +Hoover makes no claims to authorship +himself. Nevertheless he has found time to +put something of his knowledge, based on firsthand +experience of the fundamentals and details +of mining geology, and mining methods +and organization, into a book which, under the +title of <i>Principles of Mining</i>, has been a well-known +text for students of mining engineering +since its appearance in 1909. The book is +a condensation of a course of lectures given by +the author partly in Stanford and partly in +Columbia University. Although it contains an +unusual amount of original matter and old +knowledge originally treated for the kind of +book it professes to be, namely a compact manual +of approved mining practice, the author's +preface is a model of modest appraisement of +his work. One of its paragraphs simply demands +quotation:</p> + +<p><!-- Page 117 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>"The bulk of the material presented [in this +book] is the common heritage of the profession, +and if any may think there is insufficient +reference to previous writers, let him +endeavor to find to whom the origin of our +methods should be credited. The science +has grown by small contributions of experience +since, or before, those unnamed Egyptian +engineers, whose works prove their +knowledge of many fundamentals of mine +engineering six thousand eight hundred years +ago. If I have contributed one sentence +to the accumulated knowledge of a thousand +generations of engineers or have thrown one +new ray of light on the work, I shall have done +my share."</p></div> + +<p>In the latter chapters of the book Hoover, +having devoted the earlier chapters to technical +methods, treats of the administrative and financial +phases of mining. The last chapter is devoted +to the "character, training, and obligations +of the mining engineering profession" in +which he sets up a standard of professional +ethics for the engineer of the very highest degree +and reveals clearly his own genuinely philanthropic +attitude toward his fellow men. In +the discussion of mining administration there<!-- Page 118 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +is a concise but illuminating treatment of the +subject of labor unions. After discussing contract +work and bonus systems he says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is another phase of the labor question +which must be considered, and that is the general +relations of employer and employed. As +corporations have grown, so likewise have the +labor unions. In general, they are normal and +proper antidotes for unlimited capitalistic organization.</p> + +<p>"Labor unions usually pass through two +phases. First, the inertia of the unorganized +labor is too often stirred only by demagogic +means. After organization through these and +other agencies, the lack of balance in the leaders +often makes for injustice in demands, and for +violence to obtain them and disregard of agreements +entered upon. As time goes on, men become +educated in regard to the rights of their +employers and to the reflection of these rights +in ultimate benefit to labor itself. Then the +men, as well as the intelligent employer, endeavor +to safeguard both interests. When this +stage arrives, violence disappears in favor of +negotiation on economic principles, and the +unions achieve their greatest real gains. Given +a union with leaders who can control the members, +and who are disposed to approach differ<!-- Page 119 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>ences +in a business spirit, there are few sounder +positions for the employer, for agreements +honorably carried out dismiss the constant +harassments of possible strikes. Such unions +exist in dozens of trades in this country, and +they are entitled to greater recognition. The +time when the employer could ride roughshod +over his labor is disappearing with the doctrine +of <i>laissez faire</i> on which it was founded. The +sooner the fact is recognized, the better for the +employer. The sooner some miners' unions +develop from the first into the second stage, the +more speedily will their organizations secure +general respect and influence.</p> + +<p>"The crying need of labor unions, and of +some employers as well, is education on a fundamental +of economics too long disregarded +by all classes and especially by the academic +economist. When the latter abandon the +theory that wages are the result of supply and +demand, and recognize that in these days of international +flow of labor, commodities and capital, +the real controlling factor in wages is efficiency, +then such an educational campaign +may become possible. Then will the employer +and employee find a common ground on which +each can benefit. There lives no engineer who +has not seen insensate dispute as to wages +where the real difficulty was inefficiency. No<!-- Page 120 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +administrator begrudges a division with his +men of the increased profit arising from increased +efficiency. But every administrator +begrudges the wage level demanded by labor +unions whose policy is decreased efficiency in +the false belief that they are providing for +more labor."</p></div> + +<p>Three years before publishing the <i>Principles +of Mining</i> Hoover had collaborated with a +a group of authors in the production of a book +called <i>Economics of Mining</i>. And three years +later, that is in 1912, he privately published, in +sumptuous form, with scrupulously exact reproduction +of all of its many curious old woodcuts, +an English translation of Agricola's "De +Re Metallica," the first great treatise on mining +and metallurgy, originally published in +Latin in 1556, only one hundred years after +Gutenberg had printed his first book. "De Re +Metallica" was the standard manual of mining +and metallurgy for 180 years. Georgius Agricola, +the author, was really one Georg Bauer, +a German of Saxony, who, following the custom +of his time used for pen-name the literal +Latin equivalents of the words of his German +name.<!-- Page 121 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<p>This translation, with its copious added +notes of editorial commentary, was the joint +work of Hoover and his wife—it was Mrs. +Hoover, indeed, who began it—and occupied +most of their spare time, especially their +evenings—and sometimes nights!—and Sundays, +through nearly five years. They had +been for some time collecting and delving in +old books on China and the Far East and ancient +treatises on early mining and metallurgical +processes, and had accumulated an unusual +collection of such books, ransacking the old +bookshops of the world in their quest. In +1902, Mrs. Hoover while looking up some +geology in the British Museum Library, +stumbled again on Agricola, which she had forgotten +since the days she was in Dr. Branner's +laboratory. By invoking the services of one +of their friends among the old book dealers +the Hoovers soon owned a copy. Caught +especially by the many curious and only half +understandable pictures in it they began to +translate bits from it here and there, especially +the explanations of the pictures, and +in a little while they were lost. Nothing would<!-- Page 122 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +satisfy them short of making a complete translation. +It became an obsession; it was at first +their recreation; then because it went very +slowly it seemed likely to become their life avocation.</p> + +<p>They found an early German translation, +which, however, helped them little. The translator +had apparently known little of mining +and not too much of Latin. They went to +Saxony, to the home of Agricola, hoping to +get clues to the difficult things in the book by +seeing the region and mines which had been +under his eyes while writing it, and finding traditions +of the mining methods of his time. But +it was as if a sponge had been passed over Agricola +and his days. Fire had swept over the +towns he had known and all the ancient records +were gone. The towns, rebuilt, and the mines +of which he had written were there, but of him +and of the ancient methods he wrote about +there was hardly record or even tradition. +They went to Freiberg, where has long existed +the greatest German school of mines, the greatest +mining school in the world, indeed, until +the American schools were developed—prob<!-- Page 123 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>ably +the Germans would not admit even this +qualification—and there they found no more to +help them than in Agricola's own towns. In +fact, the Freiberg professors seemed rather irritated +by the advent of these searchers for ancient +mining history, for, as the savants explained, +the Freiberg methods and machines +were all the most modern in the world; there +were "no left-overs, no worn-out rubbish of +those inefficient ages" around Germany's great +school of mines.</p> + +<p>So the Hoovers were little rewarded by their +pilgrimage to Germany for help in their attempt +to resuscitate the Saxon Agricola. But +they kept on mining in the big tome and finally, +in the fifth year of their devoted spare-time +labors they had before them a completed translation.<!-- Page 124 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2>THE WAR: THE MAN AND HIS FIRST SERVICE</h2> + + +<p>From the first day of the World War Herbert +Hoover has been a world figure. But +much of what he has done and how he has done +it is still only hazily known, for all the general +public familiarity with his name as head of the +Belgian relief work, American food administrator, +and, finally, director-general of the +American and Allied relief work in Europe +after the armistice. The public knows of him +as the initiator and head of great organizations +with heart in them, which were successfully +managed on sound business principles. But +it does not yet know the special character of +Hoover's own personal participation in them, +his original and resourceful contributions to +their success, and the formidable obstacles +which he had constantly to overcome in making +this success possible. There was little that<!-- Page 125 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +"just happened" which contributed to this success; +that which did just happen usually happened +wrong. Things came off because ideals +were realized by practical method, decision, +and driving power. I should like to be able to +give the people of America a revealing +glimpse, by outline and incident, of all this. +And I should like, too, to be able to make clear +the pure Americanism of this man; to disclose +the basis of belief in the soundness of the +American heart and the practical possibilities +of American democracy on which Hoover +banked in determining his methods and daring +his decisions. This belief was the easier to hold +inasmuch as he has himself the soundness of +character, the fundamental conviction of democracy, +and the true philanthropy that he +attributes to the average American. He is his +own American model.</p> + +<p>To call Herbert Hoover "English" as a +cheap form of derogation, is to reveal a surprising +paucity of invention in criticism. It +is also unfair to about as American an American +as can be found. The translation of Agricola, +an account of which closed our last chap<!-- Page 126 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>ter, +stretched over the long time that it did, not +alone because Mr. and Mrs. Hoover could +give only their spare hours to it, but also because +they could turn to it only while they +were in London where the needed reference +books were available. And their presence in +London was so discontinuous that their translating +work was much more marked by interruption +than continuity. The constant returns +to America where there were the New York +and San Francisco offices to be looked after +personally, and the many trips to the mining +properties scattered over the world, limited +Hoover's London days to a comparatively +small number in each year. A London office +was, to be sure, necessary between 1902 and +1914 because of the advantage to a world miner +of being close to affairs in the world's center +of mining interests. And it was also necessary +during Belgian relief days because of its +unequaled accessibility, by persons or cable, +from all the vital points in the complex international +structure of the relief organization. +But in all this period of London connection, +except in the Belgian relief period, Hoover<!-- Page 127 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +was a familiar figure in mining circles in both +New York and San Francisco, and although +rarely able to cast his vote in America he maintained +a lively interest in American major governmental +affairs.</p> + +<p>Hoover kept up, too, an active interest in +the development of his <i>alma mater</i>, Stanford +University, and especially in its geology and +mining engineering department. In 1908 he +was asked to join its faculty, and delivered a +course of lectures on the principles of mining, +which attracted such favorable comment that +he repeated it shortly after in condensed form +in Columbia University. On the basis of his +experience as a university student of mining, +and as a successful mine expert and operator, +and as an employer of many other university +graduates from universities and technical +schools Hoover has formed definite conclusions +as to what the distinctive character of +professional university training for prospective +mining engineers should be. It differs from a +widely held view.</p> + +<p>He believes that the collegiate training +should be less practical than fundamental.<!-- Page 128 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +The attempts, more common a decade ago than +now perhaps, to convert schools of mining and +departments of mining geology into shops and +artificial mines, do not meet with favor in his +eyes. Vocational, or professional, training in +universities should leave most of the actual +practice to be gained in actual experience and +work after graduation. If the student is well-grounded +in the fundamental science of mining +and metallurgy, in geology and chemistry +and physics and mechanics, he can quickly pick +up the routine methods of practice. And he +can do more. He can understand their <i>raison +d'être</i>, and he can modify and adapt them to +the varying conditions under which they must +be applied. He can, in addition, if he has any +originality of mind at all, devise new methods, +discover new facts of mining geology—the interior +of the earth is by no means a read book +as yet—and add not only his normal quota of +additional wealth to the world, as a routine +worker, but an increment of as yet unrealized +possibilities, as an original investigator. In +Hoover's own choice of assistants he has +selected among men fresh from the universi<!-- Page 129 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>ties +or technical schools those who have had +thoroughly scientific, as contrasted with much +technical, or so-called practical, training.</p> + +<p>His interest in universities and university +administration and methods has always been +intense. It has been reciprocated, if his honorary +degrees from a dozen American colleges +and universities can be assumed to be evidence +of this. In 1912 he was made a trustee of Stanford +and from the beginning of this trusteeship +until now he has taken an active part in the university +management, giving it the full benefit +of his constructive service. His most recent activity +in this connection has concerned itself +with the needed increase and standardization +of faculty salaries so that for each grade of +faculty position there is assured at least a living +minimum of salary. He was the originating +figure and principal donor of the Stanford +Union, a general club-house for students and +faculty, which adds materially to the comfort +of home-wandering alumni and to the democratic +life of the University. In all the great +University plant there was no place for a common +social meeting-ground for faculty, alumni,<!-- Page 130 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +and undergraduates. The Union provided it. +If Stanford did much for Hoover in the days +when he was one of its students, he has loyally +repaid his obligation.</p> + +<p>But all of these accounts of Hoover's various +activities still leave unanswered many questions +concerning the more intimate personal +characteristics of the man to whom the World +War came in August, 1914, with its special call +for service. He was then just forty years old, +known to mining engineers everywhere and +to the alumni and faculty and friends of Stanford +University and to a limited group of business +acquaintances and personal friends, but +with a name then unknown to the world at +large. Today no name is more widely known. +Today millions of Europeans call him blessed; +millions of Americans call him great. My +own belief is that he and his work did more to +save Europe from complete anarchy after the +war than any other influence exerted on its +people from the outside, and that without it +there was no other sufficient influence either +outside or inside which would have prevented +this anarchy.<!-- Page 131 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<p>Hoover's kinds of work are many, but his +recreations are few. His chief form of exercise—if +it is exercise—is motoring. He does +not play outdoor games; no golf, tennis, but +little walking. He has no system of kicking +his legs about in bed or going through calisthenics +on rising. And yet he keeps in very +good physical condition, at least he keeps in +sufficiently good condition to do several men's +days' work every day. He has a theory about +this which he practices, and which he occasionally +explains briefly to those who remonstrate +with him about his neglect of exercise. "You +have to take exercise," he says, "because you +overeat. I do not overeat, and therefore I +do not need exercise." It sounds very simple +and conclusive; and it seems to work—in his +case.</p> + +<p>He likes social life, but not society life. He +enjoys company but he wants it to mean something. +He has little small talk but plenty of +significant talk. He saves time by cutting out +frills, both business and social. His directness +of mental approach to any subject is expressed +in his whole manner: his immediate attack in<!-- Page 132 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +conversation on the essence of the matter, his +few words, his quick decisions. He can make +these decisions quickly because he has clear +policies to guide him. I recall being asked by +him to come to breakfast one morning at Stanford +after he had been elected trustee, to talk +over the matter of faculty standards. His +first question to the two or three of us who +were there was: What is the figure below +which a professor of a given grade (assistant, +associate, or full professor) cannot maintain +himself here on a basis which will not lower his +efficiency in his work or his dignity in the community? +We finally agreed on certain figures. +"Well," said Hoover, "that must be the minimum +salary of the grade."</p> + +<p>He knows what he wants to do, and goes +straight forward toward doing it; but if difficulty +too great intervenes—it really has to be +very great—he withdraws for a fresh start and +tries another path. I always think of him as +outside of a circle in the center of which is his +goal. He strikes the circle at one spot; if he +can get through, well and good. If not he +draws away, moves a little around the circum<!-- Page 133 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>ference +and strikes again. This resourcefulness +and fertility of method are conspicuous +characteristics of him. To that degree he is +"diplomatic." But if there is only one way he +fights to the extreme along that way. And +those of us who have lived through the difficult, +the almost impossible, days of Belgian relief, +food administration, and general European +after-the-war relief, with him, have come +to an almost superstitious belief in his capacity +to do anything possible to human power.</p> + +<p>He has a great gift of lucid exposition. His +successful argument with Lloyd George, who +began a conference with him on the Belgian +relief work strongly opposed to it on grounds +of its alleged military disadvantages to the Allies, +and closed it by the abrupt statement: +"I am convinced; you have my permission," +is a conspicuous example, among many, of his +way of winning adherence to his plans, on a +basis of good grounds and lucid and effective +presentation of them. He has no voice for +speaking to great audiences, no flowers of rhetoric +or familiar platitudes for professional oratory, +but there is no more effective living<!-- Page 134 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +speaker to small groups or conferences around +the council table. He is clear and convincing +in speech because he is clear and precise in +thinking. He is fertile in plan and constructive +in method because he has creative imagination.</p> + +<p>The first of his war calls to service came just +as he was preparing to return to America from +London where he had brought his family from +California to spend the school vacation of 1914. +Their return passage was engaged for the middle +of August. But the war came on, and with +it his first relief undertaking. It was only the +trivial matter—trivial in comparison with his +later undertakings—of helping seventy thousand +American travelers, stranded at the outbreak +of the war, to get home. These people, +rich and poor alike, found themselves penniless +and helpless because of the sudden moratorium. +Letters of credit, travelers' checks, drafts, all +were mere printed paper. They needed real +money, hotel rooms, steamer passages, and advice. +And there was nobody in London, not +even the benevolent and most willing but in this +respect powerless American ambassador who<!-- Page 135 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +could help them. At least there seemed none +until Hoover transferred the "relief" which +had automatically congested about his private +offices in the "city" during the first two days to +larger headquarters in the Hotel Savoy. He +gathered together all his available money and +that of American friends and opened a unique +bank which had no depositors and took in no +money, but continuously gave it out against +personal checks signed by unknown but American-looking +people on unknown banks in Walla +Walla and Fresno and Grand Rapids and +Dubuque and Emporia and New Bedford. +And he found rooms in hotels and passage on +steamers, first-class, second-class or steerage, +as happened to be possible. Now on all these +checks and promises to pay, just $250 failed +to be realized by the man who took a risk on +American honesty to the extent of several hundred +thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>Some of the incidents of this "relief" were +pathetic, and some were comic. One day the +banker and his staff, which was composed of +his wife and their friends, were startled +by the apparition in the front office of a<!-- Page 136 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +group of American plains Indians, Blackfeet +and Sioux, all in the most Fenimore Cooperish +of full Indian dress, feathers and skins, +war-paint and tomahawks. They had been +part of a Wild West show and menagerie +caught by the war's outbreak in Austria, and +had, after incredible experiences, made their +way out, dropping animals and baggage as +they progressed, until they had with them only +what they had on, which in order to save the +most valuable part of their portable furniture, +was their most elaborate costumes. They had +got to London, but to do it they had used up the +last penny and the last thing they could sell or +pawn except their clothes, which they had to +wear to cover their red skins. Hoover's American +bank saw these original Americans off, with +joyful whoopings of gratitude, for Wyoming.</p> + +<p>But the work was not limited to lending the +barely necessary funds to those who wished +to borrow. He raised a charitable fund among +these same friends for caring for the really +destitute ones until other relief could come. +This came in the shape of the American Government's +"ship of gold," the battle-ship <i>Ten<!-- Page 137 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>nessee</i>, +sent over to the rescue. Hoover was +then asked by Ambassador Page and the +Army officers in charge of the London consignment +of this gold to persuade his volunteer +committee to continue their labors during +its distribution. With this money available +all who were able to produce proof of American +citizenship could be given whatever was +necessary to enable them to reach their own +country.</p> + +<p>And then came the next insistent call for +help. And in listening to it, and, with swift +decision, undertaking to respond to it, Herbert +Hoover launched himself, without in any degree +realizing it, on a career of public service +and corresponding abnegation of private business +and self-interest, that was to last all +through the war and through the armistice +period, and is today still going on. In all this +period of war and after-war service he has +received no salary from government or relief +organizations but, on the contrary, has given +up a large income as expert mining engineer +and director of mining companies. In addition, +he has paid out a large sum for personal<!-- Page 138 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +expenses incurred in connection with the work.</p> + +<p>The call was for the relief of Belgium. I +know the story of Hoover in his relation to +the relief of Belgium very well because I became +one of his helpers in it soon after the war +began and remained in it until the end. But it +is a hard story to tell; there is too much of it. +My special duties were of a kind to keep me +constantly in touch with "the Chief," and I +was able to realize, as only a few others were, +the load of nerve-racking responsibility and +herculean labor carried by him behind the more +open scene of the public money-gathering, +food-buying and transporting, and daily feeding +of the ten million imprisoned people of +occupied Belgium and France. In the relief +of these helpless peoples Hoover put, perhaps +for the first time, certainly for the first time +on any such enormous scale and with such outstanding +success, philanthropy on a basis of +what dear old Horace Fletcher, shut up with +us in Belgium during the Occupation, would +permit to be referred to by no other phrase than +the somewhat hackneyed one of "engineering +efficiency," unless we would use a new word for<!-- Page 139 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +it which he coined. In fact he used the new +word "Hooverizing" as a synonym for efficiency +with a heart in it, two years before it became +familiar in America with another meaning. +And I prefer his meaning of the word to +that of the food-saving meaning with which we +became familiar in Food Administration days.<!-- Page 140 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2>THE RELIEF OF BELGIUM; ORGANIZATION AND +DIPLOMATIC DIFFICULTIES</h2> + + +<p>Despite the general popular knowledge that +there was a relief of Belgium and that Hoover +was its organizer and directing head, there still +seems to be, if I may judge by the questions +often asked me, no very wide knowledge of +just why there had to be such relief of Belgium +and how Herbert Hoover came to undertake +it. A fairly full answer to these queries makes +a proper introduction to any account, however +brief, of his participation in this extraordinary +part of the history of the war.</p> + +<p>The World War began, as we all most vividly +remember, with the successful, although +briefly but most importantly delayed invasion +of Belgium. And this invasion resulted in +producing very promptly not only a situation +appalling in its immediate realization, but one<!-- Page 141 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +of even more terrifying possibilities for the near +future. For through the haze of the smoke-clouds +from burning towns and above the rattle +of the machine guns in Dinant and Louvain +could be seen the hovering specter of starvation +and heard the wailing of hungry children. +And how the specter was to be made to pass +and the children to hush their cries was soon +the problem of all problems for Belgium.</p> + +<p>Within ten weeks after the first shots of the +War all of Belgium except that dreary little +stretch of sand and swamp in the northwestern +corner of it that for over four years was all of +the Kingdom of Belgium under the rule of +King Albert, was not only in the hands of a +brutal enemy but was enclosed and shut away +from the rest of the world by a rigid ring of +steel. Not only did the Germans maintain a +ring of bayonets and electrified wire fence—this +latter along the Belgian-Dutch frontier—around +it, but the Allies, recognizing that for +all practical purposes, Occupied Belgium +was now German territory, had to include it in +their blockade of the German coast. Thus no +persons or supplies could pass in or out of Bel<!-- Page 142 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>gium +except under extraordinary circumstances, +such as a special permission from both +Germany and Allies or a daring and almost impossible +blockade-running.</p> + +<p>Now Belgium is not, as America is, self-sustaining +as to food. If an enemy could completely +blockade us, we could go on living indefinitely +on the food we produce. But Belgium +could not; nor could England or France +or Italy. Belgium is not primarily an agricultural +country, despite the fact that what agriculture +it does have is the most intensive and +highly developed in Europe. It is an industrial +country, the most highly industrialized in +Europe, with only one sixth of its people supporting +themselves by agriculture. It depends +upon constant importations for fifty per cent +of its general food needs and seventy-five per +cent of its needed food-grains.</p> + +<p>The ring of steel about Belgium, then, if not +promptly broken, plainly meant starvation. +The imprisoned Belgians saw, with the passing +days, their little piles of stored food supplies +get lower. They had immediately begun +rationing themselves. The Government and<!-- Page 143 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +cities had taken possession of such small food +stocks as had not been seized by the Germans +for their armies, and were treating them as a +common supply for all the people. They distributed +this food as well as they could during +a reign of terror with all railways and motors +controlled by their conquerors. They lived in +those first weeks on little food but much hope. +For were not their powerful protectors, the +French and English, very quickly going to +drive the invaders back and out of their country? +But it soon became apparent that it was +the Allied armies that were being driven not +only out of Belgium but farther and farther +back into France. So the Allies could do nothing, +and the Germans would do nothing to help +them. Indeed, everything the Germans did +was to make matters worse. There was only +one hope; they must have food from outside +sources, and to do this they must have recourse +to some powerful neutral help.</p> + +<p>Belgium, and particularly Brussels, has always +had its American colony. And it was to +these Americans that Belgium turned for help. +Many members of the colony left as soon after<!-- Page 144 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +the war began as they could, but some, headed +by Minister Brand Whitlock, remained. +When the Belgian court left Brussels for Antwerp, +and later for Le Havre, part of the diplomatic +corps followed it, but a smaller part +stayed in Brussels to occupy for the rest of the +war a most peculiar position. Mr. Whitlock +elected to stay. It was a fortunate election +for the Belgians. Also it meant many things, +most of them interesting, for the sympathetic +Minister.</p> + +<p>When the American expatriates in Belgium +who wished to leave after the war began, applied +to Minister Whitlock for help to become +repatriates, he called to his assistance certain +American engineers and business men then +resident in Brussels, notably Messrs. Daniel +Heineman, Millard Shaler, and William +Hulse. He also had the very effective help of +his First Secretary of Legation, Mr. Hugh +Gibson, now our Minister to Poland. These +men were able to arrange the financial difficulties +of the fleeing Americans despite closed +banks, disappearing currency, and general +financial paralysis. When this was finished<!-- Page 145 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +they readily turned to the work of helping the +Belgians, the more readily because they were +the right sort of Americans.</p> + +<p>Their first effort, in coöperation with the +burgomaster of Brussels and a group of Brussels +business men, was the formation of a Central +Committee of Assistance and Provisioning, +under the patronage of the Ministers of +the United States and Spain (Mr. Whitlock +and the Marques de Villalobar). This committee +was first active in the internal measures +for relief already referred to, but soon finding +that the shipping about over the land of the +rapidly disappearing food stocks of the country +and the special assistance of the destitute +and out-of-work—the destruction of factories +and the cessation of the incoming of raw materials +had already thrown tens of thousands of +men out of employment—must be replaced by +a more radical relief, this committee resolved +to approach the Germans for permission to attempt +to bring in food supplies from outside +the country.</p> + +<p>Burgomaster Max had already written on +September 7 to Major General Luettwitz, the<!-- Page 146 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +German Military Governor of Brussels, asking +for permission to import foodstuffs through +the Holland-Belgium border, and the city authorities +of Charleroi had also begun negotiation +with the German authorities in their +province (Hainaut) to the same end, but little +attention had been paid to these requests. +Therefore the Americans of the committee decided, +as neutrals, to take up personally with +the German military authorities the matter of +arranging imports.</p> + +<p>A general permission for the importation of +foodstuffs into Belgium by way of the Dutch +frontier was finally obtained from the German +authorities in Belgium, together with their +guarantee that all such imported food would +be entirely free from requisition by the German +army. Also, a special permission was accorded +to Mr. Shaler to go to Holland, and, if +necessary, to England to try to arrange for +obtaining and transporting to Belgium certain +kinds and quantities of foodstuffs. But no +money could be sent out of Belgium to pay for +them, except a first small amount which Mr. +Shaler was allowed to take with him.<!-- Page 147 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>In Holland, Mr. Shaler found the Dutch +government quite willing to allow foodstuffs +to pass through Holland for Belgium, but it +asked him to try to arrange to find the supplies +in England. Holland already saw that +she would need to hold all of her food supplies +for her own people. So Shaler went on to England. +Here he tried to interest influential +Americans in Belgium's great need, and, +through Edgar Rickard, an American engineer, +he was introduced to Herbert Hoover.</p> + +<p>This brings us to Hoover's connection with +the relief of Belgium. But there was necessary +certain official governmental interest on the +part of America and the Allies before anybody +could really do much of anything. Hoover +therefore introduced Shaler to Dr. Page, the +American Ambassador, a man of heart, decision, +and prompt action. This was on October +7. A few days before, on September 29, +to be exact, Shaler together with Hugh Gibson, +the Secretary of the American Legation +in Brussels who had followed Shaler to London, +had seen Count Lalaing, the Belgian minister +to England, and explained to him the<!-- Page 148 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +situation inside of Belgium. They also handed +him a memorandum pointing out that there +was needed a permit from the British Government +allowing the immediate exportation of +about 2,500 tons of wheat, rice, beans, and +peas to Belgium. Mr. Shaler had brought with +him from Brussels money provided by the Belgian +<i>Comité Central</i> sufficient to purchase +about half this amount of foodstuffs.</p> + +<p>The Belgian Minister transmitted the request +for a permit to the British Government +on October 1. On October 6 he received a +reply which he, in turn, transmitted to the +American Ambassador in London, Mr. Page. +This reply from the British Government gave +permission to export foodstuffs from England +through Holland into Belgium, under the +German guarantees that had previously been +obtained by Mr. Heineman's committee, on +the condition that the American Ambassador +in London, or Americans representing him, +would ship the foodstuffs from England, consigned +to the American Minister in Brussels; +that each sack of grain should be plainly +marked accordingly, and that the foodstuffs<!-- Page 149 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +should be distributed under American control +solely to the Belgian civil population.</p> + +<p>On October 7, the day that Hoover had +taken Shaler to the American Embassy and +they had talked matters over with Mr. Page, +the Ambassador cabled to Washington outlining +the British Government's authorization and +suggesting that, if the American Government +was in accord with the whole matter as far +as it had gone, it should secure the approval +of the German Government. After a lapse of +four or five days, Ambassador Page received +a reply from Washington in which it was stated +that the American Government had taken the +matter up with Berlin on October 8.</p> + +<p>After an exchange of telegrams between +Brussels, London, Washington, and Berlin, +Ambassador Page was informed on October +18 by Ambassador Gerard, then American +Ambassador in Berlin, that the German Government +agreed to the arrangement, and the +following day confirmation of this was received +from Washington.</p> + +<p>Sometime during the course of these negotiations +Ambassador Page and the Belgian au<!-- Page 150 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>thorities +formally asked Hoover to take on the +task of organizing the relief work, if the diplomatic +arrangements came to a satisfactory conclusion. +His sympathetic and successful work +in looking after the stranded Americans, all +done under the appreciative eyes of the American +Ambassador, had recommended him as the +logical head of the new and larger humanitarian +effort. Hoover had agreed, and his first +formal step, taken on October 10, in organizing +the work, was to enlist the existing American +Relief Committee, whose work was then <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: praccally in original">practically</ins> +over, in the new undertaking. He +amalgamated its principal membership with +the Americans in Brussels, and on October +13, issued in the name of this committee an +appeal to the American people to consolidate +all Belgian relief funds and place them in the +hands of the committee for disposal. At the +same time Minister Whitlock cabled an appeal +to President Wilson to call on America for aid +in the relief of Belgium.</p> + +<p>Between October 10 and 16 it was determined +by Ambassador Page and Mr. +Hoover that it was desirable to set up a wholly<!-- Page 151 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +new neutral organization. Hoover enlisted the +support of Messrs. John B. White, Millard +Hunsiker, Edgar Rickard, J. F. Lucey, and +Clarence Graff, all American engineers and +business men then in London, and these men, +together with Messrs. Shaler and Hugh Gibson, +thereupon organized, and on October 22 +formally launched, "The American Commission +for Relief in Belgium," with Hoover as +its active head, with the title of chairman, +Ambassador Page and Ministers Van Dyke +and Whitlock, in The Hague and Brussels, respectively, +were the organization's honorary +chairmen. A few days afterward, at the suggestion +of Minister Whitlock, Señor Don +Merry del Val, the Spanish Ambassador in +London, and Marques de Villalobar, the Spanish +Minister in Brussels, both of whom had +been consulted in the arrangements in Belgium +and London, were added to the list of +honorary chairmen. And, a little later, there +were added the names of Mr. Gerard, the +American Ambassador at Berlin, Mr. Sharp, +our Ambassador at Paris, and Jongkeer de +Weede, the Dutch Minister to the Belgian<!-- Page 152 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +Government at Le Havre where it had taken +refuge. At the same time the name of the +Commission was modified by dropping from it +the word "American" in deference to the official +connection of the Spanish diplomats with +it. The new organization thus became styled +"The Commission for Relief in Belgium," +which remained its official title through its existence. +This name was promptly reduced, in +practical use by its members, with characteristic +American brevity, to "C. R. B.," which, pronounced +"tsay-er-bay," was also soon the one +most widely used in Belgium and Occupied +France by Belgian, French, and Germans +alike.</p> + +<p>I have given this account of the organization +and status of the Commission in so much detail +because it reveals its imposing official appearance +which was of inestimable value to it in carrying +on its running diplomatic difficulties all +through the war. The official patronage of the +three neutral governments, American, Spanish +and Dutch, gave us great strength in facing +the repeated assaults on our existence and +the constant interference with our work by<!-- Page 153 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +German officials and officers. I have earlier +used the phrase "satisfactory conclusion of diplomatic +arrangements." There never was, in +the whole history of the Commission, any satisfactory +conclusion of such arrangements; +there were sufficiently satisfactory conditions +to enable the work to go on effectively but there +was always serious diplomatic difficulty. Ministers +Whitlock and Villalobar, our "protecting +Ministers" in Brussels, had to bear much of +the brunt of the difficulties, but the Commission +itself grew to have almost the diplomatic standing +of an independent nation, its chairman and +the successive resident directors in Brussels acting +constantly as unofficial but accepted intermediaries +between the Allies and the Germans.</p> + +<p>The "C. R. B." was organized. It had its +imposing list of diplomatic personages. It +had a chairman and secretary and treasurer and +all the rest. But to feed the clamoring Belgians +it had to have food. To have food it had +to have money, much money, and with this +money food in large quantity had to be obtained +in a world already being ransacked by +the purchasing agents of France and England<!-- Page 154 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +seeking the stocks that these countries knew +would soon be necessary to meet the growing +demands of their armies and civilians drawn +from production into the great game of destruction. +Once obtained, the food had to be +transported overseas and through the mine-strewn +Channel to Rotterdam, the nearest open +port of Belgium, and thence by canals and +railways into the starving country and its use +there absolutely restricted to the civil population. +Finally, the feeding of Belgium had to +begin immediately and arrangements had to be +made to keep it up indefinitely. The war was +not to be a short one; that was already plain. +It was up to Hoover to get busy, very busy.</p> + +<p>The first officials of the C. R. B. and all +the men who came into it later, agree on one +thing. We relied confidently on our chairman +to organize, to drive, to make the impossible +things possible. We did our best to carry out +what it was our task to do. If we had ideas +and suggestions they were welcomed by him. +If good they were adopted. But principally +we worked as we were told for a man who +worked harder than any of us, and who<!-- Page 155 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +planned most of the work for himself and all +of us.</p> + +<p>He had the vision. He saw from the first +that the relief of Belgium would be a large +job; it proved to be a gigantic one. He saw +that all America would have to be behind us; +indeed that the whole humanitarian world +would have to back us up, not merely in funds +but in moral support. For the military logic +of the situation was only half with us; it was +half against us. The British Admiralty, trying +to blockade Germany completely, saw in the +feeding of ten million Belgians and French in +German-occupied territory a relief to the occupiers +who would, by the accepted rules of the +game, have to feed these people from their own +food supplies. The fact that the Germans declared +from the first that they never would do +this and in every test proved that they would +not, was hard to drive home to the Admiralty +and to many amateur English strategists safely +far from the sufferings of the hungering Belgians.</p> + +<p>On the other hand other influential governmental +officials, notably the Prime Minister<!-- Page 156 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +and the heads of the Foreign Office, saw in +the Allied help for these people the only +means to prevent them from saving their +lives in the one other way possible to them, +that is, by working for the Germans. +Fathers of families, however patriotic, cannot +see their wives and children starve to death +when rescue is possible. And the Germans offered +this rescue to them all the time. Never a +day in all the four years when German placards +offering food and money for their work did not +stare in the faces the five hundred thousand +idle skilled Belgian workmen and the other +hundreds of thousands of unskilled ones shut +up in the country.</p> + +<p>Germany, also, had two opinions about Belgian +relief. There were zu Reventlow and his +great party of jingoes who cried from beginning +to end: Kick out these American spies; +make an end of this soft-heartedness. Here +we have ten million Allied hostages in our +hands. Let us say to England and France and +the refugee Belgian cabinet at Le Havre: Your +people may eat what they now have; it will last +them a month or two; then they shall not have<!-- Page 157 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +a mouthful from Germany or anywhere else +unless you give up the blockade and open the +ports of Belgium and Germany alike to incoming +foods.</p> + +<p>On the other side were von Bissing and his +German governing staff in Belgium, together +with most of the men of the military General +Staff at Great Headquarters. Von Bissing +tried, in his heavy, stupid way, to placate the +Belgians; that was part of his policy. So he +would offer them food—always for work—with +one hand, while he gave them a slap with the +other. He wanted Belgium to be tranquil. +He did not want to have openly to machine-gun +starving mobs in the cities, however many +unfortunates he allowed to be quietly carried +out to the <i>Tir National</i> at gray dawn to stand +for one terrible moment before the ruthless +firing squad. And the hard-headed men of the +General Staff knew that starving people do not +lie down quietly and die. All the northern lines +of communication between the west front and +Germany ran through the countries of these +ten million imprisoned French and Belgians. +Even without arms they could make much<!-- Page 158 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +trouble for the guards of bridges and railways +in their dying struggles. At least it would require +many soldiers to kill them fast enough to +prevent it. And the soldiers, all of them, were +needed in the trenches. In addition the German +General Staff earnestly desired and hoped +up to the very last that America would keep +out of the war. And these extraordinary +Americans in Belgium seemed to have all of +America behind them; that is what the great +relief propaganda and the imposing list of +diplomatic personages on the C. R. B. list were +partly for. Hoover had realized from the beginning +what this would mean. "No," said the +higher German officials, "it will not do to interfere +too much with these quixotic Americans."</p> + +<p>But the Germans, most of them at least, +never really understood us. One day as +Hoover was finishing a conversation with the +head of the German Pass-Zentral in Brussels, +trying to arrange for a less vexing and delaying +method of granting passes for the movements +of our men, the German officer said: +"Well, now tell me, Herr Hoover, as man to +man, what do you get out of all this? You<!-- Page 159 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +are not doing all this for nothing, surely." +And a little later, at a dinner at the Great +Headquarters to which I had been invited by +one of the chief officers of the General Staff, he +said to me, as we took our seats: "Well, how's +business?" I could only tell him that it was +going as well as any business could that made +no profits for anybody in it.</p> + +<p>It was impressive to see Hoover in the crises. +We expected a major crisis once a month and +a minor one every week. We were rarely disappointed +in our expectations. I may describe, +for illustration, such a major crisis, a very +major one, which came in August, 1916. The +Commission had been making a hard fight all +summer for two imperatively needed concessions +from the Germans. We wanted the General +Staff to turn over to us for the civil population +a larger proportion of the 1916 native +crop of Occupied France than we had had +from the 1915 crop. And we wanted some special +food for the 600,000 French children in addition +to the regular program imported from +overseas. We sorely needed fresh meat, butter, +milk and eggs for them and we had discov<!-- Page 160 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>ered +that Holland would sell us certain quantities +of these foods. But we had to have the +special permission of both the Allies and Germany +to bring them in.</p> + +<p>Hoover, working in London, obtained the +Allied consent. But the Germans were holding +back. I was pressing the General Staff at +Great Headquarters at Charleville and von +Bissing's government at Brussels. Their reasons +for holding back finally appeared. Germany +looked on Holland as a storehouse of +food which might some time, in some way, despite +Allied pressure on the Dutch Government, +become available to Germany. Although +the French children were suffering terribly, +and ceasing all growth and development +for lack of the tissue-building foods, the Germans +preferred not to let us help them with the +Dutch food but to cling to their long chance +of sometime getting it for themselves.</p> + +<p>Hoover came over to Brussels and, together, +we started for Berlin. We discovered von +Bissing's chief political adviser, Baron von +der Lancken and his principal assistant, Dr. +Rieth, on the same train. These were the two<!-- Page 161 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +men who, after the armistice, proposed to +Hoover by wire through our Rotterdam office, +to arrange with him for getting food into Germany +and received by prompt return wire +through the same intermediary: "Mr. Hoover's +personal compliments and request to go to hell. +If Mr. Hoover has to deal with Germany for +the Allies it will at least not be with such a +precious pair of scoundrels."</p> + +<p>When these gentlemen, who had helped +greatly in making our work and life in Belgium +very difficult, saw us, they were somewhat +confused but finally told us they were called +to Berlin for a great conference on the relief +work. When we reached Berlin we found three +important officers from Great Headquarters in +the Hotel Adlon. Two of them we knew well; +they had always been fairly friendly to us. The +third was General von Sauberzweig, military +governor of Brussels at the time of Miss Cavell's +execution, and the man of final responsibility +for her death. As a result of the excitement +in Berlin because of the world-wide indignation +over the Cavell affair he had been removed +from Brussels <i>by promotion</i> to the Quarter<!-- Page 162 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>master +Generalship at Great Headquarters!</p> + +<p>The Berlin conference of important representatives +of all the government departments +and the General Staff had been called as a result +of the influence of zu Reventlow and the +jingoes who wished to break down the Belgian +relief. We were not invited; we just happened +to be there. We could not attend the conference, +but we could work on the outside. We +went to Ambassador Gerard for advice. The +Allies were pressing the Commission to get the +concessions on the 1916 native crop. Our effort +to get the food for the children was entirely +our own affair. Mr. Gerard advised +Hoover to rely entirely on the Commission's +reputation for humanity and neutrality; to +keep the position of the Allies wholly out of the +discussion. But this was indeed only the confirmation +by a wise diplomat of the idea of the +situation that Hoover already had.</p> + +<p>Most of the conference members were +against the relief. At the end of the first session +Lancken and one of the Headquarters +officers told us that things were almost certainly +going wrong. They advised Hoover to give<!-- Page 163 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +up. What he did was to work harder. He +forced the officials of the Foreign Office and +Interior to hear him. He pictured the horrible +consequences to the entire population of Belgium +and Occupied France of breaking off the +relief, and painted vividly what the effect would +be on the neutral world, America, Spain, and +Holland in very sight and sound of the catastrophe. +He pleaded and reasoned—and won! +It was harder than his earlier struggle with +Lloyd-George, already entirely well inclined +by feelings of humanity, but in each case he +had saved the relief. Not only did the conference +not destroy the work, but by continued +pressure later at Brussels and Great Headquarters +we obtained the agreements for an increase +of the civilian allotment out of the 1916 +French crop and for the importation of some +of the Dutch food for the 600,000 suffering +children. It was a characteristic Hooverian +achievement in the face of imminent disaster.</p> + +<p>Hoover and the C. R. B. were in Belgium +and France for but one purpose, to feed the +people, to save a whole nation from starvation. +To them the political aspects of the work were<!-- Page 164 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +wholly incidental, but they could not be overlooked. +So with the Germans disagreeing +among themselves, it was the impossibility +of France's letting the two and a half +million people of her own shut up in the occupied +territory starve under any circumstances +possible to prevent, and the humanitarian feeling +of Great Britain and America, which +Hoover, by vivid propaganda, never allowed +to cool, and the strength of which he never let +the diplomats and army and navy officials lose +sight of, that turned the scale and enabled the +Commission for Relief in Belgium to continue +its work despite all assault and interference. +Over and over again it looked like the end, and +none of us, even the sanguine Chief, was sure +that the next day would not be the last. But +the last day did not come until the last day of +need had passed, and never from beginning to +end did a single commune of all the five thousand +of Occupied Belgium and France fail of +its daily bread. It was poor bread sometimes, +even for war bread, and there were many tomorrows +that promised to be breadless, but no +one of those tomorrows ever came.<!-- Page 165 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h2>THE RELIEF OF BELGIUM; SCOPE AND METHODS</h2> + + +<p>I have dropped the thread of my tale. Our +narrative of the organization of the Commission +for Relief in Belgium had brought us only +to the time when the Commission was actually +ready to work, and we have leaped to the very +end of those bitter hard four years. We must +make a fresh start.</p> + +<p>First, then, as to money. And to understand +about the money it is necessary to understand +the two-phased character of the relief of Belgium. +There was the phase of <i>ravitaillement</i>, +the constant provisioning of the whole land; +and the phase of <i>secours</i>, the special care of the +destitute and the ill and the children.</p> + +<p>The ring of steel did not immediately make +beggars of all the Belgians enclosed within it. +Many of them still had money. But, as I have +already said, the Germans would not allow any<!-- Page 166 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +of this money to go out. It could buy only +what was in Belgium. And as Belgium could +produce only about half the food it needed to +keep its people alive, and only one fourth of +the particular kind of foodstuffs that were +necessary for bread, and as it was arranged, +by control of the mills and bakeries, that these +bread-grains should be evenly distributed +among all the people, it meant that even though +banker this or baron that might have money to +buy much more, he could really buy, with all +his money, only one fourth as much bread as +he needed. There had to be, in other words, a +constant bringing in of enough wheat and flour +to supply three fourths of the bread-needs of +the whole country, and another large fraction +of the necessary fats and milk and rice and +beans and other staples. This was the <i>ravitaillement</i>.</p> + +<p>But even with the food thus brought in there +were many persons, and as the days and months +and years passed they increased to very many, +who had no money to buy this food. They +were the destitute, the families of the hundreds +of thousands of men thrown out of work by the<!-- Page 167 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +destruction of the factories and the cessation +of all manufacturing and commerce. And +there were the Government employees, the artists, +the lace-making women and girls, and a +whole series of special kinds of wage-earners, +with all wages suddenly stopped. To all these +the food had to be given without pay. This +was the <i>secours</i>.</p> + +<p>To obtain the food from America and Argentina +and India and wherever else it could +be found a constant supply of money in huge +amounts was necessary. Hoover realized from +the beginning that no income from charity +alone could provide it. His first great problem +was to assure the Commission of means for the +general <i>ravitaillement</i>. He solved the problem +but it took time. In the meanwhile the pressure +for immediate relief was strong. He began +to buy on the credit of a philanthropic organization +which had so far no other assets than +the private means of its chairman and his +friends.</p> + +<p>The money, as finally arranged for, came +from government subventions about equally +divided between England and France, in the<!-- Page 168 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +form of loans to the Belgian Government, put +into the hands of the Commission. Later when +the United States came into the war, this country +made all the advances. Altogether nearly +a billion dollars were spent by the C. R. B. for +supplies and their transportation, at an overhead +expense of a little more than one half of +one per cent. This low overhead is a record in the +annals of large philanthropic undertaking, and +is a measure of the voluntary service of the organization +and of its able management.</p> + +<p>For the <i>secours</i>, fifty million dollars worth of +gifts in money, food and clothing were collected +by the Commission from the charitable +people of America and Great Britain. The +Belgians themselves inside the country, the +provinces, cities, and well-to-do individuals, +added, under the stimulus of the tragic situation +and under the direction of the great Belgian +National Committee, hundreds of millions +of <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: frans in original">francs</ins> to the <i>secours</i> funds. Also the Commission +and the Belgian National Committee +arranged that a small profit should be charged +on all the food sold to the Belgians who could +pay for it, and this profit, which ran into mil<!-- Page 169 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>lions +of dollars, was turned into the funds for +benevolence. All this created an enormous +sum for the <i>secours</i>, which was the real "relief," +as benevolence. And this enormous sum +was needed, for by the end of the war nearly +one-half of all the imprisoned population of +over seven million Belgians and two and a half +million French were receiving their daily bread +wholly or partly on charity. Actually one half +of the inhabitants of the great city of Antwerp +were at one time in the daily soup and bread +lines.</p> + +<p>Of the money and goods for benevolence +that came from outside sources more than one +third came from England and the British Dominions—New +Zealand gave more money per +capita for Belgian relief than any other country—while +the rest came chiefly from the +United States, a small fraction coming from +other countries. The relief collections in Great +Britain were made by a single great benevolent +organization called the "National Committee +for Relief in Belgium." This Committee, +under the chairmanship of the Lord Mayor +of London and the active management of Sir<!-- Page 170 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +William Goode as secretary and Sir Arthur +Shirley Benn as treasurer, conducted an impressive +continuous campaign of propaganda +and solicitation of funds with the result of obtaining +about $16,000,000 with which to purchase +food and clothing for the Belgian destitute.</p> + +<p>But in the United States the C. R. B. itself +directly managed the campaign for charity, +using its New York office as organizing and +receiving headquarters. Part of the work was +carried by definitely organized state committees +in thirty-seven states and by scattered +local committees in almost every county and +large city in the country. Ohio, for example, +had some form of local organization in eighty +out of the eighty-eight counties in the state, and +California had ninety local county and city +committees all reporting to the central committee.</p> + +<p>The American campaign was different from +the English one in that instead of asking for +money alone, the call was made, at first, chiefly +for outright gifts of food, the Commission offering +to serve, in connection with this benevo<!-- Page 171 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>lence, +as a great collecting, transporting and +distributing agency. This resulted in the accumulation +of large quantities of foodstuffs of +a wide variety of kinds, much of it in the nature +of delicacies and luxuries and most of it +put up in small packages. Tens of thousands +of these packages were sent over to Belgium, +but the cry came back from the Commission's +workers there that food in this shape was very +difficult to handle in any systematic way. It +was quickly evident that what was really needed +was large consignments in bulk of a few kinds +of staple and concentrated foods, which could +be shipped in large lots to the various principal +distribution centers in Belgium and thence +shipped in smaller lots to the secondary or +local centers, and there handed out on a +definite ration plan.</p> + +<p>A number of states very early concentrated +their efforts on the loading and sending of +"state food ships." California sent the <i>Camino</i> +in December, 1914, and in the same month +Kansas sent the <i>Hannah</i> loaded with flour +contributed by the millers of the state. In +January and March, 1915, two Massachusetts<!-- Page 172 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +relief ships, the <i>Harpalyce</i> (sunk by torpedo +or mine on a later relief voyage) and +<i>Lynorta</i>, sailed. Oregon and California together +sent the <i>Cranley</i> in January, 1915, +loaded with food and clothing, and several +other similar state ships were sent at later +dates. A gift from the Rockefeller Foundation +of a million dollars was used to load wholly or +in part five relief ships, and the "Millers' Belgian +Relief" movement organized and carried +through by the editor of the Northwestern Millers, +Mr. W. C. Edgar, resulted in the contribution +of a full cargo of flour, valued at over +$450,000, which left Philadelphia for Rotterdam +in February, 1915, in the steamer <i>South +Point</i>. The cargo was accompanied by the +organizer of the charity, who was able to see +personally the working of the methods of the +C. R. B. inside of Belgium and the actual distribution +of his own relief cargo. His Good +Samaritan ship was sunk by a German submarine +on her return trip, but fortunately the +philanthropist was not on her. He returned +by a passenger liner, and was able to tell the +people of America what was needed in Bel<!-- Page 173 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>gium, +and what America was doing and could +further do to help meet the need.</p> + +<p>Later, when it became necessary to obtain +food from other primary markets in addition +to those of America, appeal was specifically +made for gifts of money in place of goods. In +response to this call various large gifts from +wealthy individual donors were made, among +them one of $210,000, another of $200,000, +and several of $100,000 each, and various +large donations came from the efforts of +special organizations, notably the Daughters +of the American Revolution, the New York +Chamber of Commerce, the Cardinal Gibbons' +Fund from the Catholic children of America, +the Dollar Christmas Fund organized by Mr. +Henry Clews, the "Belgian Kiddies, Ltd.," +fund, organized by Hoover's brother mining +engineers of the country, and, largest of all, +the Literary Digest fund of more than half a +million dollars collected by the efforts of Mr. +R. J. Cuddihy, editor of the Digest, in sums +ranging from a few pennies to thousands of +dollars from children and their parents all over +the land.<!-- Page 174 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p>By far the greater part of the money that +came to the Commission through state committees +or through special organizations, or directly +from individuals to the New York office, +was made up from small sums representing +millions of individual givers. And it was a +beautiful and an important thing that it was +so. The giving not only helped to save Belgium +from starvation of the body, but it helped +to save America from starvation of the soul. +The incidents, pathetic, inspiring, noble, connected +with the giving, gave us tears and smiles +and heart thrills and thanksgiving for the revelation +of the human love of humanity in those +neutral days of a distressing pessimism.</p> + +<p>But finding the money and food and clothing +was but the first great problem for the +resourceful C. R. B. chairman to solve. Next +came the serious problem of transportation, +both overseas and internal. Ships were in +pressing demand; they constantly grew fewer +in number because of the submarine sinkings, +and yet the Commission had constant need of +more and more. Some way Hoover and his +associates of the New York and London offices<!-- Page 175 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +got what it was necessary to have, but it was +only by a continuous and wearing struggle. +Altogether the C. R. B. delivered seven hundred +and forty full ship cargoes and fifteen +hundred part cargoes of relief food and clothing +into its landing port, Rotterdam. The +seventy ships under constant charter as a regular +C. R. B. fleet crossed the seas under guarantees +from both the Allies and Germany of +non-molestation by sea raiders or submarines. +A few accidents happened, but not more than +twenty cargoes were totally or partly lost at +sea. Most of the losses came from mines, but +a few came from torpedoes fired by German +submarines which either did not or would not +see the C. R. B. markings on the ships. The +signals were plain—conspicuous fifty-foot +pennants flying from the mast-heads, great +cloth banners stretching along the hull on either +side, a large house flag, wide deck cloths, and +two huge red-and-white-striped signal balls +eight feet in diameter at the top of the masts. +All these flags and cloths were white, carrying +the Commission's name or initials (C. R. B.) +in great red letters. Despite all these, a few<!-- Page 176 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +too eager or too brutal submarine commanders +let fly their torpedoes at these ships of mercy.</p> + +<p>Hoover's most serious time in connection +with the overseas transportation, and the most +critical period as regards supplies in the whole +course of the relief was just after the putting +into effect by the Germans, in February, 1917, +of the unrestricted submarining of all boats +found in the so-called prohibited ocean zones. +These zones covered all of the waters around +the United Kingdom, including all of the +English Channel and North Sea. This cut us +off entirely from any access to Rotterdam from +the West or North. But it also cut Holland +off. And between our pressure and that of +Holland the German authorities finally arranged +for a narrow free, or "safe," north-about +route extending from the Dutch coast +north to near the Norwegian coast, thence +northwest to the Faroe Islands, and thence +west to the Atlantic beyond the barred zone. +At one point this "safe" zone was only twenty +miles wide between the German and English +mine-fields in the North Sea and any ship getting +a few rods across the line either east or<!-- Page 177 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +west was in great danger from mines and was +exposed to being torpedoed without warning. +Imagine the state of mind of a skipper who had +not seen the sun for three or four days in a +North Sea fog, trying to make out his position +accurately enough by dead reckoning to keep +his boat in that "safe" channel.</p> + +<p>But even this generous concession to the +Commission and Holland was not arranged +until March 15, and in the six weeks intervening +between February 1 and this time we did +not land a single cargo in Rotterdam. Belgium +suffered in body and was nearly crazed +in mind as we and the Belgian relief heads +scraped the very floors of our warehouses for +the last grains of wheat.</p> + +<p>Another almost equally serious interruption +in the food deliveries had occurred in the preceding +summer (July, 1916), when, without +a whisper of warning, Governor General von +Bissing's government suddenly tied up our +whole canal-boat fleet by an order permitting +no Belgian-owned canal boat—although chartered +by us—to pass out from Belgium into +Holland without depositing the full value of<!-- Page 178 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +the boat in money before crossing the frontier. +The Governor General had reason to fear, he +said, that some of the boats that went out would +not come back, and he was going to lose no +Belgian property subject to German seizure +without full compensation. As the boats were +worth, roughly, about $5,000 each, and we were +using about 500 boats it would have tied up two +and a half million dollars of our money to meet +this demand, and tied it up in German hands! +We simply could not do it. So we began negotiations.</p> + +<p>Oh, the innumerable beginnings of negotiations, +and oh, the interminable enduring of +negotiations, the struggling against form and +"system," against obstinate and cruel delay—for +delay in food matters in Belgium was always +cruel—and sometimes against sheer brutality! +How often did we long to say: Here, +take these ten million people and feed them or +starve them as you will! We quit. We can't +go on fighting your floating mines and too +eager submarines, your brutal soldiers and +more brutal bureaucrats. Live up to your +agreements to help us, or at least do not ob<!-- Page 179 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>struct +us; or, if you won't, then formally and +officially and publicly before the world kick us +out as your arch-jingo, Reventlow, demands.</p> + +<p>But we could not say it; we could not risk it; +it was too certain to be starving rather +than feeding. So we did not say it, but went on +with the negotiations. In this particular case +of the canal boats we finally compromised by +putting up the value of five boats. If one did +not come back the Germans were to take out +its value and we were to replace the money so +as to keep the pot full. Of course all the boats +did come back, and now the Belgians and not +the Germans have them.</p> + +<p>Thus, guarded by guarantees and recognition +marks, there came regularly, and mostly +safely, across wide oceans and through the dangerous +mine-strewn Channel or around the +Faroe Islands, the rice from Rangoon, corn +from Argentina, beans from Manchuria, and +wheat and meat and fats from America at the +rate of a hundred thousand tons a month +through all the fifty months of the relief. At +Rotterdam these precious cargoes were swiftly +transhipped into sealed canal boats—a fleet of<!-- Page 180 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +500 of them with 35 tugs for towing was in +service—and hurried on through the canals of +Holland and across the guarded border, and +then on to the great central depots in Belgium, +and from there again by smaller canal boats +and railway cars and horse-drawn carts under +all the difficulties of carrying things anywhere +in a land where anything and everything available +for transport was subject to requisition +at any time by an all-controlling military organization, +to the local warehouses and soup-kitchens +of every one of the 5,000 Belgian and +French communes in the occupied territory. +And always and ever through all the months +and despite all difficulties on water or land the +food had to come <i>in time</i>. This was the transportation +undertaking of Hoover's C. R. B.</p> + +<p>Finally when the food was brought to the +end of its journeying it had to be protected +from hungry Germans and divided fairly +among hungry Belgians. Always the world +asked: But don't the Germans get the food? +and it still asks: Yes, didn't they? Our truthful +answer then and now is: No. And you +need not take our answer alone. Ask the Brit<!-- Page 181 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>ish +and French foreign offices. They knew almost +as much as we did of what was going on +inside of the steel ring around Belgium and +occupied France. Their intelligence services +were wonderful. Remember the guarantees of +the German government to us and our protecting +ministers and ambassadors, the diplomatic +representatives of neutral America and +Spain and Holland. The orders of von Bissing +and the General Staff were explicit. Official +German placards forbidding seizure or interference +by German soldiers or officials were on +all the canal boats and railway cars and horse +carts and on all the warehouses used by the +Commission.</p> + +<p>Of course there were always minor infractions +but there were no great ones. The Germans +after the early days of wholesale seizure +during the invasion and first few months after +it, got but a trifling amount of food out of +Belgium and almost none of it came from the +imported supplies. Every Belgian was a detective +for us in this ceaseless watch for German +infractions and we had our own vigilant +service of "Inspection and Control" by <!-- Page 182 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>keen-eyed +young Americans moving ceaselessly all +over the country and ever checking up consumption +and stocks against records of importation.</p> + +<p>And this brings us to the American organization +inside of Belgium. The New York and +London and Rotterdam C. R. B. offices had +their hard-working American staffs and all +important duties but it was those of us inside +the ring that really saw Belgian relief in its +pathetic and inspiring details. We were the +ones who saw Belgian suffering and bravery, +and who were privileged to work side by side +with the great native relief organization with +its complex of communal and regional and +provincial committees, and at its head, the great +Comité National, most ably directed by Emile +Francqui, whom Hoover had known in China. +Thirty-five thousand organized Belgians gave +their volunteer service to their countrymen +from beginning to end of the long occupation. +And many thousands more were similarly engaged +in unofficial capacity. We saw the +splendid work of the women of Belgium in +their great national organizations, the "Little<!-- Page 183 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +Bees," the "Drop of Milk," the "Discreet Assistance," +and all the rest. My wife, who was +inside with us, has tried to tell the story of the +women of Belgium in another book, but as she +rightly says: "The story of Belgium will never +be told. That is the word that passes oftenest +between us. No one will ever by word of +mouth or in writing give it to others in its entirety, +or even tell what he himself has seen and +felt."</p> + +<p>But the Americans inside know it. Its details +will be their ineffaceable memories. It is +a misfortune that so few Americans could +share this experience. For we were never more +than thirty-five or forty at a time; the Germans +tried to limit us to twenty-five. We were +always, in their eyes, potential spies. But we +did no spying. We were too busy doing what +Herbert Hoover had us there to do. Also we +had promised not to spy. But it was a hard +struggle to maintain the correctly neutral behavior +which we were under obligation to do. +And when the end of this strain came, which +was when America entered the War, and the +inside Americans had to go out, they all, al<!-- Page 184 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>most +to a man, rushed to the trenches to make +their protest, with gun in hand, against German +Kultur as it had been exemplified under +their eyes in Belgium.</p> + +<p>Altogether about two hundred Americans +represented the C. R. B. at various times inside +of Belgium. They were mostly young university +men, representing forty different +American colleges and universities in their allegiance. +A group of twenty Rhodes Scholars +whom Hoover hurriedly recruited from Oxford +at the beginning of the work was the pioneer +lot. All of these two hundred were selected +for intelligence, honor, discretion, and +idealism. They had to be able, or quickly +learn, to speak French. They had to be adaptable +and capable of carrying delicate and large +responsibility. They were a wonderful lot and +they helped prove the fact that either the +American kind of university education, or the +American inheritance of mental and moral +qualities, or the two combined, can justly be +a source of American self-congratulation.</p> + +<p>They were patient and long-suffering under +difficulties and provocation. Ted Curtis, whose<!-- Page 185 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +grandfather was George William, did, on the +occasion of his seventeenth unnecessary arrest +by German guards, express his opinion of his +last captor in what he thought was such pure +Americanese as to be safely beyond German +understanding. But when his captor dryly responded +in an equally pure argot: "Thanks, +old man, the same to youse," he resolved to take +all the rest in silence. And it was only after +the third stripping to the skin in a cold sentry +post that Robert W., a college instructor, made +a mild request to the C. R. B. director in Brussels +to ask von Bissing's staff to have their +rough-handed sleuths conduct their examinations +in a warmer room.</p> + +<p>The relation of the few Americans in Belgium +to the many Belgian relief workers was +that of advisors, inspectors and final authorities +as to the control and distribution of the +food. The Americans were all too few to hand +the food out personally to the hosts in the soup +lines, at the communal kitchens, and in the long +queues with rations cards before the doors of +the bakeries and the communal warehouses. +They could not personally manage the chil<!-- Page 186 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>dren's +canteens, the discreet assistance to the +"ashamed poor," who could not bring themselves +to line up for the daily soup and bread, +nor the cheap restaurants where meals were +served at prices all the way from a fourth to +three fourths of their cost. The Belgians did +all this, but the Americans were a seeing, helping, +advising, and when necessary, finally controlling +part of it all.</p> + +<p>The mills and bakeries were all under the +close control of the Commission and the Belgian +National Committee. The sealed canal +boats were opened only under the eyes of the +Americans. The records of every distributing +station were constantly checked by the Americans. +They sat at all the meetings of National +and Provincial and Regional committees. +They raced about the country in all weathers +and over all kinds of roads in their much-worn +open motor-cars, specially authorized and +constantly watched and frequently examined +by the Germans, each car carrying the little +triangular white and red-lettered C. R. B. flag, +that flapped encouragement as it passed, to +all the hat-doffing Belgians.<!-- Page 187 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<p>I am constantly asked: What were Hoover's +personal duties and work in the relief days? +It is a question one cannot answer in two words. +His was all the responsibility, his the major +planning, the resourceful devising of ways out +of difficulty, the generalship. But the details +were his also. He kept not only in closest touch +with every least as well as greatest phase of +the work, but took a personal active part in +seeing everything through. Constant conferences +with the Allied foreign offices and treasuries, +and personal inspection of the young men +sent over from America as helpers; swift movements +between England and France and +Belgium and Germany and America, +and trips in the little motor launch about +the harbor at Rotterdam examining the +warehouses and food ships and floating elevators +and canal boats; these were some of +his contrasting activities through day following +day in all the months and years of the +relief.</p> + +<p>Hoover had to make his headquarters in +London at the Commission's central office. +Here he could keep constantly in touch by<!-- Page 188 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +cable and post with the offices in New York, +Rotterdam, and Brussels. The Brussels office +was allowed to send and receive German-censored +mail three times a week by way of Holland, +and we could do a limited amount of +censored telegraphing to Rotterdam over the +German and Dutch wires and thence to London +by English-censored cable. But Hoover +came regularly every few weeks to Brussels, +taking his chances with mines and careless submarines. +These were no slight chances. A +Dutch line was allowed by England and Germany +to run a boat, presumably unmolested, +two or three times a week between Flushing +and Thamesmouth. These jumpy little boats, +which carried passengers only—the hold was +filled with closed empty barrels lashed together +to act as a float when trouble came—were the +only means of bringing our young American +relief workers to Belgium and of Hoover's frequent +crossings. After seven of the ten boats +belonging to the line had been lost or seriously +damaged by mines the thrifty Dutch company +suspended operation. We had then to cross +secretly by English dispatch boats, protected<!-- Page 189 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +by destroyers and specially hunted by German +submarines.</p> + +<p>On the occasion of one of Hoover's crossings +two German destroyers lying outside of Flushing +harbor ordered the little Dutch boat to +accompany them to Zeebrugge for examination. +This happened occasionally and was always +exciting for the passengers, especially for +the diplomatic couriers, who promptly dropped +overboard their letter pouches, specially supplied +with lead weights and holes to let in the +water and thus insure prompt sinking. As the +boat and convoying destroyers drew near to +Zeebrugge, shells or bombs began to drop on +the water around them. Hoover thought at +first they were coming from English destroyers +aiming at the Germans. But he could see no +English boats. Suddenly an explosion came +from the water's surface near the boat and the +man standing next to him fell with his face +smashed by a bomb fragment. Hoover seized +him and dragged him around the deck-house to +the other side of the boat. Another bomb burst +on that side. He then heard the whir of an +airplane and looking up saw several English<!-- Page 190 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +bombing planes. Their intention was excellent, +but their aim uncertain. The anti-aircraft +guns of the German destroyers soon drove +them away, and the convoy came into Zeebrugge +harbor where the Dutch boat and passengers +were inspected with German thoroughness. +On Hoover's identity being revealed by +his papers, he was treated with proper courtesy +and after several of the passengers had +been taken off the boat it was allowed to go on +its way to Tilbury.</p> + +<p>Hoover enjoyed an extraordinary position in +relation to the passport and border regulations +of all the countries in and out of which he had +to pass in his movements connected with the +relief. He was given a freedom in this respect +enjoyed by no other man. He moved almost +without hindrance and undetained by formalities +freely in and out of England, France, Holland, +occupied Belgium and France, and Germany +itself, with person and traveling bags +unexamined. It was a concrete expression of +confidence in his integrity and perfect correctness +of behavior, that can only be fully understood +by those who had to make any movements<!-- Page 191 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +at all across frontiers in the tense days of the +war.</p> + +<p>Governor General von Bissing once said to +me in Brussels, apropos of certain charges that +had been brought to him by his intelligence +staff of a questionable behavior on the part of +one of our men in Belgium—charges easily +proved to be unfounded: "I have entire confidence +in Mr. Hoover despite my full knowledge +of his intimate acquaintance and association +with the British and French Government +officials and my conviction that his heart is with +our enemies." As a matter of fact Hoover always +went to an unnecessary extreme in the +way of ridding himself of every scrap of writing +each time he approached the Holland-Belgium +frontier. He preached absolute honesty, +and gave a continuous personal example of +that honesty to all the C. R. B. men inside the +steel ring.</p> + +<p>Each time he came to Brussels all of us came +in from the provinces and occupied France and +gathered about him while he told us the news of +the outside world, and how things were going +in the New York and London offices. And<!-- Page 192 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +then he would talk to us as a brother in the fraternity +and exhort us to forget our difficulties +and our irritations and play the game well and +honestly for the sake of humanity and the honor +of America. After the group talks he would +listen to the personal troubles, and advise and +help each man in his turn. People sometimes +ask me why Hoover has such a strong personal +hold on all his helpers. The men of the C. +R. B. know why.</p> + +<p>The Belgian relief and the American food +administration and the later and still continuing +American relief of Eastern Europe have +been called, sometimes, in an apparently critical +attitude, "one man" organizations. If by +that is meant that there was one man in each +of them who was looked up to with limitless +admiration, relied on with absolute confidence, +and served with entire devotion by all the other +men in them, the attribution is correct. No +man in any of these organizations—and +Hoover gathered about him the best he could +get—but recognized him as the natural leader. +He was the "one man," not by virtue of any +official or artificial rank but by sheer personal<!-- Page 193 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +superiority in both constructive administrative +capacity and effective practical action.</p> + +<p>Whenever Hoover came, he tried to keep his +presence unknown except to us and Minister +Whitlock and the heads of the Belgian organization +and the German Government with +whom he had to deal. He would not go, if he +could help it, to the soup lines and children's +canteens. Like many another man of great +strength, he is a man of great sensitiveness. +He cannot see suffering without suffering himself. +And he dislikes thanks. The Belgians +were often puzzled, sometimes hurt, by his +avoidance of their heart-felt expression of +gratitude. Mr. Whitlock was always there and +had to be always accessible. So they could +thank him and thank America through him. +But they rarely had opportunity to thank +Hoover.</p> + +<p>I remember, though, how their ingenuity +baffled him once. He had slipped in quietly, +as usual, at dusk one evening by our courier +automobile from the Dutch border. But someone +passed the word around that night. And +all the next day, and for the remaining few<!-- Page 194 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +days of his stay there went on a silent greeting +and thanking of the Commission's chief by +thousands and thousands of visiting cards and +messages that drifted like snowflakes through +the door of the Director's house; engraved +cards with warm words of thanks from the nobility +and wealthy of Brussels; plainer, printed +ones from the middle class folk, and bits of +writing paper with pen or pencil-scrawled +sentences on them of gratitude and blessing +from the "little people." My wife would heap +the day's bringing on a table before him each +evening and he would finger them over curiously—and +try to smile.</p> + +<p>When the Armistice had come the Belgian +Government tried to thank him. He would accept +no decorations. But once again Belgian +ingenuity conquered. One day just after the +cessation of the fighting he was visiting the +King and Queen at La Panne in their simple +cottage in that little bit of Belgium that the +Germans never reached. After luncheon the +members of the Cabinet appeared; they had +come by motors from Le Havre. And before +them all the King created a new order, without<!-- Page 195 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +ribbon or button or medal, and made Hoover +its only member. He was simply but solemnly +ordained "Citizen of the Belgian Nation, and +Friend of the Belgian People."</p> + +<p>I have spoken only of Belgium. But of the +ten million in the occupied regions for whom +Hoover waged his fight against starvation, +two and a half million were in occupied +France. Over in that territory things were +harder both for natives and Americans than +in Belgium. Under the rigorous control of a +brutal and suspicious operating army both +French and Americans worked under the most +difficult conditions that could be imposed and +yet allow the relief to go on at all.</p> + +<p>The French population, too, was an especially +helpless one, for all the men of military +age and qualifications had gone out as the Germans +came in. They had time and opportunity +to do this; the Belgians had not. Each American +was under the special care—and eyes—of a +German escort officer. He could only move +with him at his side, could only talk to the +French committees with his gray-uniformed +companion in hearing. He had his meals at<!-- Page 196 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +the same table, slept in his quarters. The chief +representative of the Commission in occupied +France had to live at the Great German Headquarters +at Charleville on the Meuse. I spent +an extraordinary four months there. It is all +a dream now but it was, at the time, a reality +which no imagination could equal. The Kaiser +on his frequent visits, the gray-headed chiefs +of the terrible great German military machine, +the <i>schneidige</i> younger officers, were all so confident +and insolent and so regardless, in those +early days of success, of however much of the +world might be against them. One night my +officer said at dinner: "Portugal came in today. +Will it be the United States tomorrow? Well, +come on; it's all the same to us." When the +United States did come in we Americans were +no longer at Headquarters, so what my officer +said then I do not know. But I am sure that it +was not all the same to him.</p> + +<p>And so the untellable relief of Belgium and +Northeast France went on with its myriad +of heart-breaks and heart-thrills following +quickly on each other's heels, its highly elaborated +system of organization, its successful ma<!-- Page 197 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>chinery +of control and distribution, and all, all +centering and depending primarily on one +man's vision and heart and genius. He had +faithful helpers, capable coadjutors. One cannot +make comparisons among them, but one of +these lieutenants was so long in the work, so +effective, so devoted, so regardless of personal +sacrifice of means and career and health, that +we can mention his name without hesitation as +the one to whom, next to the Chief, the men of +the C. R. B. and the people of Belgium and +France turned, and never in vain, for the inspiration +that never let hope die. This is William +Babcock Poland, like his chief an engineer +of world-wide experience, who served first as +assistant director in Belgium, then as director +there, and, finally, after Hoover came to +America to be its food administrator, director, +with headquarters in London, for all the work +in Europe.</p> + +<p>In April, 1917, America entered the war, +and Minister Whitlock came out of Belgium +with his shepherded flock of American consuls +and relief workers, although a small group of +C. R. B. men, with the director, Prentis Gray,<!-- Page 198 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +remained inside for several weeks longer. In +the same month Herbert Hoover heard his +next call to war service. For almost immediately +after our entrance into the war President +Wilson asked him to come to Washington to +consult about the food situation. This consultation +was the beginning of American food administration. +It did not end Belgian relief for +Hoover, for the work had still to go on and +did go on through all the rest of the war and +even for several months of the Armistice +period, with the C. R. B. and its Chief still in +charge, although Dutch and Spanish neutrals +replaced the Americans inside the occupied +territory. But the new call was to place a new +duty and responsibility on Hoover's broad +shoulders. Responding to it, he arrived in +New York on the morning of May 3, 1917, and +reached Washington the evening of the same +day. On the following day he talked with the +President and began planning for the administration +of American food.<!-- Page 199 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h2>AMERICAN FOOD ADMINISTRATION: PRINCIPLES, +CONSERVATION, CONTROL OF EXPORTS</h2> + + +<p>Put yourself in Hoover's place when the +President called him back from the Belgian +relief work to be the Food Administrator of +the United States. Here were a hundred million +people unaccustomed to government interference +with their personal affairs, above all +of their affairs of stomach and pocketbook, +their affairs of personal habit and private business. +What would you think of your chance +to last long as a new kind of government official, +set up in defiance of all American precedent +and tradition of personal liberty, to say +how much and what kinds of food the people +were to eat and how the business affairs of all +millers and bakers, all commission men and +wholesale grocers and all food manufacturers +were to be run?<!-- Page 200 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + +<p>The stomach and private business of Americans +are the seats of unusually many and delicate +nerve-endings. To hit the American +household in the stomach and the American +business man in the pocketbook is to invite a +prompt, violent and painful reaction. Yet this +is what President Wilson asked Hoover to do +and to face.</p> + +<p>Hoover realized the full possibilities of the +situation. He had seen the rapid succession of +the food dictators in each of the European +countries; their average duration of life—as +food dictators—was a little less than six +months. "I don't want to be food dictator for +the American people," he said, plaintively, a +few days after the President had announced +what he wanted him to do. "The man who accepts +such a job will lie on the barbed wire of +the first line of intrenchments."</p> + +<p>But besides trying to put yourself in Hoover's +place, try also to put yourself again in +your own place in those great days of America's +first entry into the war, and you will get +another, and a less terrifying, view of the +situation. Remember your feelings of those<!-- Page 201 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +days as a per-fervid patriotic American, not +only ready but eager to play your part in your +country's cause. Some of you could carry +arms; some could lend sons to the khaki ranks +and daughters to the Red Cross uniform. +Some could go to Washington for a dollar a +year. Yet many could, for one sufficient reason +or another, do none of these things. But +all could help dig trenches at home right +through the kitchen and dining-room. You +could help save food if food was to help win +the war. You could help remodel temporarily +the whole food business and food use of the +country to the great advantage of America +and the Allies in their struggle for victory.</p> + +<p>Well, Hoover put himself both in your place +and in his own place. And he thought that +the food of America could be administered—not +dictated—successfully, if we would try to +do it in a way consonant with the genius of +American people. Hoover had had in his Belgian +relief work an experience with the heart +of America. He knew he could rely on it. He +also believed he could rely on the brain of +America.<!-- Page 202 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> + +<p>So he put the matter of food control fairly +and squarely up to the people. He asked them +to make the fundamental decisions. He +showed them the need and the way to meet it, +and asked them to follow him. He depended +on the reasoned mass consent and action of +the nation, the truly democratic decision of the +country on a question put openly and clearly +before it. It could choose to do or not do. The +deciding was really with it. If it saw as he did +it would act with him.</p> + +<p>He was to be no food dictator, as the German +food-minister was, nor even a food controller +as the English food-minister was officially +named. He was to be a food administrator +for the people, in response to its needs +and desire for making wise food management +help in winning the war. So while the food +controllers of the European countries relied +chiefly on government regulation to effect the +necessary food conservation and control, the +American food administrator trusted chiefly to +direct appeal to the people and their voluntary +response.</p> + +<p>And the response came. Even where<!-- Page 203 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +governmental regulation seemed necessary, +as it did especially in relation to trade +and manufacturing practices, he attempted +to have it accepted by voluntary agreement +of the groups most immediately concerned +before announcing or enforcing it. To +do this he held conference after conference +in Washington with groups of from a score +to several hundreds of men representing personally, +and in addition sometimes by appointment +from organized food-trade or food-producing +groups, the point of view of those most +affected by the proposed regulation. He explained +to these men the needs of the nation, +and their special opportunities and duties to +serve these needs. He put their self-interest +and the interests of their country side by side +in front of them. He showed them that the +decision of the war did not rest alone with the +men in the trenches: that there were service and +sacrifice to render at home in shops and stores +and counting rooms as well as on the fighting +lines. He debated methods and probable results +with them. He laid all his cards on the +table and, almost always, he won. He won<!-- Page 204 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +their confidence in his fairness, their admiration +for his knowledge and resourcefulness and +their respect for his devotion to the national +cause.</p> + +<p>But he knew always that he was playing +with dynamite. He could not see or talk to +everybody at once, and the news that ran +swiftly over the country about what the Food +Administration was doing or going to do was +not always the truth, but it always got listened +to. And the first reaction to it was likely to +be one of indignant opposition. This was well +expressed by the cartoon of black Matilda in +the kitchen: "Mistah Hoover goin' to show me +how to cook cawn pone? Well, I reckin not." +So with the business man. But the second reaction, +the one that came after listening to +Hoover and thinking about the matter overnight, +was different.</p> + +<p>I remember a group of large buyers and +sellers of grain, men who dealt on the grain +exchanges of the Middle West, who came to +Washington, not at his request but on their +own determination to have it out with this man +who was threatening to interfere seriously with<!-- Page 205 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +their affairs; indeed, who threatened to put +many of them out of business for the period of +the war. They came with big sticks. They +met in the morning for conference with the object +of their wrath. Then they went off and +met in the afternoon together. They came the +next morning for another conference. And +they met again alone to pass some resolutions. +The resolutions commended the Food Administrator +for the regulations he was about to put +into force, and recommended that they be made +more drastic than he had originally suggested!</p> + +<p>But among the hundred million people of +the United States there were some who did not +justify Hoover's belief in American patriotism +and American heart. Just as there were +some among the seven million Belgians who +tried to cheat their benefactors and their countrymen +by forging extra ration cards. So when +a measure to regulate some great food trade or +industry, as the wholesale grocery business or +milling, was agreed to and honestly lived up +to by eighty-five or ninety per cent of the men +concerned, and for these could have been left +on a wholly voluntary basis, there were a few<!-- Page 206 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +for whom the regulations had to be legally +formulated and energetically enforced. They +were the ones who made the reluctant gifts to +the American Red Cross, which was the Food +Administrator's favorite form of penalization, +when he did not have to go to the extreme of +putting persistent profiteers out of business.</p> + +<p>The Food Control Law, passed by Congress +in August, 1917, under which the Food Administrator, +acting for the President, derived +his authority, was a perfectly real law, but it +left great gaps in the control. For example, +it exempted from its license regulations, which +were the chief means of direct legal control, all +food producers (farmers, stock-growers, et al.) +and all retailers doing a business of less than +$100,000 a year. It did not give any authority +for a direct fixing of maximum prices. It carried +comparatively few penalty provisions. +But it did provide authority for three primary +agencies of control: First, the licensing of all +food manufacturers, jobbers, and wholesalers, +and of retailers doing business of more than +$100,000 annually, with the prescription of +regulations which the licensees should observe;<!-- Page 207 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +second, the purchase and sale of foodstuffs by +the Government; and, third, the legal entering +into agreements with food producers, +manufacturers or distributors, which if made +only between the members of these groups +themselves would have been violations of the +anti-trust laws. All of these powers contributed +their share to the success of what was +one of the most important features of the food +control and one to which Hoover devoted most +determined and continuous effort, namely, the +radical cutting out, or at least, down, of speculative +and middleman profits. But with the +limited authority of the Food Administrator it +was only through the voluntary coöperation of +the people and food trades that these three +kinds of powers were made really effective.</p> + +<p>The most conspicuous features of the voluntary +coöperation which Hoover was able to obtain +from the people and the food-trades by +his conferences, his organization of the states, +and his great popular propaganda, were those +connected with what was called "food conservation," +by which was meant a general economy +in food use, an elimination of waste, and<!-- Page 208 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +an actual temporary modification of national +food habits by an increased use of fish and +vegetable proteins and fats and lessened use +of meat and animal fats, a considerable substitution +of corn and other grains for wheat, and +the general use of a wheat flour containing in +it much more of the total substance of the +wheat grain than is contained in the usual "patent" +flour.</p> + +<p>It was with the great campaign for food conservation, +too, that the Food Administration +really started its work, beginning it as voluntary +and unofficial war service. For although +consideration of the Food Control Act began +before the House Committee on Agriculture +about April 21, it was not until August 10 that +the bill became a law. On the same day, the +President issued an Executive Order establishing +a United States Food Administration and +appointing Herbert Hoover to be United +States Food Administrator. Hoover accepted +the appointment with the proviso that he should +receive no salary and that he should be allowed +to build up a staff on the same volunteer basis.</p> + +<p>But long before this, indeed immediately<!-- Page 209 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +after the May consultation with Hoover for +which he had been asked to come from Europe +to Washington, President Wilson had announced +a tentative program of stimulation of +food production and conservation of food supply. +The need was urgent, and the country +could not wait for Congressional action. There +was really a war on and there was an imperative +need of fighting, and fighting immediately +and hard in all the various and unusual ways +in which modern war is fought. One of these +ways which the President recognized and which +Hoover, by virtue of his illuminating experience +in Europe, knew as no other American +did, was the food way. The President wanted +something started. So again, just as at +the beginning of the Belgian relief work +in October, 1914, Hoover found himself +in the position of being asked to begin +work without the necessary support behind +him; in the Belgian case he lacked money, in +the present case he lacked authority. But in +both cases action was needed at once and in +both cases Hoover got action. He is a devotee +of action.<!-- Page 210 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus, before there was an official food administration +there was an unofficial beginning +of what became the food administration's most +characteristic and most widely known undertaking, +its campaign for food conservation. It +was the most characteristic, for it depended for +success entirely on popular consent and patriotic +response. It was the most widely +known, for it touched every home and housewife, +every man and child at the daily sitting +down at table. In planning and beginning it +Hoover had the special assistance of his old-time +college chum and lifelong friend, President +Ray Lyman Wilbur, of Stanford University, +who brought to this particular undertaking +a far-reaching vision, a convinced belief in +democratic possibilities, and a constructive +mind of unusual order.</p> + +<p>It is well not to forget that the first appeal +for food-saving was made primarily to the +women of the land. And theirs was the first +great response. From the very first days, in +May, of general discussion in the press of the +certain need of food-saving in America if the +Allies were to be provided with sufficient sup<!-- Page 211 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>plies +to maintain their armies and civilian populations +in the health, strength, and confidence +necessary to the fullest development of their +war strength, the voluntary offers of assistance +from women and women's organizations, and +inquiries about how best to give it, had been +pouring into Hoover's temporary offices in +Washington. And through all of the Food +Administration work the women of America +played a conspicuous part, both as heads of +divisions in the Washington and State offices +and as uncounted official and unofficial helpers +in county and town organizations and in the +households of the country.</p> + +<p>The picturesque details of the great campaign +for food conservation and its results on +the intimate habits of the people are too fresh +in the memories of us all to need repeating +here. A whole-hearted coöperation by the press +of the country; an avalanche of public appeal +and advice by placards, posters, motion pictures, +and speakers; an active support by +churches, fraternal organizations, colleges and +schools; the remodeling of the service of hotels, +restaurants and dining-cars; and a pledging of<!-- Page 212 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +twelve out of the twenty million households +of the country to follow the requests and suggestions +of the Food Administration, resulting +in wheatless and meatless meals, limited +sugar and butter, the "clean plate," and strict +attention to reducing all household waste of +food—all these are the well-remembered happenings +of yesterday. The results gave the +answer, Yes, to Hoover's oft-repeated questions +to the nation: Can we not do as a democracy +what Germany is doing as an autocracy? +Can we not do it better?</p> + +<p>These results are impossible to measure by +mere statistics. Figures cannot express the +satisfied consciences, the education in wise and +economical food use, and the feeling of a daily +participation by all of the people in personally +helping to win the war, which was a +psychological contribution of great importance +to the Government's efforts to put the +whole strength of the nation into the struggle. +Nor can the results to the Allies be measured +in figures. But their significance can be suggested +by the contents of a cablegram which +Lord Rhondda, the English Food Controller,<!-- Page 213 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +sent to Hoover in January, 1918. This cable, +in part, was as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Unless you are able to send the Allies at +least 75,000,000 bushels of wheat over and +above what you have exported up to January +first, and in addition to the total exportable +surplus from Canada, I cannot take the responsibility +of assuring our people that there will +be food enough to win the war. Imperative +necessity compels me to cable you in this blunt +way. No one knows better than I that the +American people, regardless of national and +individual sacrifice, have so far refused nothing +that is needed for the war, but it now lies with +America to decide whether or not the Allies in +Europe shall have enough bread to hold out +until the United States is able to throw its force +into the field...."</p></div> + +<p>I remember very well the thrill and the shock +that ran through the Food Administration +staff when that cable came. It seemed as if no +more could be done than was already being +done. The breathless question was: Could +Hoover do the impossible? I suppose his +question to himself was: Could the American<!-- Page 214 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +people do it? He did not hesitate either in his +belief or his action. His prompt reply was:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We will export every grain that the American +people save from their normal consumption. +We believe our people will not fail to +meet the emergency."</p></div> + +<p>He then appealed to the people to intensify +their conservation of wheat. The President +issued a special proclamation to the same end. +The wheat was saved and sent—and the threatened +breakdown of the Allied war effort was +averted.</p> + +<p>Hoover felt justified in July, 1918, in +making an attempt to indicate the results of +food conservation during the preceding twelve +months by analyzing the statistics of food exports +he had been able to make to the Allies. +It was, of course, primarily for the sake of providing +this indispensable food support to the +Allies that food conservation was so earnestly +pushed. The control of these exports and +the elimination of speculative profits and the +stabilization of prices in connection with home +purchases were the special features in the gen<!-- Page 215 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>eral +program of food administration that were +pushed primarily for the sake of our own people.</p> + +<p>In a formal report by letter to the President +on July 18, 1918, Hoover showed that the exports +of meats, fats and dairy products in the +past twelve months had been about twice as +much as the average for the years just preceding +the war, and fifty per cent more than in the +year July, 1916—June, 1917. Of cereals and +cereal products our shipments to the Allies +were a third more than in the year July, 1916—June, 1917.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is interesting to note," writes the Food +Administrator, "that since the urgent request +of the Allied food controllers early in the year +for a further shipment of 75,000,000 bushels +from our 1917 wheat than originally planned, +we shall have shipped to Europe, or have <i>en +route</i>, nearly 85,000,000 bushels. At the time +of this request our surplus was more than exhausted. +The accomplishment of our people +in this matter stands out even more clearly if +we bear in mind that we had available in the +fiscal year 1916-17 from net carry-over and +as surplus over our normal consumption about<!-- Page 216 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +200,000,000 bushels of wheat which we were +able to export that year without trenching on +our home loaf. This last year, however, owing +to the large failure of the 1917 wheat crop, we +had available from net carry-over and production +and imports only just about our normal +consumption. Therefore our wheat shipments +to allied destinations represent approximately +savings from our own wheat bread.</p> + +<p>"These figures, however, do not fully convey +the volume of the effort and sacrifice made during +the past year by the whole American people. +Despite the magnificent effort of our +agricultural population in planting a much increased +acreage in 1917, not only was there a +very large failure in wheat but also, the corn +failed to mature properly and our corn is our +dominant crop. We calculate that the total +nutritional production of the country for the +fiscal year just closed was between seven per +cent and nine per cent below the average of +the three previous years, our nutritional surplus +for export in those years being about the +same amount as the shrinkage last year. +Therefore the consumption and waste of food +have been greatly reduced in every direction +during the war.</p> + +<p>"I am sure that all the millions of our people, +agricultural as well as urban, who have<!-- Page 217 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +contributed to these results should feel a very +definite satisfaction that in a year of universal +food shortages in the northern hemisphere all +of those people joined together against Germany +have come through into sight of the coming +harvest not only with health and strength +fully maintained, but with only temporary +periods of hardship. The European allies have +been compelled to sacrifice more than our own +people but we have not failed to load every +steamer since the delays of the storm months +last winter. Our contributions to this end could +not have been accomplished without effort and +sacrifice, and it is a matter for further satisfaction +that it has been accomplished voluntarily +and individually. It is difficult to distinguish +between various sections of our people—the +homes, public-eating places, food trades, +urban or agricultural populations—in assessing +credit for these results; but no one will +deny the dominant part played by the American +women."</p></div> + +<p>The conservation part of the Food Administration's +work was picturesque, conspicuous +and important. But it was, of course, only +one among the many of the Administration's +activities. On the day of his appointment<!-- Page 218 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +Hoover outlined his conception of the functions +and aims of the Food Administration, as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The hopes of the Food Administration are +three-fold. First, to so guide the trade in the +fundamental food commodities as to eliminate +vicious speculation, extortion and wasteful +practices and to stabilize prices in the essential +staples. Second, to guard our exports so that +against the world's shortage, we retain sufficient +supplies for our own people and to coöperate +with the Allies to prevent inflation in +prices. And, third, that we stimulate in every +manner within our power the saving of our +food in order that we may increase exports to +our Allies to a point which will enable +them to properly provision their armies +and to feed their peoples during the coming +winter.</p> + +<p>"The Food Administration is called into being +to stabilize and not to disturb conditions +and to defend honest enterprise against illegitimate +competition. It has been devised to correct +the abnormalities and abuses that have +crept into trade by reason of the world dis<!-- Page 219 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>turbance +and to restore business as far as may +be to a reasonable basis.</p> + +<p>"The business men of this country, I am convinced, +as a result of hundreds of conferences +with representatives of the great forces of food +supply, realize their own patriotic obligation +and the solemnity of the situation, and will +fairly and generously coöperate in meeting the +national emergency. I do not believe that drastic +force need be applied to maintain economic +distribution and sane use of supplies by the +great majority of American people, and I have +learned a deep and abiding faith in the intelligence +of the average American business man +whose aid we anticipate and depend on to remedy +the evils developed by the war which he +admits and deplores as deeply as ourselves. +But if there be those who expect to exploit this +hour of sacrifice, if there are men or organizations +scheming to increase the trials of this +country, we shall not hesitate to apply to the +full the drastic, coercive powers that Congress +has conferred upon us in this instrument."</p></div> + +<p>From the beginning of the war the food +necessities of the Allies and European neutrals<!-- Page 220 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +had led them to make the most violent exertions +to meet their needs, and these exertions +were intensified as the war went on. Food was +war material. It existed in America and was +imperatively demanded in Europe. By any +means possible, without regard to price or dangerous +drainage away from us Europe meant +to have it. Hoover early saw the danger to +America in this. Things had to be balanced. +We were ready to exert every effort to supply +the Allies every pound of food we could afford +to let go out of the country, but there was a +limit, a danger-line. Hoover could not trust +to appeal to the European countries to regard +this danger; they were in a state of panic. It +required recourse to legal regulation. There +was necessary an effective control of exports. +Without such control the tremendous pressure +of demand from the European countries, with +the sky-rocketing of prices incident to it would +have broken down the whole fabric of Hoover's +measures for guarding the food needs of +our own people and of stabilizing prices and +preventing an actual food panic and consequent +industrial break-down in our country at<!-- Page 221 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +a moment when we were calling on our industries +and our people as a whole for their greatest +efforts.</p> + +<p>The Food Law alone was not sufficient to +give Hoover the strength he needed for this +control. But casting about for assistance he +formed a close working alliance between the +Food Administration and the War Trade and +Shipping Boards to effect the needed regulation. +The combination had the power to establish +an absolutely effective control of exports +and imports. Not a pound of food could +be sent out of the country without the consent +of the Food Administration.</p> + +<p>Growing out of this export control and +really including it, was the wider function of +the centralization and coördination of purchases +not only for the Allies and Neutrals but +in connection with the buying agencies of our +Army, Navy, Red Cross, and other large philanthropic +organizations. Under the pressure +of the need for food control, the foreign governments +had taken over almost completely, +early in the war, the purchases of outside foodstuffs +for their peoples, and the Allies had so<!-- Page 222 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +closely associated themselves in this undertaking +that they had it in their power, if they cared +to use it, to dominate prices to the American +farmer. Hoover very early saw the advisability +of an American centralization of the purchases +for foreign export as an offset to this +danger. He further recognized in such a coördinating +centralization the possibilities of +much good in the stimulation of production +and stabilization of home prices. A Division +of Coördination of Purchase was therefore formally +set up about November 1, 1917, under +the efficient direction of F. S. Snyder.</p> + +<p>In a memorandum dated November 19, the +Food Administrator stated that he considered +it vital to the general welfare that all large purchases +of certain commodities should be made +by plans of allocation among food suppliers at +fair and just prices, "the efforts of the Federal +Trade Commission to be directed to see that +costs are not inflated." The memorandum further +stated that all allotment plans between +Allied countries and the food industries should +be entered into with the Allied Provisions Export +Commission through the Division of <!-- Page 223 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>Coördination +of Purchase; and that all estimated +and specific requirements of food products of +all characters for the Allied countries should be +furnished the Division of Coördination of Purchase +by the Allied Provisions Export Commission +and that such requirements shall bear +the approval of the Allied Provisions Export +Commission. Also, that on the question of issuing +licenses for the exporting of the purchases, +the approval to export will be arranged +by the Food Administration's Division of Coördination +of Purchase, and the War Trade +Board; and the final action taken on each requirement +shall have the approval of the head +of the Division of Coördination of Purchase.</p> + +<p>The general plan outlined in this memorandum +was the one followed. The Allied Provisions +Export Commission acted as the buying +agency for the Allies and informed the Division +of Coördination of Purchase of the Food Administration +of the requirements of the Allies; +the Food Purchase Board acted as the recommending +buying agency for the Army and +Navy and gave the Food Administration the +necessary information as to the requirements<!-- Page 224 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +of these agencies. Grains and grain products +were not included in this scheme of buying for +the Allies, as this buying was done through the +Food Administration Grain Corporation.</p> + +<p>The Allied purchasing was therefore completely +controlled. The license to export was +not issued by the War Trade Board until the +application for the same had been approved +by the Food Administration, and this approval +would not be given if the rules of its Division +of Coördination of Purchase had not been +followed. It should be noted that the Food +Administration did not actually complete the +transaction of purchase and sale for any of +the commodities. Its function was completed +when buyer and seller had been brought together +and the terms of sale agreed upon and +approved by it. The total volume of purchases +of all supplies made under the coördination of +the various agencies set up by the Food Administration +aggregated over seven and a +quarter billion dollars during the course of its +existence.<!-- Page 225 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h2>AMERICAN FOOD ADMINISTRATION; GENERAL +REGULATION, CONTROL OF WHEAT AND PORK; +ORGANIZATION IN THE STATES</h2> + + +<p>In attacking the problem of food control by +enforced regulation Hoover frankly repeatedly +described his position as that of one who +was choosing the lesser of two evils; the other +and greater one was that of having no regulation +at all. Political economists and others +called his attention constantly to the fact that +the old reliable law of supply and demand +would take care of his troubles if he would but +let it. If, because of the great demand, high +food prices prevailed, their prevalence would +automatically solve the problem of food shortage. +They would stimulate production and +curtail consumption; our people would buy less +and there would be more of a surplus to send +to the Allies.</p> + +<p>Hoover's answer was that unrestricted sky<!-- Page 226 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>-rocketing +of prices would certainly curtail +consumption, but it would be the consumption +by the poor, the hosts of wage-earners and the +small-salaried. It would not cut down consumption +by the rich, and it would promptly +lead to sharp class feeling, widespread popular +dissatisfaction and resentment, even revolt. +War time was no time to force any such situation +as this.</p> + +<p>The remedy offered by supply and demand +was one which would only bring on another and +worse illness. But Hoover realized and declared +over and over again that even a necessary +interference with the law of supply and +demand was at best an evil. But it was less of +an evil, under the circumstances, than not to interfere +with it to some degree. These were not +normal but abnormal times, and regulation by +supply and demand is primarily a process for +normal times. And it is a process that requires +time to do its remedial work, and there was no +time.</p> + +<p>But Hoover did not and does not believe in +price-fixing or immediate government control +of commerce where they can be avoided. In<!-- Page 227 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +his statement before the Senate Committee on +Agriculture in June, 1917, he said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The food administrations of Europe and +the powers that they possess are of the nature +of dictatorship, but happily ours is not their +plight.... The tendency there has been for +the government to take over the functions of +the middleman, first with one commodity and +then with another, until in the extreme case +of Germany practically all food commodities +are taken directly by the government from the +producers and allotted by an iron-clad system +of ticket distribution to the consumer. The +whole of the great distributing agencies, and +the financial system which revolved around +them, have been suspended for the war or destroyed +for good. That is the system which +is dictatorship, and which, so far as I can see, +this country need never approach.</p> + +<p>"In distinction from this, our conception of +the problem in the United States is that we +should assemble the voluntary effort of the people, +of the men who represent the great trades; +that we should, in effect, undertake with their +coöperation the regulation of the distributing +machinery of the country in such a manner that +we may restore its function as nearly as may<!-- Page 228 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +be to a pre-war basis, and thus eliminate, so far +as may be, the evils and failures which have +sprung up. And, at the same time, we propose +to mobilize the spirit of self-denial and +self-sacrifice in this country in order that we +may reduce our national waste and our national +expenditure."</p></div> + +<p>The primary basis of the commodity control, +that is the control of the manufacture, wholesale +selling, storage, and distribution of foodstuffs +lay in the licensing provisions of the +Food Control law. Any handler of foods, not +an immediate producer or a retailer whose +gross sales did not exceed $100,000 a year, +could be forced to carry on his business under +license, and authority was provided to issue +regulations prescribing just, reasonable, non-discriminatory +and fair storage charges, commissions, +profits, and practices. This license +control was the Food Administration's principal +means of enforcing provisions against all +wasteful, unjust, and unreasonable charges +and procedures.</p> + +<p>But it was far from easy to determine all at +once either what trades and commodities should<!-- Page 229 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +be taken under control or what kind and degree +of control should be exercised. As Hoover +said to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, +using a metaphor springing from his engineering +experience:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is impossible, in constructing routes and +bridges through the forest of speculation and +difficulty to describe in advance the route and +detail of these roads and bridges which we must +push forward from day to day into the unknown."</p></div> + +<p>And, referring again to the same matter in +an address before the United States Chamber +of Commerce in September, 1917, he said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We shall find as we go on with the war +and its increasing economic disruption, that +first one commodity then another will need to +be taken under control. We shall, however, +profit by experience if we lay down no hard +and fast rules, but if we deal with each situation +on its merits. So long as demand and supply +have free play in a commodity we had best +leave it alone. Our attention to the break in +normal economic control in other commodities<!-- Page 230 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +must be designed to repair the break, not to +set up new economic systems or theories."</p></div> + +<p>Hoover believed in making haste slowly. +But he had to move. The crisis of the situation +was upon us, the dike was already leaking and +measures were demanded which would stop the +leak before it became a flood. In the exigency +there was no time for the Food Administrator +to devise and carefully test plans suggested by +even the most favored theories of economists, if +these plans offered remedies which would only +be available in an indeterminate future. The +scope of the war had disorganized the life and +practices of the whole world, had overthrown +all precedents, shattered all fundamental relations. +And on nothing was its disturbing +influence upon the normal more potent than in +relation to food supply.</p> + +<p>The means of control by license regulations +adopted by the Food Administration were +many and various. From the beginning the +stocks of manufacturers and dealers were limited, +so that a continuous and even distribution +might prevent shortage and high prices; con<!-- Page 231 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>tracts +for future delivery were limited again +to secure an equal distribution and lessen the +possibility of speculative profits from the rising +market. Wasteful and expensive practices +were forbidden. All these means were capable +of rather definite application. But a +greater difficulty came in the equally important +and necessary work of limiting profits and securing +a more direct distribution from manufacturer +and large food handler to consumer.</p> + +<p>The many regulations and the varying activities +necessary to achieve these needs were +mostly looked after by a Division of Distribution +and certain allied divisions, devoting their +attention to special groups of commodities. +The principal division was under the immediate +direction of Theodore Whitmarsh, one of +the most vigorous and able of Hoover's volunteer +helpers. Under Hoover's direction +Whitmarsh and his associates at the head of +the special commodity divisions worked out the +manifold details of a regulatory system which +was gradually extended to a most varied assortment +of foodstuffs, trades and manufactures.<!-- Page 232 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the end of 1918 over 250,000 food-handling +corporations, firms, and individuals were +under Food Administration licenses. Meat, +fish, poultry, eggs, butter, milk, potatoes, +fresh and dried vegetables, and fruits, canned +goods, the coarse grains and rice, vegetable +oils, coffee, and such various commodities accessory +to food-handling, as ice, ammonia (for +ice-making), arsenic (for insecticides), jute +bags, sisal, etc., were under direct control to +greater or less extent, except when in the +hands of the actual producers and the ultimate +retailers. And by the indirect means of a wide +publicity of "fair prices," and by an influence +exerted through the wholesalers, even the retailers +were brought into some degree of agreement +or control in connection with the Food +Administration effort to eliminate unfair dealing +and food profiteering.</p> + +<p>But more important than the control of any +one of these many foods, or perhaps than of +all of them together, and more discussed both +in Food Administration days and since, was +the control of wheat, and, as a part of it, of +flour and bread. Some of the methods and<!-- Page 233 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +results of food conservation as especially applied +to wheat have already been referred to, +but here we are especially concerned with the +methods of governmental control as applied to +this grain.</p> + +<p>Hoover had learned in Belgium, and by his +observation of the situation in England and +Europe, that the poetic expression that bread +is the staff of life becomes endowed with an +intense practical significance to the food controllers +and the peoples in bread-eating countries +suffering from food-shortage. The loudest +call of hungry people, their primary anxiety +and the first care of the food-controlling +authorities all converge on wheat. The dietetic +régime for a semi-starving people is strong or +weak, appeasing or dangerous, in proportion +to the bread it contains. If the bread ration is +normal or sufficient much repression can be +used in the case of other foods. With bread +there is life. The call of the Allies on America +was for wheat above all else. More than one +half of the normal dietary of France is composed +of wheat bread. England normally uses +less bread and more meat, but in the war time<!-- Page 234 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +she found she could lessen meat supply more +safely than bread supply. It was for the possible +lack of 75,000,000 bushels of wheat that +Lord Rhondda saw the defeat of the Allies +staring him in the face.</p> + +<p>The government control of the American +wheat as contrasted with its voluntary conservation, +took many forms, touching it as grain, +as flour, and as bread, as object of special +stimulation for production, as prior commodity +for transportation, and as export product. But +curiously, that feature of its control for which +the Food Administration has been most subject +to ill-considered criticism is one for which +the Food Administration has the least responsibility; +this is the government-established +"fair price" to the grower.</p> + +<p>The Food Control Law as passed by Congress +in August, 1917, contained a provision, +guaranteeing a price of two dollars a bushel +for the 1918 wheat crop. It was put in to +stimulate production to insure the needed supply +for the war period. And it was intended +to benefit the farmer. On the basis of this the +Government would presumably be able, by<!-- Page 235 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +proper regulation of the food handlers and +commercial practices intermediate between the +producer and consumer, both to assure the +farmers of a good price and the consumer of +not being driven to panic and revolt by an impossible +cost of his daily bread. That such a +regulation was absolutely and immediately +necessary was obvious from the fact that at the +very time the Food Administration was being +organized unofficially along the lines of conservation +propaganda in May, 1917, wheat was +selling in Chicago at $3.25 a bushel and the +consumer was paying for his bread on that +basis, although the official estimate of the Department +of Agriculture of the average price +actually received by the farmer for his crop +was but $1.44 a bushel.</p> + +<p>Congress had provided a government guarantee +only for the 1918 crop. At the time of +the organization of the Food Administration +the 1917 crop was on the point of coming to +market. It seemed highly desirable for the +sake of the farmers to insure their receipt of a +fair price for this crop, also. Therefore the +President appointed a committee composed of<!-- Page 236 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +representatives of leading farmers' and consumers' +organizations together with a number +of agricultural experts from the agricultural +colleges of the country under the chairmanship +of President H. H. Garfield of Williams College, +later U. S. Fuel Administrator, to fix +on a "fair price" for the 1917 crop. The Food +Administrator, as publicly announced by +President Wilson at the time, took "no part +in the deliberations of the committee" nor "in +any way intimated an opinion regarding that +price."</p> + +<p>The Committee in view of the fact that the +price for 1918 wheat was already guaranteed +at $2.00—it was later increased by the President +to $2.26—and that any smaller price +would undoubtedly lead to a considerable holding +over of 1917 wheat for sale at the 1918 +price and that a higher price would have been +dangerously unfair to the consumers, especially +the great body of working men, recommended +a "fair price" of $2.20 a bushel +for 1917 wheat. It was a price a little +higher than that guaranteed by England +to its farmers, about the same as that<!-- Page 237 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +adopted by Germany, and a little less than +that guaranteed by France, so desperate that +she was ready to pay anything for production, +and was already forestalling the complaint of +consumers by subsidizing the bread. The President +adopted the price as recommended to him +by the Committee, but there was no Congressional +guarantee to back it up. So, with the +fair price thus determined by an independent +commission, the Food Administrator proceeded +with plans for holding the price of wheat +at this level and reflecting it to the farmer. +The principal steps taken to effect this were:</p> + +<p>First, the creation of a government corporation +(the U. S. Grain Corporation) which, +acting under the provision of the Food Control +Law authorizing the government to buy and +sell foodstuffs, could deal in wheat and exert +its influence in the maintenance of the fair price +by acting as a dominant commercial agency for +the buying, selling, and distribution of wheat.</p> + +<p>Second, the licensing of all store handlers +and millers of wheat and controlling them both +through voluntary agreements and license +regulations.<!-- Page 238 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<p>Third, the prohibition of trading in futures.</p> + +<p>As an illustration of the results quickly obtained +by these measures we may note that +while the farmer was getting in the year just +before the war about 27 per cent of the cost of +each loaf of bread for the wheat in it, to which +the miller added about 6½ per cent and the +middlemen and bakers the remaining 66½ per +cent, and in 1915, after the war began, the respective +proportions were 30 per cent, 11 per +cent, and 59 per cent, in 1918, after the Food +Administrator's control was in force, the farmer +got 40 per cent, the miller 3 per cent, and +the others 57 per cent. Or, as another illustration, +while in 1917, when there was no food +control the difference between the price of the +farmers' wheat and the flour made from it was +$11.00 per barrel this margin during Food +Administration days was about $3.50.</p> + +<p>An enumeration of the many and ingenious +measures adopted by Hoover and Julius +Barnes, the self-sacrificing and highly efficient +head of the Grain Corporation, to acquit themselves +and the Government with fairness to all +interests of the tremendous responsibility and<!-- Page 239 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +undertaking thus imposed on them would +carry us beyond the limits of our space. These +controllers of the American wheat had in their +hands the fate of nations. The Allies had to +be supplied; and the American farmers had +to be stimulated to top effort; and the American +consumers, which means the whole people, +had to be kept uninjured in working efficiency +and undismayed by possibility of food panic +which would result from prohibitive prices, or +actual shortage. If the war was to be won +there simply had to be wheat enough for all, +America and Allies alike, and it had to be +available both as regards distribution and +price.</p> + +<p>The results of the American wheat control +can be summed up in one word: success. The +unwearying labors and undiminished devotion +necessary to achieve this success in face of great +difficulties and much criticism cannot be so +readily summed up. But without them the +history of the war would have been a different +history. We should never forget this. In the +records of the methods and results of the control +lies the matter, all ready for the competent<!-- Page 240 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +pen, for an epic of the wheat, the fit third part +of the trilogy that Frank Norris began with +"The Octopus" and "The Pit" and had, at the +call of death, to leave unwritten.</p> + +<p>Another phase of Hoover's food regulatory +activity, concerning which there was, and still +continues to be, much discussion, is that of his +attempt to insure a stimulated production of +hogs by a stabilized price which should well +reward the grower and yet not lead to such an +exorbitant cost to the consumer as would have +been a dangerous hardship to our own people +and an unfair hold-up of our associates in the +war. Next to wheat, pork products were the +American food supplies most necessary to the +Allies.</p> + +<p>Hogs are a corn product. The cost of production +of hogs depends rather more upon the +price of corn than upon any other factor. Investigation +showed that owing to the violent +fluctuations in demand for corn and hogs during +the war, there had been five periods between +the beginning of the war and September, 1917, +in which it had been more profitable to sell corn +than to feed it to swine at the price of hogs then<!-- Page 241 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +prevailing, while there were only three periods +when the reverse was true. In the preceding +eight years there had been only two periods in +which the direct sale of corn was more profitable +than feeding it to swine.</p> + +<p>The results of these periods of unprofitable +feeding was to retard hog production, as the +grower was discouraged from breeding during +those periods. Hoover therefore decided that +the maintenance of a proper relation between +the price of corn and the price of hogs was the +best method of assuring an increased production +of pork. Furthermore, the violent fluctuations +in the price of hogs tended to lift the price +of the pork products to the consumer unduly, +for at every new rise the stocks already in the +warehouses over the whole country were +marked up and the spread between the consumer +and the producer thereby increased. A +stabilization of the price of hogs was therefore +as necessary for the protection of the consumer +for the sake of a reduction of this spread +as it was in the case of other foodstuffs.</p> + +<p>In order that the swine growers should have +an opportunity to participate in the determina<!-- Page 242 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>tion +of what method would be most fair and +effective in establishing this stabilization and +stimulating production, a committee of leading +producers was asked to investigate the whole +matter. This committee made a report late +in October, 1917, which, after setting out the +situation in detail and calling attention to the +imperative need of a stimulation of production, +declared that although hog production for +the ten years ending 1916 had been maintained +on a ratio of 11.66 bushels of corn to 100 +pounds of hog, there had been but little profit +to the grower on this basis and that it would +be desirable for the sake of stimulation to pay +at least the equivalent of 13.33 bushels of +corn per hundred pounds of average hog and, +if possible, as much as 14.33 pounds. On this +latter ratio the committee believed that production +could be increased fifteen per cent above +the normal. The Committee added an expression +of its belief that "the best emergency +method of immediately stabilizing the market +and preventing the premature marketing of +light unfinished pigs and breeding stock would +be to establish a minimum emergency price for<!-- Page 243 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +good to select hogs of sixteen dollars a hundred +pounds on the Chicago market."</p> + +<p>As the Food Administrator had no power +to fix prices by law, nor to guarantee a price +for the producer backed by money in the U. S. +Treasury as in the case of the wheat guarantee, +the only means available to him to assure a +stable minimum price for hogs was to come to +an agreement with the principal buyers both +of hogs and the prepared pork products that +they would pay a price which would make this +minimum possible. This was accomplished by +Hoover, with the approval of the President, +in the following way: The Allies agreed with +the United States that their purchases of food +supplies would be made through the Food Administration +(as already explained earlier in +this book). They then agreed with the Food +Administrator that their orders for pork and +pork products might be placed with the packers +at prices which would enable the packers to +buy the hogs offered them at not less than the +minimum price agreed to between the Food +Administrator and the producers. The orders +for our Army and Navy, and for other large<!-- Page 244 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +buyers, such as the Belgian Relief and Red +Cross, were also placed through the Food Administration +upon the same price basis. The +packers then agreed with the Food Administration +that if these orders were placed with +them at the stated prices they would pay to +the producer the minimum price announced by +the Food Administration. The combined orders +of these principal buyers called for from +thirty to forty per cent of the pork and pork +products produced in the United States, and +the price paid by them would obviously determine +the price for the whole amount.</p> + +<p>With this power, derived solely by agreement, +and not, as many of the producers seemed +to understand, or rather, misunderstand, by +governmental authority exercised, as in the case +of wheat, to establish a government-backed +guarantee, the Food Administrator announced +on November 3, 1917, that:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The prices (of hogs) so far as we can effect +them will not go below a minimum of about +$15.50 per hundredweight for the average of +the packers' droves on the Chicago market until +further notice.... We have had and shall<!-- Page 245 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +have the advice of a board composed of practical +hog-growers and experts. That board +advises us that the best yardstick to measure +the cost of production of hogs is the cost of +corn. The board further advises that the ratio +of corn price to hog price on the average over +a series of years has been about twelve to one +(or a little less). In the past when the ratio +has gone lower than twelve to one, the stock of +hogs in the country has decreased. When it +was higher than twelve the hogs have increased. +The board has given its judgment that to bring +the stock of hogs back to normal under the +present conditions the ratio should be about +thirteen. Therefore, as to the hogs farrowed +next spring, we will try to stabilize the price +so that the farmer can count on getting for +each one hundred pounds of hog ready for market, +thirteen times the average cost per bushel +of the corn fed to the hogs.... But let there +be no misunderstanding of this statement. It +is not a guarantee backed by money. It is +not a promise by the packers. It is a statement +of the intention and policy of the Food +Administration which means to do justice to +the farmer."</p></div> + +<p>The effect of Hoover's action to accomplish +the imperatively needed stimulated production<!-- Page 246 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +of hogs began to appear by the next July and +from that time on was very marked, the production +reaching an increase over normal of +thirty percent. The price assured to the farmers +by the Food Administration was maintained +uniformly from November, 1917, to +August, 1918. In October, however, a critical +situation arose because, by reason of the growing +peace talk, a sharp decline in the price of +corn occurred and this decline spread fear +among the growers that a similar reduction +would take place in the price of hogs because +of the fixed thirteen to one corn and hog ratio. +A rapid marketing of hogs ensued which broke +the price.</p> + +<p>With the Armistice there was an immediate +change of attitude on the part of the Allies +who had been trying to build up reserves of +pork products to use in times of possible increased +difficulty of transportation. They +now moved promptly toward a reduction of +purchases. This made serious difficulties in +maintaining the price to the producers during +the months of December, January, and February. +But Hoover's original assurance to the<!-- Page 247 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +growers covered these months. It required +most vigorous pressure on his part to compel +the Allies to live up to their purchasing agreements. +But he was finally successful in disposing +of the material offered by the growers +and thus was able to keep faith with them.</p> + +<p>Some criticism of the Food Administration +because of this maintenance of prices was +voiced by consumers. But two important +things must be remembered in this connection. +In the first place the stabilized price was established +primarily for the sake of stimulating an +imperatively needed increased production. In +the second place the assurance of the Food Administration +given to the growers in November, +1917, that it would do what it could to +maintain the price for hogs farrowed in the +spring of 1918 covered sales extending to the +spring of 1919. No one knew that an armistice +would come in November, 1918. The only +safe plan was to try to insure a food supply +for a reasonably long time in advance. To +have broken the agreement with the producers +when the armistice came would have caused +many of them great, even ruinous losses. Be<!-- Page 248 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>sides +it would have been a plain breach of +faith. Hoover would not do it.</p> + +<p>In March, 1919, the War Trade Board was +no longer willing to continue its export restrictions. +It was only by virtue of these that +the Food Administration had any control of +the situation. They were canceled and from +that time on the market was uncontrolled. +But by then, the major hog run was disposed +of, and the Food Administration had acquitted +itself of its obligation to the producers.</p> + +<p>This is a long and dry story of pigs and corn +and difficulty. But I think it well to tell it, +even though it may be dull, because it seems to +be so little known. Hoover's situation vis à vis +pigs and producers and packers in those +strenuous days of threatened collapse of an all-important +food supply seems to be too little +understood. And this little understanding has +resulted in too much unfair criticism. Now +let us turn to another story with more humans +than hogs in it.</p> + +<p>Hoover had said, in May, 1917, within +a few days after the President had told +him that he wanted him to administer the food<!-- Page 249 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +of America, as a war measure: "I conceive that +the essence of all special war administration +falls into two phases: first, centralized and +single responsibility; second, delegation of this +responsibility to decentralized administration."</p> + +<p>Then let us recall how soon after that we +were all assuming some share in this "decentralized +administration." If we had not all +become Federal Food Administrators of states, +or county, or city, or rural sub-food administrators, +or even members of food conservation +committees or members of honor ration leagues, +we were all at least, household food administrators. +We were all administering, in a new +light and with a new aim, the food we bought +or cooked or ate. Hoover, the centralized and +responsible head, had decentralized food administration +right down to each one of us.</p> + +<p>This decentralization began with an organization +of all the states. The general responsibility +for this work was vested in a particular +division of the Food Administration, directed +by John W. Hallowell, a young engineer and +business man who revealed a conspicuous capacity +in this important position. As early as<!-- Page 250 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +June, inquiry was made of Governors of the +states and of other public officials and prominent +men concerning desirable men who would +be willing to volunteer their services in directing +the work of the Food Administration +within their state, as their part in the war work +of the nation. Early in July as many as had +been so far selected came to Washington for a +first conference with Hoover, at which plans +were made for proceeding with the work within +the states immediately upon the passage of the +Food Control Act. By August 10 when the +Food Administration was formally established, +Federal Food Administrators were already selected +for about half the states. The rest were +soon chosen. Frequent meetings were held in +Washington.</p> + +<p>At each successive conference with Hoover +of these state administrators, who were able +men, experienced in business administration or +public service, their enthusiasm, their confidence +in his leadership, their response to his national +ideals, their personal devotion to him, +grew. Hoover's relation to them recalled to me, +with leapings of the heart, those earlier days in<!-- Page 251 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +Brussels when the eager young men of the C. +R. B. used to come rushing in from the provinces +to group themselves around him and derive +fresh inspiration and determination from +their contact with him to see the job through +and to see it through cleanly and fearlessly.</p> + +<p>These Federal Food Administrators listened +to Hoover in Washington as we listened to him +in Belgium. He stirred their hearts and satisfied +their minds. And they went back to their +difficult tasks, with fresh conviction and renewed +strength. And their tasks were truly +difficult, their voluntarily assumed share of the +decentralized administration was a serious one. +But they, too, decentralized parts of the administration; +they set up the district and county +and city administrations. And they and their +many helpers were the ones who carried food +administration into every market and grocery +store and bakery and home. The whole country, +all the people, became a part of the United +States Food Administration.</p> + +<p>And that was what Hoover wanted and intended. +For he knew that only the people, all +of them working voluntarily together, could<!-- Page 252 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +really administer the food of America, as it had +to be administered in the great war emergency +that had come to the country.</p> + +<p>On the day after the armistice Hoover addressed +the Federal Food Administrators, +gathered in Washington, for the last time. In +this address he outlined his attitude toward the +future work of the Food Administration and, +even more importantly, toward governmental +food control as a policy, in the following words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Our work under the Food Control Act has +revolved largely around the curtailment of +speculation and profiteering. This act will +expire at the signing of the peace with Germany, +and as it represents a type of legislation +only justified under war conditions, I do not +expect to see its renewal. It has proved of +vital importance under the economic currents +and psychology of war. I do not consider it +as of such usefulness in the economic currents +and psychology of peace. Furthermore, it is +my belief that the tendency of all such legislation, +except in war, is to an over-degree to strike +at the roots of individual initiative. We have +secured its execution during the war as to the +willing coöperation of ninety-five per cent of<!-- Page 253 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +the trades of the country, but under peace conditions +it would degenerate into an harassing +blue law.</p> + +<p>"The law has well justified itself under war +conditions. The investigations of our economic +division clearly demonstrate that during the +first year of the Food Administration farm +prices steadily increased by fifteen per cent to +twenty per cent on various computations, while +wholesale prices decreased from three per cent +to ten per cent, according to the basis of calculation. +Thus middlemen's cost and profits +were greatly reduced. This was due to the +large suppression of profiteering and speculation +and to the more orderly trade practices introduced +under the law.</p> + +<p>"It is my desire that we should all recognize +that we have passed a great milestone in the +signing of the armistice; that we must get upon +the path of peace; that therefore we should begin +at once to relax the regulation and control +measures of the Food Administration at every +point where they do not open a possibility of +profiteering and speculation. This we cannot +and will not permit so far as our abilities extend +until the last day that we have authority +under the law. When we entered upon this +work eighteen months ago our trades were rampant +with speculation and profiteering. This<!-- Page 254 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +grew mainly from the utterly insensate raids +of Europe on our commodities. I look now +for a turn of American food trades towards +conservative and safe business because in this +period that confronts us, with the decreased +buying power of our own people, of uncertainty +as to the progress of the world's politics, +with the Government in control of exports and +imports, he would be a foolish man indeed who +today started a speculation in food. This is +a complete reversal of the commercial atmosphere +that existed when war began eighteen +months ago, and therefore the major necessity +for law in repression of speculative activities +is, to my mind, rapidly passing. It is our duty, +however, to exert ourselves in every direction +so to handle our food during reconstruction as +to protect our producers and our consumers +and to assure our trade from chaos and panic."</p></div> + +<p>On the same day that this address was made +Hoover began the canceling of the Food Administration +regulations, and this cancellation +continued rapidly through November and December. +It had to be done with care to prevent +dangerous disorganization, and some continued +control was necessary during the winter and +spring in order to carry out the agreements of<!-- Page 255 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +price stabilization entered into between the +Food Administration and the producers and +handlers of certain commodities, as hogs, +sugar, rice, and cotton seed and its products. +The wheat price guarantee and control especially +provided for by Congress and later Presidential +proclamation remained vested in the +United States Grain Corporation. It will expire +on June 30, 1920.</p> + +<p>But Hoover could not remain in America +to see this demobilization of the Food Administration +through personally. Only ten days +after the armistice he left for Europe, at the +request of the President, to direct the participation +of the United States in the imperatively +needed relief of the war-ravaged countries of +Eastern Europe. Edgar Rickard, who had +been Hoover's chief personal assistant through +all of the Food Administration work, was appointed +by the President as Acting Food Administrator +in Hoover's absence.<!-- Page 256 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h2>AMERICAN RELIEF ADMINISTRATION</h2> + + +<p>With the coming of the armistice victorious +America and the Allies found themselves +face to face with a terrible situation in Eastern +Europe. The liberated peoples of the Baltic +states, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Jugo-Slavia, +and the Near East, were in a dreadful state of +starvation and economic wreckage. A great, +responsibility and pressing duty devolved on +America, Great Britain, France, and Italy to +act promptly for the relief of these peoples who +had become temporarily, by the hazards of war, +their wards. But the Allies themselves were in +no enviable position to relieve others. Their +own troubles were many. It was on America +that the major part of this relief work would +fall.</p> + +<p>No man knew this situation, as far as it could +be known before the veil of blockade and mili<!-- Page 257 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>tary +control was lifted from it, better than +Hoover. And no man realized more clearly +than he the direful consequences that it threatened +not only to the peoples of the suffering +countries themselves but to the peace and stability +of the world, to restore which every effort +had now to be exerted. Hoover was not only +the man logically indicated to the President of +the United States to undertake this saving relief +on the part of America, but he was the man +whom all of Europe recognized as the source +of hope in this critical moment. He came to +the gigantic endeavor as the man of the hour.</p> + +<p>Hoover naturally made Paris his headquarters, +for the Peace Conference was sitting here, +and here also were the representatives of the +Allies with whom he was to associate himself +in the combined effort to save the peoples of +Eastern Europe from starvation and help them +make a beginning of self-government and economic +rehabilitation.</p> + +<p>His first steps were directed toward: First, +securing coördination with the Allied Governments +by setting up a council of the associated +governments; second, finding the necessary<!-- Page 258 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +financial support from the United States for +making the American contribution to this relief; +third, setting up a special organization for +the administration of the American food and +funds; and, fourth, urging the provision of +funds and shipping by the Allied Governments.</p> + +<p>The special American organization for assisting +in this general European relief was +quickly organized under the name of the +American Relief Administration, of which +Hoover was formally named by the President +Director-General, and Congress on the recommendation +of the President appropriated, on +February 24, 1919, $100,000,000 as a working +fund for the new organization. In addition to +this the United States Treasury was already +making monthly loans of several million dollars +each to Roumania, Serbia, and Czecho-Slovakia. +But while waiting for the Congressional +appropriation the work had to be got +going, and for this the President contributed +$5,000,000 from his special funds available for +extraordinary expenses.</p> + +<p>Before actual relief work could be intelli<!-- Page 259 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>gently +begun, however, it was necessary to find +out by personal inspection just what the actual +food situation in each of the Eastern European +countries was, and for that purpose investigating +missions were sent out in December, 1918, +and January, 1919, to all of the suffering countries.</p> + +<p>Hoover had quickly gathered about him, as +nucleus of a staff, a number of men already +experienced in relief work and food matters +who had worked with him in the Belgian relief +and the American Food Administration. +Others were rapidly added, both civilians of +business or technical experience and army officers, +detached at his request, especially from +the Quartermaster and Service of Supplies +corps. From these men he was able to select +small groups eager to begin with him the actual +work. His own impatience and readiness to +make a real start was like that of a race-horse +at the starting gate or a runner with his toes on +the line awaiting the pistol shot.</p> + +<p>The atmosphere of Paris was an irritating +one. The men in control were always saying +"wait." There were a thousand considerations<!-- Page 260 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +of old-time diplomacy, of present and future +political and commercial considerations in their +minds. They were conferring with each other +and referring back to their governments for +instructions and then conferring again. Common +sense and necessity were being restrained +by political sensitiveness and inertia. In +Hoover's mind one thing was perfectly clear. +Time was of the essence of his contract. Every +day of delay meant more difficulty. The Eastern +countries, struggling to find themselves in +the chaos of disorganization, waiting for an official +determination of their new borders, were +already becoming entangled in frontier brawls +and quarreling over the control of local sources +of food and fuel. Their people were suffering +terribly and were clamoring for help. Hoover +was there to help; he wanted to begin helping. +So he began.</p> + +<p>Hoover had already taken the position that +the day of hate was passed. With the end of +mutual slaughter and destruction came immediately +the time for help. It was like that pitiful +period after the battle when the bloody field +is taken over by the stretcher-bearers, the Red<!-- Page 261 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +Cross nurses, and the tireless surgeons. So +Hoover had already clearly in mind that the +hand of charity was going to be extended to +the sufferers in Hungary and Austria and +Germany as well as to the people who were +suffering because of the ravages of the armies +of these nations. Dr. Alonzo Taylor and I, +whom he had sent early in December to Switzerland +to get into close touch with the situation +in Eastern and Central Europe, listened, for +him, in Berne to the pitiful pleas of the representatives +of starving Vienna. By January +Hoover's missions were installed and at work +in Trieste, Belgrade, Vienna, Prague, Buda-Pest, +and Warsaw. In February Dr. Taylor +and I were reporting the German situation +from Berlin.</p> + +<p>The attitude of the people in these countries +was one of pathetic dependence on American +aid and confidence that it would be forthcoming. +The name of Hoover was already known +all over Europe because of his Belgian work, +and the swiftly-spread news that he was in +charge of the new relief work acted like magic +in restoring hope to these despairing millions.<!-- Page 262 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + +<p>When the first food mission to Poland, making +its way in the first week of January, 1919, +with difficulty and discomfort because of the +demoralized transportation conditions, had +reached that part of its journey north of +Vienna towards Cracow which brought it into +Czecho-Slovakia, our train halted at a station +gaily decorated with flags and bunting among +which the American colors were conspicuous. +A band was playing vigorously something that +sounded like the Star-Spangled Banner, and +a group of top-hatted and frock-coated gentlemen +were the front figures in a great crowd +that covered the station platform. I was somewhat +dismayed by these evident preparations +for a reception, for we were not coming to try +to help Czecho-Slovakia, but Poland, between +which two countries sharp feeling was already +developing in connection with the dispute over +the Teschen coal fields. I told my interpreter, +therefore, to hurry off the train and explain the +situation.</p> + +<p>He returned with one of the gentlemen of +high hat and long coat who said, in broken +French: "Well, anyway, you are the food mis<!-- Page 263 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>sion, +aren't you?" I replied, "Yes, but we are +going to Warsaw; we are only passing through +your country; we can't do anything for you."</p> + +<p>"But," he persisted, "you are the Americans, +aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we are the Americans."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, it's all right." And he waved +an encouraging hand to the band, which responded +with increased endeavor, while the +crowd cheered and waved the home-made +American flags. And we were received and +addressed, and given curious things to drink +and a little food—we gave them in return some +Red Cross prisoner packages we carried along +for our own maintenance—and then we were +sent on with more cheers and hearty Godspeeds.</p> + +<p>Delay so plainly meant sharper suffering +and more deaths that even before the necessary +financial and other arrangements were completed +or even well under way, Hoover had +made arrangements with the Secretary of War +by which vessels carrying 135,000 tons of +American food were diverted from French to +Mediterranean ports, and with the Grain Cor<!-- Page 264 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>poration, +under authority of the Treasury, by +which 145,000 tons were started for northern +European ports. Thus by the time arrangements +had been made for financing the shipments +and for internal transportation and safe +control and fair distribution, the food cargoes +were already arriving at the nearest available +ports. Within a few weeks from the time the +first mission arrived in Warsaw and had reported +back to Hoover the terrible situation of +the Polish people, the relief food was flowing +into Poland through Dantzig, the German port +for the use of which for this purpose a special +article in the terms of the armistice had provided, +but which was only most reluctantly and +by dint of strong pressure made available to +us.</p> + +<p>Similarly from Trieste the food trains began +moving north while there still remained countless +details of arrangement to settle. I was in +Vienna when the first train of American relief +food came in from the South. The Italians +were also attempting to send in some supplies, +but so far all the trains which had started north +had been blocked at some border point. The<!-- Page 265 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +American train was in charge of two snappy +doughboys, a corporal and a private. When it +reached the point of blockade the corporal was +told that he could go no farther. He asked +why, but only got for answer a curt statement +that trains were not moving just now. "But +this one is," he replied, and called to his private: +"Let me have my gun." With revolver in hand +he instructed the engineer to pull out. And the +train went on. When I asked him in Vienna if +he had worried any at the border about the customs +and military regulations of the governments +concerned which he was disregarding, he +answered with a cheerful smile: "Not a worry; +Mr. Hoover's representative at Trieste told me +to take the train through and it was up to me to +take her, wasn't it? These wop kings and generals +don't count with me. I'm working for +Hoover."</p> + +<p>But the whole situation in these southeastern +countries because of their utter disorganization +and their hopeless embroilment in conflict with +each other, was too impossible. Whatever degree +of peace the capitals of these countries +recognized as the diplomatic status of the mo<!-- Page 266 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>ment, +the frontiers had no illusions. There +were trenches out there and machine-guns and +bayonets. Men were shooting at each other +across the lines. Either the trains or cars of +one country would be stopped at the border, +or if they got across they did not get back. +Some countries had enough cars and locomotives; +some did not. If one country had some +coal to spare but was starving for lack of the +wheat which could be spared by its neighbor, +which was freezing, there was no way of making +the needed exchange. The money of each +country became valueless in the others—and of +less and less value in its own land. Everything +was going to pieces, including the relief. It +simply could not go on this way.</p> + +<p>Finally, as a result of Hoover's insistence at +Paris on the terrible danger of delay both to +the lives of the people and the budding democracy +of Europe, the Supreme Economic Council +took the drastic measure of temporarily taking +over the control of the whole transportation +system of Southeastern Europe which was put +into Hoover's hands, leaving him to arrange +by agreement, as best he could, according to<!-- Page 267 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +his own ideas and opportunities, the other matters +of finance, coal, the interchange of native +commodities between adjacent countries and +the distribution of imported food.</p> + +<p>Hoover became, in a word, general economic +and life-saving manager for the Eastern European +countries. It is from my personal knowledge +of his achievements in this extraordinary +position during the first eight months after the +Armistice that I have declared my belief earlier +in this account that it was owing more to +Hoover and his work than to any other single +influence that utter anarchy and chaos and +complete Bolshevik domination in Eastern Europe +(west of Russia) were averted. In other +words, Hoover not only saved lives, but nations +and civilizations by his superhuman efforts. +The political results of his work were but incidental +to his life-saving activities, but from an +historical and international point of view they +were even more important.</p> + +<p>Before, however, referring to them more specifically, +something of the scope and special +character of the general European relief and +supply work should be briefly explained.<!-- Page 268 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p> + +<p>Altogether, twenty countries received supplies +of food and clothing under Hoover's control +acting as Director-General of Relief for +the Supreme Economic Council. The total +amount of these supplies delivered from December +1, 1918, to June 1, 1919, was about +three and a quarter million tons, comprising +over six hundred shiploads, of a total approximate +value of eight hundred million dollars. +There were, in addition, on June 1, port stocks +of over 100,000 tons ready for internal delivery, +and other supplies came later.</p> + +<p>The twenty countries sharing in the supplies +included Belgium and Northern France +(through the C. R. B.), the Baltic states of +Finland, Esthonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, a +small part of Russia, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, +Germany, German Austria, Hungary, Roumania, +Bulgaria, Greater Servia, Turkey, Armenia, +Italy, and the neutrals, Denmark and +Holland. By the terms of the Congressional +Act appropriating the hundred million dollars +for the relief of Eastern Europe, no part +of the money could be used for the relief of +Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, or<!-- Page 269 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +Turkey. But Vienna needed help more quickly +and imperatively than any other eastern capital. +Hoover arranged that money should be +advanced by England and France for food +purchases in America for Austria and Hungary. +This food was put into Hoover's hands, +and to him was left the problem of getting +it into the suffering countries. Germany +was supplied under the approval of the +Allies in accordance with the armistice agreement.</p> + +<p>The "relief" of Eastern and Central Europe +was, of course, not all charity in the usually accepted +meaning of the term. The American +hundred million dollars and the British sixty +million dollars could not buy the needed +eight hundred millions' worth of food and +clothing. In fact, of that American hundred +million all but about fifteen are now again in +the U. S. Treasury in the form of promises +to pay signed by various Eastern European +Governments. About ten millions of it were +given by Hoover outright, in the form of special +food for child nutrition, to the under-nourished +children from the Baltic to the Black<!-- Page 270 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +Sea. By additions made to this charity by the +Eastern European Governments themselves +and by the nationals of these countries resident +in America, and from other sources, two and +a half million weak children are today still +being given (May, 1920) a daily supplementary +meal of special food.</p> + +<p>Hoover's experience in Belgium and Northern +France had taught him how necessary was +the special care of the children. All the war-ravaged +countries have lost a material part of +their present generation. In some of them the +drainage of human life and strength approaches +that of Germany after the Thirty +Years War and of France after the Napoleonic +wars. If they are not to suffer a racial deterioration +the coming generation must be nursed +to strength. The children, then, who are the +immediately coming generation and the producers +of the ones to follow, must be particularly +cared for. That is what Hoover gave special +attention to from the beginning of his relief +work and it is what he is now still giving +most of his time and energy to.</p> + +<p>For the general re-provisioning of the peo<!-- Page 271 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>ples +of Eastern and Central Europe all of the +various countries supplied were called on to +pay for the food at cost, plus transportation, to +the extent of their possibilities. Gold, if they +had it—all of Germany's supply was paid for +in gold—paper money at current exchange, +government promissory notes, and commodities +which could be sold to other countries, made +up the payments. The charity was in making +loans, providing the food, getting ships and +barges and trains and coal for its transportation, +selling it at cost, and giving the service of +several hundred active, intelligent, and sympathetic +Americans, mostly young and khaki-clothed, +and a lesser group of Allied officers, +all devoted to getting the food where it +was needed and seeing that it was fairly distributed.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to depict the utter bewilderment +and helplessness of the governments of +the liberated nations of Eastern Europe at the +beginning of the armistice period. Nor is it +possible to explain adequately the enormous +difficulties they faced in any attempt at organizing, +controlling, and caring for their peoples.<!-- Page 272 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +With uncertain boundaries—for the demarcation +of these they were waiting on a hardly less +bewildered group of eminent gentlemen in +Paris; with a financial and economic situation +presenting such appalling features of demoralization +that they could only be realized one +at a time; with their people clamoring for the +immediately necessary food, fuel and clothing, +and demanding a swift realization of all the +benefits that their new freedom was to bring +them; and with an ever more menacing whistling +wind of terror blowing over them from the +East—with all this, how the responsible men +of the governments which rapidly succeeded +each other in these countries retained any persistent +vestiges of sanity is beyond the comprehension +of those of us who viewed the scene at +close range.</p> + +<p>For a single but sufficient illustration let us +take the situation in the split apart fragments +of the former great Austro-Hungarian Empire, +which now constitute all or parts of German +Austria, Hungary, Czecho-Slovakia, +Jugo-Slavia and Roumania. For all these regions +(except Roumania) Vienna had for years<!-- Page 273 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +been the center of political authority and chief +economic control. In Vienna were many of +the land-owners, most of the heads of the great +industries, and the directors of the transportation +system. It was the financial and market +center, the hub of a vast, intricate, and delicate +orb-web of economic organization. But the +people and the goods of the various separated +regions, except German Austria, the smallest, +weakest, and most afflicted one of them all, +were cut off from it and all were cut off from +each other. The final political boundaries were +not yet fixed, to be sure, but actual military +frontiers were already established with all their +limitations on inter-communication and their +disregard of personal needs. Shut up within +their frontiers these regions found themselves +varyingly with or without money—if they had +any it was of ever-decreasing purchasing power—with +or without food, fuel, and raw materials +for industry; and with lesser or larger +numbers of locomotives and railway cars, +mostly lesser. But of everything the distribution +bore no calculated relation to the needs +of the industry and commerce or even to the<!-- Page 274 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +actual necessities of the people for the preservation +of health and life.</p> + +<p>Vienna, itself, "<i>die lustige schöne Stadt +Wien</i>" was, as it still is today and for long will +be, the saddest great capital in Europe. Reduced +from its position of being the governing, +spending, and singing and dancing capital of +an empire of fifty-five million people—it never +was a producing capital—to be the capital of +a small, helpless nation of scant seven million +people concentrated in a region unable to meet +even their needs of food and coal—Vienna represents +the pathetic extreme of the cataclysmic +results of War.</p> + +<p>But if the situation was most complex and +hopeless in the south, it was far from simple or +hopeful in the north. Poland, the smaller Baltic +states and Finland were all in desperate +plight and their new governments were all +aghast at the magnitude of the problem before +them. To add to the difficulties of general disorganization +of peoples, lack of the necessities +of life, and helplessness of governments, there +was ever continuing war. Armistice meant +something real on the West and Austro-Ital<!-- Page 275 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>ian +fronts, but it meant little to Eastern Europe. +There was a score of very lively little +wars going on at once over there: Poland alone +was fighting with four different adversaries, +one at each corner of her land.</p> + +<p>But the climax of the situation was reached +in the realization by all immediately concerned +that something saving had to be done at once, +or the whole thing would become literal anarchy, +with red and howling death rampant +over all. Bolshevik Russia, just over the Eastern +borders, was not only a vivid reality to these +countries, but it was constantly threatening to +come across the borders and engulf them.</p> + +<p>Its agents were working continuously among +their peoples; there were everywhere the sinister +signs of the possibility of a swift removal of +the frontiers of Bolshevism from their Eastern +to their Western borders. In Paris the eminent +statesmen and famous generals of the +Peace Conference and the Supreme Council +sat and debated. They sent out occasional ultimata +ordering the cessation of fighting, the +retirement from a far advanced frontier, and +what not else. Inter-Allied Economic and<!-- Page 276 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +Military Missions came and looked on and conferred +and returned. But nobody stopped +fighting, and the conferences settled nothing. +The Allies were not in a position—this need be +no secret now—to send adequate forces to enforce +their ultimata. An Inter-Allied Military +Mission of four generals of America, +Great Britain, France and Italy started by +special train from Cracow to Lemberg to convey +personally an ultimatum to the Ruthenians +and Poles ordering them to stop fighting. The +train was shelled by the Ruthenians east of +Przemsyl, and the generals came back. Eastern +Europe expected the great powers to do +something about this, but nothing happened, +and the discount on ultimata became still more +marked.</p> + +<p>Somebody had to do something that counted. +So Hoover did it. It was not only lives that +had to be saved; it was nations. It was not only +starvation that had to be fought; it was approaching +anarchy, it was Bolshevism.</p> + +<p>As already stated, Hoover's food ships had +left America for Southern and Northern European +ports before Hoover's men had even<!-- Page 277 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +got into the countries to be fed. As a consequence, +food deliveries closely followed food +investigations. That counted with the people. +One of Hoover's rules was that food could only +go into regions where it could be safeguarded +and controlled. That counted against Bolshevism. +Shrewd Bela Kun was able to play a +winning game in Hungary against the Peace +Conference and Supreme Councils at Paris, +but he was out-played by soft-voiced, square-jawed +Captain "Tommy" Gregory, Hoover's +general director for Southeast Europe, and it +was this same California lawyer in khaki, +turned food man, who, when the communist +Kun had passed and the pendulum had swung +as dangerously far in the other direction, allowing +the audacious Hapsburg, Archduke Joseph, +to slip into power, had done most to unseat +him.</p> + +<p>Gregory had been able to commandeer all the +former military wires in the Austro-Hungarian +countries for use in the relief work. So he +was able to keep Hoover advised of all the +news, not only promptly, but in good Americanese. +His laconic but fully descriptive mes<!-- Page 278 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>sage +to Paris announcing the Archduke's passing +read: "August 24th, Archie went through +the hoop at 8 P. M. today."</p> + +<p>Relief in Eastern Europe was spelled by +Hoover with a capital <i>R</i> and several additional +letters. It really spelled Rehabilitation. It +meant, in addition to sending in food, straightening +out transportation, getting coal mines +going, and the starting up of direct exchange +of commodities among the unevenly supplied +countries. There was some surplus wheat in +the Banat, some surplus coal in Czecho-Slovakia, +some extra locomotives in Vienna. So +under the arbitrage of himself and his lieutenants +there was set up a wholesale international +bartering, a curious reversion to the primitive +ways of early human society.</p> + +<p>This exchange of needed goods by barter +solved in some degree the impossible financial +situation, gave the people an incentive to +work, and helped reduce political inflammation. +It was practical statesmanship +meeting things as they were and not as they +might more desirably be, but were not. I say +again, and many men in the governments of<!-- Page 279 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +Eastern Europe, and even in the councils in +Paris<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> have said, that Hoover saved Eastern +Europe from anarchy, and held active Bolshevism +to its original frontiers. That meant saving +Western Europe, too.</p> + +<p>Then Hoover came back to America to be +an American private citizen again. That is +what he is today. He is still carrying on two +great charities in Eastern Europe: the daily +feeding of millions of under-nourished children, +and the making possible, through his American +Relief Warehouses, for anyone in America +to help any relatives or friends anywhere in +Eastern Europe by direct food gifts. But he +is doing it as private citizen. The story of +Hoover—as far as I can write it today—is that +of an American who saw a particular kind of +service he could render his country and Eu<!-- Page 280 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>rope and humanity in a great crisis. He rendered +it, and thus most truly helped make the +world safe for Democracy and human ideals. +It would only be fair to add to his Belgian citation +the larger one of American Citizen of +the World and Friend of All the People. But +he would only be embarrassed if anyone attempted +to do it now. We can safely leave the +matter to History.<!-- Page 281 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The official representative of the Treasury of one of +the Allied powers, who had no reason to be too friendly to +the American director of relief, for Hoover had often to +oppose the policies of this power in the Paris councils, has +recently written of him: "Mr. Hoover was the only man who +emerged from the ordeal of Paris with an enhanced reputation. +This complex personality, with his habitual air of +weary Titan (or, as others might put it, of exhausted prizefighter), +his eyes steadily fixed on the true and essential +facts of the European situation, imported into the Councils +of Paris, when he took part in them, precisely that atmosphere +of reality, knowledge, magnanimity, and disinterestedness, +which, if they had been found in other quarters also, would +have given us the Good Peace."</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><!-- Page 282 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="APPENDICES" id="APPENDICES"></a>APPENDICES</h2> + +<p><!-- Page 283 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +<a name="APPENDIX_I" id="APPENDIX_I"></a></p> + +<h2>APPENDIX I</h2> + +<h2>STATEMENT GIVEN TO THE PRESS BY U. S. FOOD +ADMINISTRATOR HOOVER ON NOVEMBER 12, 1918 +(THE DAY AFTER THE ARMISTICE BEGAN), +CONCERNING THE RESULTS OF FIFTEEN +MONTHS OF FOOD ADMINISTRATION</h2> + + +<p>With the war effectually over we enter a +new economic era, and its immediate effect on +prices is difficult to anticipate. The maintenance +of the embargo will prevent depletion of +our stocks by hungry Europe to any point below +our necessities, and anyone who contemplates +speculation in food against the needs of +these people can well be warned of the prompt +action of the government. The prices of some +food commodities may increase, but others will +decrease, because with liberated shipping accumulated +stocks in the Southern hemisphere +and the Far East will be available. The demands +upon the United States will change in +character but not in volume.<!-- Page 284 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> + +<p>The course of food prices in the United +States during the last fifteen months is of interest. +In general, for the first twelve months +of the Food Administration the prices to the +farmer increased, but decreased to the consumer +by the elimination of profiteering and +speculation. Due to increases in wages, transportation, +etc., the prices have been increasing +during the last four months.</p> + +<p>The currents which affect food prices in the +United States are much less controlled than in +the other countries at war. The powers of the +Food Administration in these matters extend:</p> + +<p>First, to the control of profits by manufacturers, +wholesalers and dealers, and the control +of speculation in foodstuffs. They do not extend +to the control of the great majority of +retailers, to public eating places, or the farmer, +except so far as this can be accomplished on a +voluntary basis.</p> + +<p>Second, the controlled buying for the Allied +civil populations and armies, the neutrals and +the American army and navy, dominates the +market in certain commodities at all times, and +in other commodities part of the time. In these +cases it is possible to effect, in coöperation with +producers and manufacturers, a certain amount +of stability in price. I have never favored attempts +to fix maximum prices by law; the uni<!-- Page 285 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>versal +history of these devices in Europe has +been that they worked against the true interests +of both producer and consumer.</p> + +<p>The course of prices during the first year of +the Food Administration, that is, practically +the period ending July 1,1918, is clearly shown +by the price indexes of the Department of Agriculture +and the Department of Labor. Taking +1913 prices as the basis, the average prices +of farm produce for the three months ending +July 1, 1917, were, according to the Department +of Agriculture's price index, 115 per cent +more than the average of 1913 prices, and according +to the Department of Labor index, it +was 91 per cent over 1913 prices. The two departments +use somewhat different bases of calculation. +The average of farmers' prices one +year later—that is, the three months ending +July 1,1918, was, according to the Department +of Agriculture indexes, 127 per cent over the +1913 basis and, according to the Department +of Labor index, was 114 per cent over the 1913 +average. Thus farm prices increased 12 per +cent on the Department of Agriculture calculations +and 23 per cent upon the Department +of Labor basis.</p> + +<p>An examination of wholesale prices, that +is, of prepared foods, shows a different story:</p> + +<p>The Department of Agriculture does not<!-- Page 286 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +maintain an index of wholesale prices, but the +Department of Labor does, and this index +shows a decrease in wholesale prices from 87 +per cent over 1913 basis to 79 per cent over the +1913 basis for the three months ending July 1, +1917, and July 1, 1918, respectively. The +Food Administration price index of wholesale +prices calculated upon still another basis shows +a decrease of from 84 per cent to 80 per cent +between these periods one year apart.</p> + +<p>Thus all indexes show an increase in farmers' +prices and a decrease in wholesale prices +of food during the year ending July 1, 1918. +In other words, a great reduction took place in +middlemen's charges, amounting to between 15 +per cent and 30 per cent depending upon the +basis of calculation adopted. These decreases +have come out of the elimination of speculation +and profiteering.</p> + +<p>The course of retail prices corroborates these +results also. Since October, 1917, the Food +Administration has had the services of 2,500 +weekly, voluntary retail price reporters +throughout the United States. These combined +reports show that the combined prices +per unit of 24 most important foodstuffs were +$6.62 in October, 1917. The same quantities +and commodities could be bought for $6.55 average +for the spring quarter, 1918—that is, a<!-- Page 287 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +small drop had taken place. During this same +period of quarters ending July 1, 1917, to July +1, 1918, the prices of clothing rose from 74 per +cent to 136 per cent over 1913, or a rise of +about 62 per cent, according to the Department +of Labor indexes.</p> + +<p>Since the spring quarter, ending July 1, +1918, there has been a rise in prices, the Department +of Agriculture index for September +showing that farm price averages were 138 per +cent over the 1913 basis, and the Department +of Labor index showing 136 per cent, or a +rise from the average of the spring quarter this +year of 11 per cent and 22 per cent respectively +to the farmer. The wholesale price index of +the Department of Labor shows a rise from 79 +per cent average of the spring quarter, 1918, +to 99 per cent for September, or a rise of 20 +per cent. The Food Administration wholesale +index shows an increase from 80 per cent +to 100 per cent, or 20 per cent for the same +period.</p> + +<p>In October, 1918, the Food Administration +retail price reports show that the retail cost of +the same quantity of the 24 principal foodstuffs +was $7.58 against an average of $6.55 +for the spring quarter 1918, or a rise of about +18 per cent.</p> + +<p>It is obvious enough that prices have risen<!-- Page 288 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +during the last three months both to the farmer +and to the wholesaler and retailer. On the +other hand, these rising prices have only kept +pace with the farmers' prices.</p> + +<p>Since the first of July this year, many economic +forces have caused a situation adverse +to the consumer. There has been a steady increase +in wages, a steady increase in cost of +the materials which go into food production +and manufacture, and in containers and supplies +of all kinds. There has been an increase +of 25 per cent in freight rates. The rents of +the country are increasing and therefore costs +of manufacturing, distribution and transportation +are steadily increasing and should inevitably +affect prices. The public should distinguish +between a rise in prices and profiteering, +for with increasing prices to the farmer—who +is himself paying higher wages and cost—and +with higher wages and transport, prices +simply must rise. An example of what this +may come to can be shown in the matter of +flour. The increased cost of transportation +from the wheat-producing regions to New +York City amounts to about forty cents per +barrel. The increased cost of cotton bags during +the last fourteen months amounts to thirty +cents per barrel of flour. The increase in +wholesalers' costs of drayage, rents, etc.,<!-- Page 289 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +amounts to ten cents, or a total of eighty cents +without including the increased costs of the +miller or retailer.</p> + +<p>Such changes do not come under the category +of profiteering. They are the necessary +changes involved by the economic differences +in the situation. We cannot "have our cake +and eat it." In other words, we cannot raise +wages, railway rates, expand our credits and +currency, and hope to maintain the same level +of prices of foods. All that the Food Administration +can do is to see as far as is humanly +possible that these alterations take place without +speculation or profiteering, and that such +readjustments are conducted in an orderly +manner. Even though it were in the power +of the Food Administration to repress prices, +the effect of maintaining the same price level +in the face of such increases in costs of manufacture, +transportation and distribution, would +be ultimately to curtail production itself. We +are in a period of inflation and we cannot avoid +the results.</p> + +<p>We have had a large measure of voluntary +coöperation both from producers, manufacturers +and wholesalers, in suppression of profiteering +and speculation. There are cases that +have required stern measures, and some millions +of dollars have been refunded in one way<!-- Page 290 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +or another to the public. The number of firms +penalized is proportionately not large to the +total firms engaged.</p> + +<p>In the matter of voluntary control of retailers +we have had more difficulty, but in the publication +from week to week in every town in +the country of "fair prices" based upon wholesale +costs and type of service, there has been +a considerable check made upon overcharges. +The Food Administration continues through +the armistice until legal peace and there will be +no relaxation of efforts to keep down profiteering +and speculation to the last moment.<!-- Page 291 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_II" id="APPENDIX_II"></a>APPENDIX II</h2> + +<h2>ADDRESS OF MR. HOOVER AT HIS INAUGURATION +AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF +MINING ENGINEERS (NEW YORK CITY, +FEBRUARY 17, 1920)</h2> + + +<p>I have been greatly honored as your unanimous +choice for President of this Institute with +which I have been associated during my entire +professional life. It is customary for your new +President, on these occasions, to make some observation +on matters of general interest from +the engineer's standpoint.</p> + +<p>The profession of engineering in the United +States comprises not alone scientific advisers +on industry, but is in great majority composed +of men in administrative positions. In such +positions they stand midway between capital +and labor. The character of your training and +experience leads you to exact and quantitative +thought. This basis of training in a great +group of Americans furnished a wonderful recruiting +ground for service in these last years<!-- Page 292 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +of tribulation. Many thousands of engineers +were called into the army, the navy, and civilian +service for the Government. Thousands of +high offices were discharged by them with credit +to the profession and the nation.</p> + +<p>We have in this country probably one hundred +thousand professional engineers. The +events of the past few years have greatly +stirred their interest in national problems. +This has taken practical form in the maintenance +of joint committees for discussion of these +problems and support to a free advisory bureau +in Washington. The engineers want nothing +for themselves from Congress. They want efficiency +in government, and you contribute to +the maintenance of this bureau out of sheer +idealism. This organization for consideration +of national problems has had many subjects +before it and I propose to touch on some of +them this evening.</p> + +<p>Even more than ever before is there necessity +for your continued interest in this vast +complex of problems that must be met by our +Government. We are faced with a new orientation +of our country to world problems. We +face a Europe still at war; still amid social +revolutions; some of its peoples still slacking +on production; millions starving; and therefore +the safety of its civilization is still hanging<!-- Page 293 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +by a slender thread. Every wind that blows +carries to our shores an infection of social diseases +from this great ferment; every convulsion +there has an economic reaction upon our +own people. If we needed further proof of +the interdependence of the world, we have it +today in the practical blockade of our export +market. The world is asking us to ratify long +delayed peace in the hope that such confidence +will be restored as will enable her to reconstruct +her economic life. We are today contemplating +maintenance of an enlarged army +and navy in preparedness for further upheavals +in the world, and failing to provide even +some insurance against war by a league to promote +peace.</p> + +<p>Out of the strain of war, weaknesses have +become ever more evident in our administrative +organization, in our legislative machinery. Our +federal government is still overcentralized, for +we have upon the hands of our government +enormous industrial activities which have yet +to be demobilized. We are swamped with debt +and burdened with taxation. Credit is woefully +inflated; speculation and waste are rampant. +Our own productivity is decreasing. +Our industrial population is crying for remedies +for the increasing cost of living and aspiring +to better conditions of life and labor.<!-- Page 294 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +But beyond all this, great hopes and aspirations +are abroad; great moral and social forces have +been stimulated by the war and will not be +quieted by the ratification of peace. These are +but some of the problems with which we must +deal. I have no fear that our people will not +find solutions. But progress is sometimes like +the old-fashioned rail fence—some rails are perhaps +misshapen and all look to point the wrong +way; but in the end, the fence progresses.</p> + +<p>Your committees, jointly with those of other +engineering societies, have had before them and +expressed their views on many matters concerning +the handling of the railways, shipping, +the reorganization of the government engineering +work, the national budget, and other practical +items.</p> + +<p>The war nationalization of railways and shipping +are our two greatest problems in governmental +control awaiting demobilization. There +are many fundamental objections to continuation +of these experiments in socialism necessitated +by the war. They lie chiefly in their destruction +of initiative in our people and the +dangers of political domination that can grow +from governmental operation. Beyond this, +the engineers will hold that the successful conduct +of great industries is to a transcendant degree +dependent upon the personal abilities and<!-- Page 295 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> +character of their employees and staff. No +scheme of political appointment has ever yet +been devised that will replace competition in +its selection of ability and character. Both +shipping and railways have today the advantage +of many skilled persons sifted out in +the hard school of competition, and even then +the government operation of these enterprises +is not proving satisfactory. Therefore, the ultimate +inefficiency that would arise from the +deadening paralysis of bureaucracy has not +yet had full opportunity for development. Already +we can show that no government under +pressure of ever-present political or sectional +interests can properly conduct the risks of extension +and improvement, or can be free from +local pressure to conduct unwarranted services +in industrial enterprise. On the other hand, +our people have long since recognized that we +cannot turn monopoly over to unrestrained +operation for profit nor that the human rights +of employees can ever be dominated by dividends.</p> + +<p>Our business is handicapped on every side +by the failure of our transportation facilities to +grow with the country. It is useless to talk +about increased production to meet an increased +standard of living in an increasing population +without a greatly increased transport equip<!-- Page 296 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>ment. +Moreover, there are very great social +problems underlying our transport system; today +their contraction is forcing a congestion of +our population around the great cities with all +that these overswollen settlements import. +Even such great disturbances as the coal strike +have a minor root in our inadequate transportation +facilities and their responsibility for intermittent +operation of the mines.</p> + +<p>We are all hoping that Congress will find a +solution to this problem that will be an advanced +step toward the combined stimulation +of the initiative of the owners, the efficiency of +operation, the enlistment of the good will of +the employees, and the protection of the public. +The problem is easy to state. Its solution is +almost overwhelming in complexity. It must +develop with experience, step by step, toward +a real working partnership of its three elements.</p> + +<p>The return of the railways to the owners +places predominant private operation upon its +final trial. If instant energy, courage and +large vision in the owners should prove lacking +in meeting the immediate situation we shall be +faced with a reaction that will drive the country +to some other form of control. Energetic +enlargement of equipment, better service, coöperation +with employees, and the least possible<!-- Page 297 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +advance in rates, together with freedom from +political interest, will be the scales upon which +the public will weigh these results.</p> + +<p>Important phases of our shipping problem +that have come before you should receive wider +discussion by the country. As the result of +war pressure, we shall spend over $2,800,000,000 +in the completion of a fleet of nineteen +hundred ships of a total of 111,000,000 tons—nearly +one quarter of the world's cargo shipping. +We are proud of this great expansion +of our marine, and we wish to retain it under +the American flag. Our shipping problem +has one large point of departure from the railway +problem, for there is no element of natural +monopoly. Anyone with a water-tight +vehicle can enter upon the seas today, and our +government is now engaged upon the conduct +of a nationalized industry in competition with +our own people and all the world besides. +While in the railways government inefficiency +could be passed on to the consumer, on the +seas we will sooner or later find it translated +to the national Treasury.</p> + +<p>Until the present time, there has been a +shortage in the world's shipping, but this is +being rapidly overtaken and we shall soon be +met with fierce competition of private industry. +If the government continues in the shipping<!-- Page 298 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +business, we shall be disappointed from the +point of view of profits. For we shall be faced +with the ability of private enterprise to make +profits from the margins of higher cost of government +operation alone. Aside from those +losses inherent in bureaucracy and political +pressure, there are others special to this case. +The largest successfully managed cargo fleet +in the world comprises about one hundred and +twenty ships and yet we are attempting to +manage nineteen hundred ships at the hands +of a government bureau. In normal times the +question of profit or loss in a ship is measured +by a few hundred tons of coal wasted, by a little +extravagance in repairs, or by four or five +days on a round trip. Beyond this, private +shipping has a free hand to set up such give-and-take +relationships with merchants all over +the world as will provide sufficient cargo for +all legs of a voyage, and these arrangements of +coöperation cannot be created by government +employees without charge or danger of favoritism. +Lest fault be found, our government officials +are unable to enter upon the detailed +higgling in fixing rates required by every cargo +and charter. Therefore they must take refuge +in rigid regulations and in fixed rates. In +result, their competitors underbid by the smallest +margins necessary to get the cargoes. The<!-- Page 299 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +effect of our large fleet in the world's markets +is thus to hold up rates, for so long as this great +fleet in one hand holds a fixed rate others will +only barely underbid. If we hold up rates an +increasing number of our ships will be idle as +the private fleet grows. On the other hand, if +we reduce rates we shall be underbid until the +government margin of larger operation cost +causes us to lose money.</p> + +<p>We shall yet be faced with the question of +demobilizing a considerable part of this fleet +into private hands, or frankly acknowledging +that we operate it for other reasons than interest +on our investment. In this whole problem +there are the most difficult considerations requiring +the best business thought in the country. +In the first instance, our national progress +requires that we retain a large fleet under +our flag to protect our national commercial expansion +overseas. Secondly, we may find it +desirable to hold a considerable government +fleet to build up trade routes in expansion of +our trade, even at some loss in operation. +Thirdly, in order to create this fleet, we have +built up an enormous ship-building industry. +Fifty per cent of the capacity of our ship yards +will more than provide any necessary construction +for American account. Therefore there is +a need of obtaining foreign orders, or the re<!-- Page 300 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>duction +of capacity, or both. I believe, with +most engineers, that, with our skill in repetition +manufacture, we can compete with any ship +builders in the world and maintain our American +wage standards; but this repetition manufacture +implies a constant flow of orders. It +would seem highly desirable, in order to maintain +the most efficient yards until they can establish +themselves firmly in the world's industrial +fabric, that the Government should continue +to let some ship construction contracts +to the lowest bidders, these contracts to supplement +private building in such a way as to +maintain the continuous operation of the most +economical yards and the steady employment +of our large number of skilled workers engaged +therein.</p> + +<p>When we consider giving orders for new +ships, we must at the same time consider the +sale of ships, as we cannot go on increasing this +fleet. When we consider sale, we are confronted +with the fact that our present ships +were built under expensive conditions of war, +costing from three to four times per ton the +pre-war amount, and that already any merchant, +subject to the long time of delivery, can +build a ship for seventy-five per cent of their +cost. It would at least seem good national +policy to sell ships today for the price we can<!-- Page 301 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +contract for delivery a year or two hence, thus +making the government a reservoir for continuous +construction.</p> + +<p>We could thus stabilize building industry to +some degree and also bring the American-owned +fleet into better balance, if each time +that the government sold three or four emergency +constructed cargo vessels it gave an order +for one ship of a better and faster type. This +would make reduction in our ship-building +steadier and would give the country the type +of ships we need.</p> + +<p>Our joint engineering committees have examined +with a great deal of care into the organization +of and our expenditure on public works +and technical services. These committees have +consistently and strongly urged the appalling +inefficiency in the government organization of +these matters. They report to you that the +annual expenditure on such works and services +now amounts to over $250,000,000 per annum, +and that they are carried out today in nine different +governmental departments. They report +that there is a great waste by lack of national +policy of coördination, in overlapping +with different departments, in competition with +each other in the purchase of supplies and materials, +and in the support of many engineering +staffs.<!-- Page 302 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> + +<p>They recommend the solution that almost +every civilized government has long since +adopted, that is, the coördination of these +measures into one department under which all +such undertakings should be conducted and +controlled. As a measure practical to our government, +they have advocated that all such +bureaus should be transferred to the Interior +Department, and all the bureaus not relating +to those matters should be transferred from the +Interior to other departments. The Committee +concludes that no properly organized and +directed saving in public works can be made +until such a re-grouping and consolidation is +carried out, and that all of the cheeseparing +that normally goes on in the honest effort of +Congressional committees to control departmental +expenditure is but a tithe of that which +could be effected if there were some concentration +of administration along the lines long since +demonstrated as necessary to the success of +private business.</p> + +<p>Another matter of government organization +to which our engineers have given adhesion is +in the matter of the national budget. To minds +charged with the primary necessity of advance +planning, coördination, provision of synchronizing +parts in organization, the whole notion of +our hit-or-miss system is repugnant. A bud<!-- Page 303 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>get +system is not the remedy for all administrative +ills, but it provides a basis of organization +that at least does not paralyze administrative +efficiency as our system does today. Through +it, the coördination of expenditure in government +department, the prevention of waste and +overlapping in government bureaus, the exposure +of the "pork barrel," and the balancing +of the relative importance of different national +activities in the allocation of our national income +can all be greatly promoted. Legislation +would also be expedited. No budget that does +not cover all government expenditure is worth +enactment. Furthermore, without such reorganization +as the grouping of construction +departments, the proper formulation of a budget +would be hopeless. The budget system in +some form is so nearly universal in civilized governments +and in completely conducted business +enterprise, and has been adopted in thirty of +our States, that its absence in our federal government +is most extraordinary. It is, however, +but a further testimony that it is always +a far cry of our citizens from the efficiency in +their business to interest in the efficiency of +their government.</p> + +<p>Another great national problem to which +every engineer in the United States is giving +earnest thought, and with which he comes in<!-- Page 304 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +daily contact, is that of the relationship of employer +and employee in industry. In this, as +in many other national problems today, we are +faced with a realization that the science of economics +has altered from a science of wealth to +a science of human relationships to wealth. We +have gone on for many years throwing the +greatest of our ingenuity and ability into the +improvement of processes and tools of production. +We have until recently greatly neglected +the human factor that is so large an element +in our very productivity. The development of +vast repetition in the process of industry has +deadened the sense of craftsmanship, and the +great extension of industry has divorced the +employer and his employee from that contact +that carried responsibility for the human problem. +This neglect of the human factor has accumulated +much of the discontent and unrest +throughout our great industrial population +and has reacted in a decrease of production. +Yet our very standards of living are dependent +on a maximum productivity up to the total necessities +of our population.</p> + +<p>Another economic result is, or will be yet, a +repercussion upon the fundamental industry +of the United States, that is, agriculture. For +the farmer will be unable to maintain his production +in the face of a constant increase in<!-- Page 305 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +the cost of his supplies and labor through +shrinkage in production in other industries. +The penalty of this disparity of effort comes +mainly out of the farmer's own earnings.</p> + +<p>I am daily impressed with the fact that there +is but one way out, and that is again to reestablish +through organized representation that +personal coöperation between employer and +employee in production that was a binding +force when our industries were smaller of unit +and of less specialization. Through this, the +sense of craftsmanship and the interest in production +can be re-created and the proper establishment +of conditions of labor and its participation +in a more skilled administration can be +worked out. The attitude of refusal to participate +in collective bargaining with representatives +of the employees' own choosing is the negation +of this bridge to better relationship. +On the other hand, a complete sense of obligation +to bargains entered upon is fundamental +to the process itself. The interests of +employee and employer are not necessarily antagonistic; +they have a great common ground +of mutuality and if we could secure emphasis +upon these common interests we would greatly +mitigate conflict. Our government can stimulate +these forces, but the new relationship of +employer and employee must be a matter of<!-- Page 306 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +deliberate organization within industry itself. +I am convinced that the vast majority of +American labor fundamentally wishes to coöperate +in production, and that this basis of +goodwill can be organized and the vitality of +production re-created.</p> + +<p>Many of the questions of this industrial relationship +involve large engineering problems, +as an instance of which I know of no better example +than the issue you plan for discussion +tomorrow in connection with the soft coal +industry. Broadly, here is an industry functioning +badly from an engineering and consequently +from an economic and human standpoint. +Owing to the intermittency of production, +seasonal and local, this industry has been +equipped to a peak load of twenty-five or +thirty per cent over the average load. It has +been provided with a twenty-five or thirty per +cent larger labor complement than it would require +if continuous operation could be brought +about. I hope your discussion will throw some +light on the possibilities of remedy. There lies +in this intermittency not only a long train of +human misery through intermittent employment, +but the economic loss to the community +of over a hundred thousand workers who could +be applied to other production, and the cost of +coal could be decreased to the consumer. This<!-- Page 307 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +intermittency lies at the root of the last strike +in the attempt of the employees to secure an +equal division among themselves of this partial +employment at a wage that could meet their +view of a living return on full employment.</p> + +<p>These are but a few of the problems that confront +us. But in the formulating of measures +of solution, we need a constant adherence to +national ideal and our own social philosophy.</p> + +<p>In the discussion of these ideals and this social +philosophy, we hear much of radicalism and +of reaction. They are, in fact, not an academic +state of mind but realize into real groups and +real forces influencing the solution of economic +problems in this community. In their present-day +practical aspects, they represent, on one +hand, roughly, various degrees of exponents of +socialism, who would directly or indirectly +undermine the principle of private property +and personal initiative, and, on the other hand, +those exponents who in varying degrees desire +to dominate the community for profit and +privilege. They both represent attempts to +introduce or preserve class privilege, either a +moneyed or a bureaucratic aristocracy. We +have, however, in American democracy an ideal +and a social philosophy that sympathizes +neither with radicalism nor reaction as they are +manifested today.<!-- Page 308 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> + +<p>For generations the American people have +been steadily developing a social philosophy +as part of their own democracy, and in these +ideals, it differs from all other democracies. +This philosophy has stood this period of test in +the fire of common sense; it is, in substance, +that there should be an equality of opportunity, +an equal chance, to every citizen. This view +that every individual should, within his lifetime, +not be handicapped in securing that particular +niche in the community to which his +abilities and character entitle him, is itself the +negation of class. Human beings are not equal +in these qualities. But a society that is based +upon a constant flux of individuals in the community, +upon the basis of ability and character, +is a moving virile mass; it is not a stratification +of classes. Its inspiration is individual initiative. +Its stimulus is competition. Its safeguard +is education. Its greatest mentor is free +speech and voluntary organization for public +good. Its expression in legislation is the common +sense and common will of the majority. +It is the essence of this democracy that progress +of the mass must arise from progress of the individual. +It does not permit the presence in +the community of those who would not give full +meed of their service.</p> + +<p>Its conception of the State is one that, rep<!-- Page 309 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>resentative +of all the citizens, will in the region +of economic activities apply itself mainly to the +stimulation of knowledge, the undertaking only +of works beyond the initiative of the individual +or group, the prevention of economic domination +of the few over the many, and the least entrance +into commerce that government functions +necessitate.</p> + +<p>The method and measures by which we solve +this accumulation of great problems will depend +upon which of these three conceptions +will reach the ascendancy amongst our +people.</p> + +<p>If we cling to our national ideals it will mean +the final isolation and the political abandonment +of the minor groups who hope for domination +of the government, either by "interests" or +by radical social theories through the control +of our political machinery. I sometimes feel +that lawful radicalism in politics is less dangerous +than reaction, for radicalism is blatant and +displays itself in the open. Unlawful radicalism +can be handled by the police. Reaction too +often fools the people through subtle channels +of obstruction and progressive platitudes. There +is little danger of radicalism's ever controlling a +country with so large a farmer population, except +in one contingency. That contingency is +from a reflex of continued attempt to control<!-- Page 310 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> +this country by the "interests" and other forms +of our domestic reactionaries.</p> + +<p>The mighty upheaval following the world +war has created turmoil and confusion in our +own country no less than in all other lands. If +America is to contribute to the advance of civilization, +it must first solve its own problems, +must first secure and maintain its own strength. +The kind of problems that present themselves +are more predominantly economic—national as +well as international—than at any period in +our history. They require quantitative and +prospective thinking and a sense of organization. +This is the sort of problems that your +profession deals with as its daily toil. You +have an obligation to continue the fine service +you have initiated and to give it your united +skill.<!-- Page 311 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_III" id="APPENDIX_III"></a>APPENDIX III</h2> + +<h2>ADDRESS OF MR. HOOVER BEFORE THE BOSTON +CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (MARCH 24, 1920)</h2> + + +<p>As you are aware, a report has recently been +issued by the Industrial Conference, of which I +have been a member together with Governor +McCall and Mr. Hooker of your State. The +conference embraced among its members representatives +from all shades of life including as +great a trade unionist as Secretary Wilson. I +propose to discuss a part of the problem considered +by that commission. There is no more difficult +or more urgent question confronting us +than constructive solution of the employment +relationship. It is not sufficient to dismiss the +subject with generous and theoretic phrases, +"justice to capital and labor," "the golden +rule," "the paramount interest of the people," +or a score of others, for there underlies this +question the whole problem of the successful +development of our democracy.<!-- Page 312 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> + +<p>During last year there was a great deal of +industrial unrest throughout the entire world. +This has somewhat moderated during the last +few months, but the underlying causes are only +slumbering. Because the country is not today +involved in any great industrial conflicts, we +should not congratulate ourselves that the +problem of industrial relations has been solved. +Furthermore, the time for proper consideration +of great problems does not lie in the midst of +great public conflict but in sober consideration +during times of tranquillity. There is little to +be gained by discussion of the causes of industrial +unrest. Every observer is aware of the +category of disturbing factors and every one +will place a different emphasis on the different +factors involved.</p> + +<p>There is, however, one outstanding matter +that differentiates our present occasion from +those that have gone before. It cannot be denied +that unrest in our industrial community +is characterized more than ever before by the +purposes and desires that go beyond the demand +for higher wages and shorter hours. The +aspirations inherent in this form of restlessness +are to a great extent psychological and intangible. +They are not, for this reason, any less +significant. There is perhaps in some local +cases an infection of European patent medi<!-- Page 313 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>cines, +and the desire to use labor for political +purposes. Aside from this, however, they do +reveal a desire on the part of the workers to +exert a larger and more organic influence in +the processes of industrial life. They want better +assurance that they will receive a just proportion +of their share of production. I do not +believe those desires are to be discouraged. +They should be turned into helpful and coöperative +channels. There is no surer road to +radicalism than repression.</p> + +<p>One can only lead up to consideration of +these problems by tracing some features of our +industrial development even though they may +be trite to most of you. One underlying cause +of these discontents is that with the growth of +large plants there has been a loss of personal +contact between employers and employees. +With the high specialization and intense repetition +in labor in industrial processes, there has +been a loss of creative interest. It is, however, +the increased production that we have gained +by this enlargement of industry that has enabled +the standard of living to be steadily advanced. +The old daily personal contact of employer +and employee working together in small +units carried with it a great mutuality of responsibility. +There was a far greater understanding +of the responsibilities toward em<!-- Page 314 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>ployees +and there was a better understanding +by employees of the economic limitations imposed +upon the employer. Nor can the direct +personal contact in the old manner be restored.</p> + +<p>With the growth of capital into larger units, +there was an inequality of the bargaining +power of the individual. Labor has therefore +gradually developed its defense against the +aggregation of capital by counter-organization. +The organized uses of strike and lockout on +either side and the entrance of their organization +into the political arena have become the +weapons for enforcement of demands. The +large development of industrial units with possible +cessation of production and service, +through strikes and lockouts, penalizes the public. +The public is not content to see these conflicts +go on, for they do not alone represent loss +in production, and thus lowering of the standard +of living, but also they may, by suspension +of public service, jeopardize the life of the community.</p> + +<p>But the solution of the industrial problem +is not solely the prevention of conflict and its +losses by finding methods of just determination +of wages and hours. Not only must solution +of those things be found out but, if we are to +secure increased production and increased standard +of living, we must reawaken interest in<!-- Page 315 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +creation, in craftsmanship and contribution of +his intelligence to management. We must surround +employment with assurance of just division +of production. We must enlist the interest +and confidence of the employees in the +business and in business processes.</p> + +<p>We have devoted ourselves for many years +to the intense improvement of the machinery +and processes of production. We have neglected +the broader human development and +satisfactions of life of the employee that leads +to greater ability, creative interest, and coöperation +in production. It is in stimulation +of these values that we can lift our industry to +its highest state of productivity, that we can +place the human factor upon the plane of perfection +reached by our mechanical processes. +To do these things requires the coöperation of +labor itself and to obtain coöperation we must +have an intimate organized relationship between +employer and the employee and that +cannot be obtained by benevolence; that can +only be obtained by calling the employee to a +reciprocal service.</p> + +<p>Therefore it has been the guiding thought of +the conference that if these objects are to be +obtained a definite and continuous organized +relationship must be created between the employer +and the employee and that by the or<!-- Page 316 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>ganization +of this relationship conflict in industry +can be greatly mitigated, misunderstanding +can be eliminated, and that spirit of coöperation +can be established that will advance the conditions +of labor and secure increased productivity.</p> + +<p>It is idle to argue that there are at times no +conflict of interest between the employee and +the employer. But there are wide areas of activity +in which their interests should coincide, +and it is the part of statesmanship on both sides +to organize this identity of interest in order to +limit the area of conflict. If we are to go on +with the present disintegrating forces, these +conflicts become year by year more critical to +the existence of the State. If we cannot secure +a reduction in their destructive results by +organization of mutual action in industry, then +I fear that public resentment will generate a +steadily larger intervention of the Government +into these questions.</p> + +<p>In consideration of a broad, comprehensive, +national policy, the Conference had before it +four possible alternative lines of action. First, +the attempt to hew out a national policy in the +development of the progressive forces at work +for better understanding in industry under +such conditions as would maintain self-government +in industry itself; or, secondly, to adopt<!-- Page 317 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +some of the current plans of industrial courts, +involving summary decision with jail for refusal +to accept, such as that initiated in the +State of Kansas; or, thirdly, the nationalization +at least of the services upon which the very +life of the community depends; fourthly, to do +nothing.</p> + +<p>In a survey of the forces making for self-government +in industry, the Conference considered +that definite encouragement must be +given to the principles of collective bargaining, +of conciliation, of arbitration, but that such +forces could not develop in an atmosphere of +legal repression. There is but little conflict of +view as to the principle of collective bargaining +and its vital corollary, fidelity to the bargain +made. There has been conflict over the methods +of representation on both sides. The Conference, +therefore, has proposed that the +Government should intervene to assist in determination +of the credentials of the representatives +of both sides in case of disagreement, and +that such pressure should be brought to bear as +would induce voluntary entry into collective +bargain. Furthermore, it was considered that +the large development of conciliation and arbitration +already current in connection with such +bargaining should be encouraged and organized +under a broad national plan that would<!-- Page 318 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +give full liberty of action to all existing arrangements +of this character and stimulate +their further development.</p> + +<p>The Conference has therefore proposed to set +up a small amount of governmental machinery +comprising Chairmen covering various regions +in the United States, with a Central Board +in Washington, as a definite organization for +the promotion of these agencies. It has believed +that this is a step consonant with the normal +development of our institutions and the +progressive forces already in motion, and that +in such steps lie the greatest hope of success. +No one is compelled to submit to the machinery +established but where the employer and employee +refuse to enter into, or fail in, bargaining, +then through the use of this machinery the +public stimulates them to come together under +conditions of just determination of the credentials +of their representatives. The plan is, +therefore, a development of the principle of +collective bargaining. It is not founded on the +principle of arbitration or compulsion. It is designed +to prevent the losses through cessation +of production due to conflict but, beyond this, +to build up such relationship between employer +and employees as will not only mitigate such +disaster but will ultimately extend further into +the development of the great mutual ground<!-- Page 319 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +of interest of increased production and under +conditions of satisfaction to both sides. It is +a part of the conception of the Conference that +only in bargaining and mutual agreement can +there be given that free play of economic forces +necessary to adjust the complex conditions +under which our industries must function.</p> + +<p>Reduction of conflict in industry is the phase +that not only looms large in the public mind, +but conflict is the public exhibit of the greatest +mark of failure in industrial relations. The imminence +of conflict is evidence of failure to have +discussion or to arrival at mutual agreement. +Therefore, under the plan of the Conference +that mutual agreement is the best basis for prevention +of conflict, the second step in the Conference +proposals is that there should be a penalty +for failure to submit to such processes. +That penalty is a public inquiry into the causes +of the dispute and the proper ventilation to +public opinion as to its rights and wrongs. The +strength of the penalty is based upon the conviction +that neither side can afford to lose public +good will. Pressure to rectitude by government +investigation is distinctly an American +institution. It is not an intervention of +public interest that is usually welcomed. In +the plan of this Conference, this general repugnance +to investigation is depended upon as<!-- Page 320 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +a persuasive influence to the parties of the conflict +to get together and settle their own quarrels. +They are given the alternative of investigation +or collective bargain under persuasive +circumstances. In order to increase the moral +pressures surrounding the investigation, either +one of the parties to the conflict may become a +member of the board of investigation, provided +he will have entered on an <i>a priori</i> undertaking +that he is prepared to submit his case to orderly +and simple processes of adjustment. Thus his +opponent will be put at more than usual disadvantage +in the investigation. If both sides +should agree to submit to normal processes of +settlement, the board of investigation becomes +at once the stage of a collective bargain and the +investigation ceases.</p> + +<p>I will not trouble you with the elaborate details +of the plan, for they involved a great deal +of consideration as to many difficult questions +of selection of representatives, provision for +action by umpires, for appeal to a board in +certain contingencies, the character of questions +to be considered, methods of enforcement, +standards of labor, and so on. The point that +I wish to make clear is that the Conference +plan is fundamentally the promotion of collective +bargaining under fair conditions of representation +by both sides and the definite organi<!-- Page 321 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>zation +of public opinion only as a pressure on +the parties at conflict to secure it. It is therefore +basically not a plan of arbitration, nor is it +an industrial court. It is stimulation to self-government +in industry. The plan contains +no essence of opposition to organized labor or +organized employers. It involves no dispute of +the right to strike or lock out, nor of the closed +or open shop. It simply proposes a sequence of +steps that should lead to collective bargain +without imposing compulsions, courts, injunctions, +fines, or jail. It is at least a new step +and worth careful consideration before employees +and employers subject themselves to +the growth of public demands for the other alternatives +of wider governmental interference.</p> + +<p>The Conference has set out the critical necessity +of the development within industry itself +of a better basis of understanding as having +the great values that all prevention has over +cures. There have been hopeful developments +in American industry during the past two or +three years in this direction. The first unit of +employment relationship is each industrial establishment, +and if we would battle with misunderstanding +and secure mutual action it +must be at this stage. It takes its visible form +in the organization in many establishments +under various plans of shop councils, shop<!-- Page 322 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +committees, shop conference, all of which are +based on the democratic selection of representatives +of employees who shall remain in continuous +open and frank relation and conference +with the employer in the interests of both. +Where this development has had success it +has had one essential foundation; that is, that +it must be conceived in a spirit of coöperation +for mutual benefit and it has invariably lost +out where it has been conceived solely to bargain +for wages and conditions of labor. It does +not necessarily involve profit-sharing, but it +does involve a human approach to the problems +on both sides and a mutual effort at betterment.</p> + +<p>It is the organization of such contact between +employer and employees which distinguishes +this advance from the previous drift +in large industry. This type of organization +has met with success not only in non-union +shops but in unionized shops, and in the latter +case it has imported the spirit of mutuality in +addition to sheer negotiation of grievance as +to conditions of labor. It cannot, in our view, +succeed if it is to be conceived in a spirit of antagonism +either to employer or to union organization.</p> + +<p>The trade unions of the United States have +conferred such essential services upon their<!-- Page 323 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +membership and upon the community that their +real values are not to be overlooked or destroyed. +They can fairly claim great credit +for the abolition of sweat shops, for recognition +of fairer hours in industry, reduction of +overstrain, employment under more healthful +conditions, and many other reforms. These +gains have been made through hard-fought +collective bargains and part of the difficulties +of the labor situation today is the bitterness +with which these gains were accomplished. In +my own experience in industry I have always +found that a frank and friendly acceptance of +the unions' agreements, while still maintaining +the open shop, has led to constructive relationship +and mutual interest.</p> + +<p>In the early days trade unionism was dominated +mainly by the economic theories of Adam +Smith, and union labor at that time adopted as +one of its tenets that a decrease of productive +effort by workers below their physical necessities +would result in more employment and better +wage. During the past twenty-five or +thirty years, this economic error has been steadily +diminishing in American trade unions and +while it may be adhered to by some isolated +cases today it is not the economic conception +of large parts of that body. The great majority +have long since realized that an increased<!-- Page 324 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +standard of living of the whole nation must depend +upon a maximum production within the +limits of proper conservation of the human machine. +We find, during the past few years, +many of the unions embracing the further principle +of actual coöperation with the employer +to increase production. I believe the development +of this latter theme opens avenues for +the usefulness and growth of trade unionism of +greater promise than any hitherto tried. I am +aware of the current criticism in some union +quarters of the development of the shop +council idea for this purpose, and there are perhaps +isolated cases that give merit to this opposition. +The strongest argument of union +labor against the shop council system should lie +in the fact that nation-wide organization of +labor is essential in order to cope with the unfair +employers, but I believe that if they embrace +encouragement to shop council organization +they open for themselves not only this +prevention of unfairness but the whole new +field of constructive coöperation and the further +reduction of industrial conflict.</p> + +<p>Attempts by governments to stop industrial +war are not new. The public interest in continuous +production and operation is so great +that practically every civilized government +has time and again ventured upon an attempt<!-- Page 325 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +at its reduction. There is a great background +of experience in this matter, for the world is +strewn with failure of labor conferences, conciliation +boards, arbitration boards, and industrial +courts. This Conference, of course, had +in front of it and in the experience of its members +this background of the past score of years. +I understand that recently you have had ably +presented to you the industrial solution that +has been enacted into legislation by the State +of Kansas. I think some short discussion of +this legislation may be of interest in illuminating +the difference in point of view between the +industrial conference and that legislation. The +Kansas plan is, I believe, the first large attempt +at judicial settlement of labor disputes in the +United States. With the exception of one particular, +it is practically identical with the industrial +acts of Australasia of fifteen to twenty +years ago. It comprises the erection of an industrial +court, the legal repression of the right +to strike and lockout under drastic penalties, +the determination of minimum wage, and involves +a consideration of a fair profit to the +employer. The Kansas machinery goes one +step further than any hitherto provided in this +particular of placing more emphasis on fair +profits and it also provides for the right of the +State to take over and conduct the industry in<!-- Page 326 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +last resort. Under the enumerated industries +in the Kansas law, probably two thirds of +Massachusetts industry would be involved. +No man can say that this legislation may not +succeed in Kansas or under American conditions. +The experiment is valuable, and if it +should prove a success to both employees and +employers Kansas will have again taken the +initiative in service to her sister states.</p> + +<p>I will not be taken as a carping critic if I +point out the difficulties in its progress on the +basis of Australasian experience. It may, as +did the Australasian acts, have a period of apparent +success, and the workers benefit by an +initial service in planing out the worst injustices. +So far as I can see today, there is no +reason why it will not run the same course as +in Australia, where the amount of strikes and +dislocation was ultimately as great under these +laws as in countries without them. In periods +of industrial prosperity, the advancing wage +usually adjudicated by the industrial courts +prevents strikes, but in times of industrial depression +decisions against the work people give +rise to the old form of resistance.</p> + +<p>No one denies the right of the individual +to cease work. The question involved in this +form of legislation is the right to combination +in common action by strike. Whatever the<!-- Page 327 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +right may be, it is a certainty that the working +community of the civilized world adheres to +this right as an absolute fundamental to their +protection. They believe that the aggregation +of capital into large units under single control +places them at an entire disadvantage if they +cannot threaten to use their ultimate weapon +of combined cessation of labor. While +it may be argued that the State may intervene +in such a manner as to substitute the protection +of justice for the right of strike and lockout, +the belief in the right to strike has become imbedded +in the minds of the laboring community +of the world to an extent that it will not receive +with confidence any alternative in driving its +own bargains.</p> + +<p>There are other difficulties in compulsory +adjudication of disputes. The workings of +such law necessarily result in ultimate determination +of minimum wage for all crafts and +industries. Every different industrial unit will +claim a different minimum based upon its local +economic surroundings. Otherwise the competitive +basis upon which industry is established +will be undermined. No court has ever yet adequately +solved these differentials and some dislocation +of industry results. I would expect +to see develop out of this type of minimum +wage the same phenomenon that existed in<!-- Page 328 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +some parts of Australia, where certificates of +inability to earn the minimum, and therefore +permission to undertake employment at less +than this wage had to be issued in order that +employment might be found for the aged and +disabled. The employers will naturally in face +of a minimum wage retain in employment that +quality of worker that can give the maximum +effort. Another difficulty is the tendency for +wages of all workers, regardless of their ability, +to fall to the minimum, for the employer +naturally reduces the good to average with the +poor worker. I would not want to be understood +to necessarily oppose the possibilities of a +minimum wage for women over large areas, as +distinguished from craft minimums for men, +because certain social questions enter that problem +to an important degree.</p> + +<p>There is another feature of the Kansas Act +that should be given a great deal of consideration, +and that is its essential provision that in +the determination of wage disputes it shall be +based on a fair profit to the employer. This +must ultimately lead to a determination as to +what a fair profit consists of, just as minimum +wage will need be found for every craft and +every establishment. I do not assume that any +employer will contend for an unfair profit, but +the termination of what may be a fair or unfair<!-- Page 329 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> +profit in respect to the hazards involved in the +institution of a business, in its conduct over a +long term of years, its necessary provisions for +its replacement and future disasters, is a matter +that has not yet been satisfactorily determined +by either theoretic economics, legislation, +or courts. In competitive industry the +processes of business determine this matter +every day, and owners will only claim such +determination by the State when the competitive +tide is against them. We have long since +recognized the rights of the State to determine +maximum profits in case of a monopoly, but +the determination of minimum profits (for fair +profit is a minimum as well as maximum) may +deliver large burdens to the people. Moreover, +I doubt whether labor will ultimately welcome +such determination, for an unsuccessful plant, +instead of abandoning its production to its +competitors, will claim wage reductions from +the courts, and the general level of wages can +thus be driven down and the State, at least +morally, becomes a guarantor of profits in overdeveloped +industry. This plan in the long run +substitutes government control of industry for +competition.</p> + +<p>As to whether such acts will not tend to crush +out initiative, credit, and curtail the proper development +of industry, can only be determined<!-- Page 330 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +with time. Generally, it should be clearly +understood that compulsory settlement of employment +at best only assures continuity of +production through just wages, hours and profits. +It does not approach the problem from +the point of view of upbuilding a relation in +industry that will, if successful, not only eliminate +strikes and lockouts, but make constructively +for greater production and cheaper costs.</p> + +<p>The economic repercussions from such regulation +do not all lie in favor of either capital +or labor. To curtail the activities in one is not +necessarily a favor to the other.</p> + +<p>I am sure you would, upon consideration, +view the entry of the Government on a nation-wide +scale into the determination of fair wage +and fair profit in industry, even if it could be +accomplished without force, with great apprehension. +There are some things worse in the +development of democracy than strikes and +lockouts, and whether by legislative repression +we do not set up economic and social repercussions +of worse character is by no means determined. +They have also the deficiency in that +they undermine the real development of self-government +in industry and that, to me, is part +of the growth of democracy itself. Courts and +litigation are necessary to the preservation of +life and property, but they are less stimulus<!-- Page 331 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +to improved relations among men than are discussion +and disposal of their own differences.</p> + +<p>The whole world is groping for solution to +this problem. If we cannot solve it <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: progresively in original">progressively</ins>, +our civilization will go back to chaos. +We cannot stand still with the economic and +social forces that surround us. There has +never been a complete panacea to all human relationships +so far in this world. The best we +can do is to take short steps forward, to align +each step to the tried ideals that have carried us +thus far. The Conference has endeavored to +find a plan for systematic organization of the +forces that are making for better relationships, +to encourage the growing acceptance of collective +bargaining by providing a method that +should enable it to meet the objections of its +critics and to aggregate around this the forces +of conciliation and arbitration now in such wide +use. It has sought to do this without legal repression +but with the organized pressure of +public opinion.</p> + +<p>To me there is no question that we should try +the experiment of the perhaps longer road proposed +by the Industrial Conference for the development +of mutuality of relationship between +employer and employee, rather than to +enter upon summary action of court decision +that may both stifle the delicate adjustment of<!-- Page 332 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> +industrial processes and cause serious conflict +over human rights. We must all agree that +those deficiencies in our social, economic and +political structure which find solution through +education and voluntary action of our people +themselves are the solutions that endure. To +me, the upbuilding of the sense of responsibility +and of intelligence in each individual unit +in the United States with the intervention of +government only to promote the development +of these relations, the suppression of domination +by any one group over another, is the basis +upon which democracy must progress.</p> + +<p>Upon the solution of industrial peace and +good will does the gradual lift of the standard +of life of our whole people rest by increase in the +material and intellectual output and its proper +distribution among all of us. To me the philosophic +background of solution lies in rigorous +application to economic life of our tried national +ideal—the equality of opportunity and +the preservation of industrial initiative; that +is, the stimulation of every individual by his +own effort to take that position in the community +to which his abilities and character entitle +him and the protection to him to attain that +end. In the earlier days of our democracy, +with its simpler economic life, we were concerned +more with the application of this ideal<!-- Page 333 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +in its social and political phases. It has been +so long and firmly established there that it is +no longer a matter of discussion. With the +growth of greater complexity in our economic +life, its practical application to the sharing in +the material and intellectual output in proportion +to effort, ability, and character, becomes +more difficult. It must, nevertheless, be adhered +to if the ideal of our democracy is not +to be abandoned.</p> + +<p>I do not believe we can attain this equality +of opportunity or maintain initiative through +crystallization of economic classes or groups +arraigned against each other, exerting their +interest by economic and political conflicts, nor +can we attain it by transferring to governmental +bureaucracies the distribution of material +and intellectual products. I do believe that +we can attain it by systematic prevention of +domination of the few over the many and +stimulation of individual effort in the whole +mass.</p> + +<p>It is well enough to hold a philosophic +view, but the problems of day to day that +arise under it are very practical problems that +require concrete solution, and the employment +relation is one of them.<!-- Page 334 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_IV" id="APPENDIX_IV"></a>APPENDIX IV</h2> + +<h2>SOME NOTES ON AGRICULTURAL READJUSTMENT +AND THE HIGH COST OF LIVING<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">By Herbert Hoover</span></p> + + +<p>The high cost of living is a temporary economic +problem, surrounded by high emotions. +The agricultural industry is a permanent economic +problem, surrounded by many dangers. +We are now entering into our regular four-year +period of large promises to sufferers of +all kinds. Except to demagogues and to the +fellows who farm the farmer, there are no easy +formulas; nevertheless, there are constructive +forces that can be put in motion—and these +are good times to get them talked about.</p> + +<p>As bearing upon some suggestion of constructive +solution, I wish to establish and analyze +certain propositions. Amongst other +things they involve a clear understanding of +the bearings of different segments of the total<!-- Page 335 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> +price of food between the different links in the +chain of production and distribution. These +propositions are:</p> + +<p>First: That the high cost of living is due +largely to inflation and shortage in world production; +speculation is an incident of these +forces, not the cause.</p> + +<p>Second: That the farmer's prices are fixed +by the impact of world wholesale prices; that +such prices bear only a remote relation to his +costs of production.</p> + +<p>Third: That any increase or decrease in the +cost of placing the farmer's products into the +hands of the wholesaler is a deduction from or +addition to the farmer's prices; that is, an expansion +or contraction of the margin between +the farm and wholesale prices makes an increase +or decrease in the farmer's return.</p> + +<p>Fourth: That increase or decrease in the +cost of distributing food from the wholesaler +to the door of the ultimate consumer is a deduction +or addition predominantly to the consumer's +cost; that is, the margin between the +wholesaler and consumer in its increases or +decreases is largely an addition or subtraction +from the consumer's price.</p> + +<p>Fifth: That these two margins in most of our +commodities except grain were, before the war, +the largest in the world; that they have grown<!-- Page 336 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +abnormally during the war, except during the +year of food control.</p> + +<p>Sixth: That analysis of the character of the +margin between the farmer and wholesaler will +show that decreases in price find immediate +reflection on the farmer, while immediate increases +in price are absorbed by the trades between +and the farmer gets but a lagging increase.</p> + +<p>Seventh: That an analysis of these margins +will show that they can be constructively diminished +but that, regrettable as it is, the prosecution +of profiteers will not do it.</p> + +<p>Eighth: That the problem must be solved, if +our agriculture is to be maintained and if the +balance between agriculture and general industry +is to be preserved so as to prevent our +becoming dependent upon imports for food, +with a train of industrial and national dangers.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Present Prices Due to Inflation and +Shortage in World Production</span></p> + +<p>Our war inflation does not lie so much +in our increased gold and currency. Our +currency per capita has increased by perhaps +25 or 30 per cent, but, compared to +European practice of currency inflations of +200 to 800 per cent, our conduct has been<!-- Page 337 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +provident indeed. This is not, however, the +real area of inflation. It lies in the expansion +of our bank credits. If we exclude the +savings bank as not being credit institutions +in the ordinary sense, and if we compile the +commercial bank deposits, we still no doubt +gather in some real savings, but nevertheless +the figures show a considerable color of inflation +somewhere. No one need think we have gotten +so suddenly rich as the money complexion +of these figures might indicate. At the outset +it should be emphasized that all figures of this +kind are subject to dispute and interpretation; +but, after all such deductions, the indication of +tendencies remains.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br bt bb"> Year</td> + <td align='center' class="br bt bb"> Bank Deposit Total</td> + <td align='center' class="bt bb"> Per Cent Change from 1913</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1913</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 11,390,918,596</td> + <td align='center'> 100.0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1914</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 11,974,760,593</td> + <td align='center'> 105.1</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1915</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 12,282,097,638</td> + <td align='center'> 107.8</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1916</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 15,398,090,701</td> + <td align='center'> 135.2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1917</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 18,444,103,496</td> + <td align='center'> 161.9</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1918</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 20,425,067,839</td> + <td align='center'> 179.3</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br bb"> 1919</td> + <td align='center' class="br bb"> 24,971,784,000</td> + <td align='center' class="bb"> 219.2</td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<p>It will be accepted at once that the volume of +bank deposits must grow with increased commodity +production and therefore we may +roughly examine into this as well. If we combine +the tonnage productivity of agriculture, +metals, coal, salt, cement, lumber and the quar<!-- Page 338 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>ries, +we shall cover the great bulk of our products. +These figures also must be taken as +merely indicating the tendencies of the times.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br bt bb"> Year</td> + <td align='center' class="br bt bb"> Production in Tons</td> + <td align='center' class="bt bb"> Per Cent Change from 1913</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1913</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1,081,293,417</td> + <td align='center'> 100.0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1914</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1,019,018,207</td> + <td align='center'> 94.2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1915</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1,073,472,988</td> + <td align='center'> 99.3</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1916</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1,162,489,530</td> + <td align='center'> 107.5</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1917</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1,241,173,806</td> + <td align='center'> 114.8</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1918</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1,247,787,883</td> + <td align='center'> 115.4</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br bb"> 1919</td> + <td align='center' class="br bb"> 1,117,181,233</td> + <td align='center' class="bb"> 103.3</td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<p>If we attach the index of prices during these +periods and compare them with the per cent +variation in commodity production and bank +deposits, we have the following interesting +parallels:</p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br bb bt"> Year</td> + <td align='center' class="br bb bt"> Per Cent Change in Production from 1913</td> + <td align='center' class="br bb bt"> Per Cent Change in Bank Deposits from 1913</td> + <td align='center' class="bb bt"> Department of Labor Wholesale Index of All Commodities</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1913</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 100.0</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 100.0</td> + <td align='center'> 100.0</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1914</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 94.2</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 105.1</td> + <td align='center'> 99.3</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1915</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 99.3</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 107.8</td> + <td align='center'> 100.5</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1916</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 107.5</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 135.2</td> + <td align='center'> 120.5</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1917</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 114.8</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 161.9</td> + <td align='center'> 175.9</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="br"> 1918</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 115.4</td> + <td align='center' class="br"> 179.3</td> + <td align='center'> 196.6</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center' class="bb br"> 1919</td> + <td align='center' class="bb br"> 103.3</td> + <td align='center' class="bb br"> 219.2</td> + <td align='center' class="bb"> 214.5</td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Two different extreme schools of economics +will interpret these tables differently. One will<!-- Page 339 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +hold that the increase in credit and money must +influence prices in exact ratio. The other will +hold the rise of prices as due to shortage in +production, either at home or abroad, and that +rise in price necessitates an increase in credits +and money to carry on commerce. Both are +probably right, for short production and inflation +probably alternatively serve as cause and +effect. The first school has some claims upon +the large volume of gold we imported the first +three years of the war and multiplied into +credits—as the cause prior to our coming into +the war. They can also point out that our +Treasury and banks deliberately inflated bank +credits in order to place war loans and that if +this form of credits was removed our expansion +would be nothing like its present volume. +As necessary as it may have been to use this +method in securing quick money at a low rate +during the war, there are the strongest objections +to it since the armistice was signed. If +our post-war finance at least had been secured +from savings by offering sufficiently attractive +terms, the inflation would be less although +the market price of Liberty Bonds might +be lower.</p> + +<p>That short world production has been one +of the causes of rising prices cannot be denied. +The warring powers of Europe took 60,000,<!-- Page 340 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>000 +men from production (nearly one third +their productive man power) and put it to destruction. +They have lived to a great degree +by gain of commodities from the United +States, and thus brought their shortage to our +shores. They have not yet altogether recovered +from the holidays of victory, the gloom of defeat, +the persuasive "isms" that would find production +without work, the destruction of their +economic unity, transportation, credits, and +other fundamentals necessary to maintain production. +It will be some time before they do +recover. In the meantime, they are perforce +reducing their consumption—their standard of +living—because they have largely exhausted +their securities, commodities or credit to continue +the borrowing of our commodities for +their own short production, as during the war. +The exchange barometer is today witness of +the end of this procedure of living on borrowed +money. In passing, it may be mentioned that +exchange is no more a cause of their inability +to buy from us than is the barometer the cause +of blizzards. The storm is that they have mostly +exhausted their credits and they have not recovered +production so as to offer commodities +to us in exchange for ours.</p> + +<p>Our own industrial production, as distinguished +from agricultural production, has<!-- Page 341 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +fallen rapidly since the armistice. Some of the +fall is due to war weariness, some to "isms" +that have infected us from Europe, some to +the natural abandonment of high cost production +brought into play during the war, some +to strikes and a host of other wastes. Our consumption +has greatly increased since the restraints +of war. Decrease had not penetrated +our agricultural community up to 1919 harvest, +nor will such decrease arise from these +causes, but as I will set out later, forces are entering +that will decrease our agricultural production. +Our production in nearly all important +food commodities except sugar is in surplus +of our own need. It only becomes a shortage +affecting prices under the drain of exports. +Therefore, it is the world shortage that is affecting +our price levels, and not, so far, a +deficiency for our needs.</p> + +<p>So far as relief from price influence by shortage +in production is concerned, it may arise in +two ways. First, slowly through gradual recuperation +in world production. Second, by +compulsory reduction of consumption in Europe +through their inability to pay us by commodities, +gold or credits. This latter has been +very evident through the drop in exchange and +engagements for export during the past few +weeks.<!-- Page 342 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Three Divisions of the Price</span></p> + +<p>The cost of food to the consumer is divided +among the farmers on one hand and storage, +manufacture, jobbers, wholesalers, retailers +and transportation on the other. I believe these +charges between the farmer and consumer fall +into two distinct groups—the charges comprising +the margin between the farmer and wholesaler +which mainly concern the farmer, and +charges between the wholesaler and consumer, +which mainly concern the consumer. To establish +this division, it is necessary to analyze +shortly the datum point by which price is +determined.</p> + +<p>The diet of the American people from a nutritional +(not financial) standpoint comprises +the following articles and proportion:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td> +Wheat and Rye</td><td>29.5%</td><td></td><td> +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +Pork Products</td><td>15.7%</td><td></td><td> +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +Dairy Products</td><td>15.3%</td><td></td><td> +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +Beef Products</td><td>5.3%</td><td></td><td> +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +Corn Products</td><td>7.0%</td><td></td><td> +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +Sugar Products</td><td>13.2%</td><td></td><td> +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +Vegetable Oils</td><td>3.6%</td><td>89.6%</td><td> +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +All other, including potatoes</td><td></td><td>10.4%</td><td>100.0% +</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The wholesale price of about 90 per cent of +our food in normal times is only remotely de<!-- Page 343 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>termined +by the cost of production, but mostly +by world conditions. We export a surplus of +most commodities among the 90 per cent and +the prices of exports are determined by competition +with other world supplies in the European +wholesale markets. Those items in this +90 per cent that we do not export are influenced +by the same forces, because in normal +times we import them on any considerable +variation in price and the wholesaler naturally +buys in the cheapest market. Even milk is to a +considerable degree controlled by butter imports +in normal times. When we import butter +it releases more milk in competition. This +cannot be said to such extent of most of the +odd 10 per cent, because they are largely perishables +that do not stand overseas transport +and consequently rise and fall more nearly directly +upon local supply and demand. Some +economists will at once argue that if prices are +unprofitable to the farmer the situation will +correct itself by diminished production and, +consequently, a general rise in the world level +of prices. In the abstract, this is true, but as +a matter of fact the surplus which our farmers +contribute for export is only a small portion +of their total production or of the world pool, +yet the total of the world pool operating through +this minor segment makes the prices for a large<!-- Page 344 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +part of the farmers' commodities. Therefore, +the effect in normal times of restriction in +production in any one country does not affect +price so much as theoretic argument would +believe. The farmer must plant if he would +live, and he must plant long in advance of +his knowledge of prices or world production. +He can make no contracts in advance of his +planting, nor can he cease operations on the +day prices fall too low. He is driven on, +year after year, in hope and necessity, and +will continue over long periods with a standard +of return below rightful living because +he has no other course—and always has hopes. +He will vary fairly rapidly from one commodity +to another—from wheat to other +grains, for instance—but he mostly raises +his maximum of something. In the long +run of decreasing prices he would undoubtedly +reach so low a standard as to cease production. +Then comes a comparatively short period of +higher prices in some commodity; production +is again stimulated and followed by long +intervals of low standards. As shown by +the following table, on the whole, the farmer +has not been underpaid during the war, but +the currents again are turning against +him.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that the farmer enjoyed prices<!-- Page 345 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +equivalent to or higher than the general level +up to the last six months. He is now, however, +falling behind in some important products. +Unlike the industrial workers, he is unable to +demand an adjustment of his income to the +changed index of living.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" rowspan="2" class="bb bt br">Department of Labor<br/> + Wholesale Index of<br/> + All Commodities + </td> + <td colspan="5" class="bb bt">Index of Prices at the + Farm in Principal + Produce States + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="bb br">All<br/>Farm<br/>Produce</td> + <td class="bb br">Hogs</td> + <td class="bb br">Corn</td> + <td class="bb br">Wheat</td> + <td class="bb">Cotton</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="br">Pre-war</td> + <td class="br">100</td> + <td class="br">100</td> + <td class="br">100</td> + <td class="br">100</td> + <td class="br">100</td> + <td>100</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="br">First Quarter 1918</td> + <td class="br">187</td> + <td class="br">200</td> + <td class="br">213</td> + <td class="br">224</td> + <td class="br">254</td> + <td>246</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="br">Last Quarter 1918</td> + <td class="br">206</td> + <td class="br">204</td> + <td class="br">223</td> + <td class="br">220</td> + <td class="br">258</td> + <td>246</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="br">First Quarter 1919</td> + <td class="br">200</td> + <td class="br">202</td> + <td class="br">225</td> + <td class="br">228</td> + <td class="br">264</td> + <td>215</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="br">Last Quarter 1919</td> + <td class="br">230</td> + <td class="br">206</td> + <td class="br">178</td> + <td class="br">216</td> + <td class="br">277</td> + <td>268</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>For the moment, what I wish to establish +is only that the farmer's prices are not +based upon any conception of the cost of +production, but upon forces in which he has +no voice. He can never organize to put his +industry in a "cost plus" basis as industrial +producers do, and remedy must be found +elsewhere.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Two Margins</span></p> + +<p>As stated, the margin between the farmer +and consumer falls into two divisions—one of<!-- Page 346 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> +which predominantly affects the farmer and +the other the consumer. It is really the wholesale +prices that govern the farmer, rather than +retail prices, for it is in wholesale prices that +the farmer competes with the world. As the +prices paid by the wholesaler are mostly fixed +by overseas trade at the datum point on the +Atlantic seaboard or in Europe, then if the +margins between the wholesaler and the farmer +are unduly large, or increase, it is mostly to +the farmer's detriment. For instance, as the +price of the farmer's wheat in normal times +is made in Liverpool, any increase in handling +comes out of the farmer's price. Likewise, +as the wholesale price of butter is made by +the import of Danish butter into New York, +any increase in the numbers or charges between +our farmer and the wholesale buyer comes, to a +considerable degree, out of the farmer.</p> + +<p>As the datum point of determining prices +is at the wholesaler, the accretion by the +charges for distribution from that point forward +to the consumer's door will not affect the +farmer, but will affect the consumer. When +competition decreases through shortage the +consumer pays the added profits of these trades.</p> + +<p>Studies of the cost of our distribution system, +made by the Food Administration during +the war, established two prime conditions. The<!-- Page 347 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +first is that the margins between our farmers +and the wholesaler in commodities other than +grain in some instances, are, even in normal +times, the highest in any civilized state—fully +25 per cent higher than in most European +countries. The expensiveness of our chain of +distribution in most commodities in normal +times, as compared to Continental countries, is +due partly to the wide distances of the producing +areas from the dominating consuming areas, +but there are other contributing causes that can +be remedied. In Europe, the great public +markets in the cities bring farmer and consumer +closely together in many commodities, but in +the United States the bulk of products are too +far afield for this. The farmer must market +through a long chain of manufacturers, brokers, +jobbers and wholesalers with or without +their own distribution system, who must establish +a clientele of direct retailers; and thus +public markets, except in special locations and +in comparatively few commodities, have not +been successful. Another major factor in our +cost of distribution is the increasing demand +for expensive service by our consumers. There +are many other factors that bear on the problem +and the economic results of our system which +are discussed, together with some suggestion +of remedy, later on.<!-- Page 348 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p> + +<p>The second result of these studies was to +show the great widening of this margin during +the war. During the year of the Food Administration's +active restraint on this margin, +there was an advance of six points in the wholesale +index while the farmer's index moved up +25 points. Both before and after that period +the two indexes moved up together. The same +can be said of the margins between the wholesaler +and the consumer. Taking the period of +the war as a whole, the margin between the +farmer and consumer has widened to an extravagant +degree.</p> + +<p>A good instance of a movement in margins +is shown in flour in 1917. The farmer's average +return for wheat of the 1916 harvest, as +shown by the Department of Agriculture, was +about $1.42. As about four and one-half bushels +of wheat are required to make a barrel of +flour, the farmer's share of the receipts from +this harvest was about $6.40 per barrel. In +1917, before the Food Administration came +into being, flour rose to $17.50 per barrel to +the consumer, or, at that time, a margin of +$11.00 per barrel. During the Administration, +the farmer received an average of about $2.00 +for wheat at the farm, or about $9.00 out of a +barrel of flour. The consumer paid $12.50, the +margin being about $3.50 per barrel.<!-- Page 349 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p> + +<p>This increase in margins shows vividly in the +higher priced foods, for instance, pork products. +If we take hogs at the railway station +over the great hog states contiguous to Chicago +as a basis, we find:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td class="bb br bt">Six<br/>Months</td> + <td class="bb br bt">Price of Hogs<br/> + in Principal<br/> + States<br/> + Per 100 Lbs.</td> + <td class="bb br bt">Price of<br/> + Cured Products<br/> + to Consumer<br/> + 100 Lbs. Hogs</td> + <td class="bb bt">Margin<br/> + Between<br/> + Farmer and<br/> + Consumer + </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="br">1914</td> + <td class="br">$7.45</td> + <td class="br">$18.97</td> + <td>$11.52</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="br">1919</td> + <td class="br">16.27</td> + <td class="br">37.33</td> + <td>21.06</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="bb br">1920</td> + <td class="bb br">15.37</td> + <td class="bb br">37.71</td> + <td class="bb">22.34</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p>Thus, while the farmer has gained about +$7.92 in his price, the margin has increased by +$10.82 to the consumer and, incidentally, during +the last year since food control restraints +were removed, the consumer has paid $.30 more +while the farmer got $.90 less. These instances +could be greatly multiplied.</p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that our national statistics +do not permit a complete analysis of the distribution +of margin between all the various +groups in the chain between the farmer and +consumer in different commodities. It would +be helpful if we could take the farmers, railways, +manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, +and determine what proportion each receives.</p> + +<p>These margins between farmer and consumer<!-- Page 350 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +are made up of a necessary chain of charges for +transport, storage, manufacture and distribution. +The great majority of citizens who are +engaged in the processes that go to make up +this portion of food costs are employed in an obviously +essential economic function, and they do +not approach it in a spirit of criminality, but as +a very necessary, proper, and honorable function. +They have, since the European War began, +rather over-enjoyed the result of economic +forces that were not of their own creation. +That a considerable margin is necessary to +cover the legitimate costs of, and profits on, distribution +is obvious. The only direction of +inquiry is how they can be legitimately minimized. +These margins, starting from the unduly +high expense of a faulty system, have increased +not only legitimately, due to increased +transportation, labor, rent, taxes, and increased +interest upon the large capital required, +but they have, except during the period +of control, increased unduly beyond these necessities. +There are two general characteristics +of this margin that are of some interest. +In the first instance, all of the transport, storage, +manufacture and handling is conducted +upon a basis of cost plus either fixed returns or, +as is more usually the case, a percentage of +profit upon the whole cost of operation. Any<!-- Page 351 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +distributing agency ceases to operate when it +does not secure costs and a profit. Consequently, +all those links put up a resistance to +a curtailment of the margin which the farmer +is unable, except by absolute exhaustion, to put +against reduction of his price levels. If rapid +falls in food prices occur, the farmer, at least +in the first instance, has to stand most of the +fall because he cannot quit. The farmer's costs +of production relate to a period long prior to +the fall. Thus, if wages are due to fall as a +result of a fall in food prices, the farmer is +always selling on the old basis of his costs. The +farmer has but one turn-over in the year. The +middleman has several and can thus adjust +himself quickly.</p> + +<p>Second, the custom of many of these businesses +is to operate upon a percentage of profit +on the value of the commodities handled, even +after deducting all their increased costs, interest +or other charges. When we have rising +prices, therefore, a doubling of prices, for instance, +tends to double profits on the same volume +of commodities handled. In a rising market, +competitive pressures are much diminished +and the dealer can assess his own profits to +greater degree than usual. While the packers +make a profit of, say, two cents on the dollar +value of commodities, it represents double the<!-- Page 352 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> +profit per pound over pre-war, even after allowing +such items as interest on the larger +capital involved.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Reductions of the Margins</span></p> + +<p>Aside from the necessary rise in the margin +that has grown out of the rise in cost of labor, +rent, etc., from inflation and world shortage, +there are some causes which have accumulated +to increase the margins between the farmer and +the wholesaler and the wholesaler and consumer +that could be greatly mitigated.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Better Tax Distribution</span></p> + +<p>During the war, in order to restrain wild +greed and profiteering in the then existing +unlimited demand, margins between purchase +and sale in the different manufacturing +and handling trades were fixed in all the +great commodities—iron, steel, cement, lumber, +coal and foodstuffs. The first task of +the war was to secure production, and +the margins were therefore fixed at such +breadth as would allow the smaller high cost +manufacturer and the smaller dealer to live. +Otherwise, the smaller competitors would have +been extinguished, production would have been +lost, and, worse yet, the larger low-cost opera<!-- Page 353 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>tor +would have been left with much inflated +monopoly. The excess profits tax was levied +as a sequent corrective to this necessary first +step, so as to take the undue profits of the large +producer back to the public. It was a wise +war measure, but the moment restraints on +profits were taken off and there was a free and +rising market ahead, then the tax was added to +prices by all the participants and passed on +to the consumer, or deducted from the farmer +when world levels crowded his prices down. +It should have been repealed at the time the +controls were abandoned, but our legislatures +have been busy with other things and, in the +meanwhile, in food it not only increases the +margin between the farmer and the consumer +but tends, as stated above, to come out of the +farmer to a large degree. It has other vicious +results in that it also stimulates dealers and +manufacturers to speculate their profits away +in unsound business, rather than to pay +it to the government. It does sound well +to tax the great manufacturers, but to make +them the agency to collect taxes from the +population is not altogether sound government.</p> + +<p>It is a very important tax to the Government, +bringing as it does over a billion a year, +and a place to put this load is not to be found<!-- Page 354 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +easily. The income tax does not have so malign +an effect, for it comes to a great extent from the +individual and not from business. The present +method of income tax, however, has some weaknesses. +The same levy is made upon earned +incomes as upon those that are unearned. The +tax on earned incomes tends in certain cases +to be passed on to the consumer or deducted +from the farmer, and, besides, it is not just +that a family living by giving productive service +to the community should pay the same as +a family that contributes nothing by way of +effort. A stiff tax on these latter families might +send them to work, and certainly would induce +economy. Moreover, the earner of income must +provide for old age and dependents while the +unearned income taxpayer has this provision +already. Altogether, it would seem the +part of wisdom at least to increase the income +tax on the larger unearned income and decrease +it on the earners. It is argued that +this drives great incomes to evasion by +investment in tax-free securities, which is +probably true. We need more comparative +figures than the Treasury statistics yet show +to answer this point. In any event, relief to +the earner would free his savings to invest in +taxable securities and we need above all things +to stimulate the initiative of the saver. Income<!-- Page 355 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +taxes, except when too high on earned incomes, +do not destroy initiative, and every other government +has, in taxing, recognized the essential +difference between earned and unearned income. +This distinction would generally relieve +the range of smaller incomes, for they are +mostly earned.</p> + +<p>The inheritance tax has not been fully +exploited as yet. It cannot be deducted from +either farmer or consumer, it does not affect +the cost of living, it does not destroy initiative +in the individual if it leaves large and proper +residues for dependents. It does redistribute +overswollen fortunes. It does make for equality +of opportunity by freeing the dead hand +from control of our tools of production. It +reduces extravagance in the next generation, +and sends them to constructive service. It has +a theoretic economic objection of being a dispersal +of capital into income in the hands of +the government, but so long as the government +spends an equal amount on redemption +of the debt or productive works, even this argument +no longer stands.</p> + +<p>We may need to come to some sort of increased +consumption taxes in order to lift that +part of excess profits and tax on earned incomes +that cannot be very properly placed elsewhere. +When it comes, it should lie on other commodi<!-- Page 356 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>ties +than food, except perhaps sugar, one half +of which is a luxury consumption. The ideal +would be for it to be levied wholly on non-essentials +in order that it should be a burden on +luxury and not on necessity. There is no doubt +difficulty in classifying. Jewelry and furs are +easy to class, but where necessity leaves off and +luxury begins in trousers is more difficult to +determine.</p> + +<p>It requires no lengthy economic or moral +argument as a platform for denunciation of +all waste and useless expenditure. Some sane +medium is needed between comfort and luxury. +Failing definition, and objection to blue laws, +the theme must be taken into the area of moral +virtues and become a proper subject for the +spiritual stimulations of the church. There is +a psychology in luxury wherein we all buy +high-priced things because they are high-priced, +not because they add comfort—and this has +contributed also to our high cost of living, for +those who do it drive up prices on those who +try to avoid it. From an economic point of +view, the only recipes are taxation as a device +to make it expensive.</p> + +<p>More constructive than increasing taxes is +to take a holiday on governmental expenditures +and relieve the taxpayer generally. If +we could stave off a lot of expensive sugges<!-- Page 357 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>tions +for a few years and secure more efficiency +in what we must spend, then our people could +get ahead with the process of earning something +to be taxed. This would at least be comforting +to the great farming and business community.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Better Transportation Facilities</span></p> + +<p>There is a great weakness in our present +railway situation bearing upon the farmer and +consumer. Everyone knows of the annual +shortage of cars during the crop-moving season. +Few people, however, appreciate that this +shortage of cars often amounts to a stricture in +the free flow of commodities from the farmer +to the consumer. The result is that the farmer, +in order to sell his produce, often unknown to +himself makes a sacrifice in price to local glut. +The consumer is compelled at the other end +to pay an increased price for foodstuffs due to +the shortage in movement. The constant +fluctuations in our grain exchanges locally or +generally from this cause are matters of public +record almost monthly. On one occasion a +study was made under my administration into +the effect of car shortage in the transportation +of potatoes, and we could demonstrate by chart +and figures that the margin between the farmer<!-- Page 358 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +and the consumer broadened 100 per cent in +periods of car shortage. Nor did the middleman +make this whole margin of profit, because +he was subjected to unusual losses and destruction, +and took unusual risks in awaiting a market. +The same phenomenon was proved in a +large way at time of acute shortage of movement +in corn and other grains.</p> + +<p>The usual remedy for this situation is insistence +that the railways shall provide ample +rolling stock, trackage and terminals to take +care of the annual peakload. We have fallen +far behind in the provision of even normal railway +equipment during the war and an additional +500,000 cars and locomotives are no +doubt needed. Above a certain point, however, +this imposes upon the railways a great investment +in equipment for use during a comparatively +short period of the year when many commodities +synchronize to make the peak movement. +The railways naturally wish to spread +the movement over a longer period. The burden +of equipment for short time use will probably +prevent their ever being able to take entire +care of the annual delays in transport and stricture +in market, although it can be greatly minimized.</p> + +<p>There is possible help in handling the peak +load by improving the waterways from the<!-- Page 359 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +Great Lakes to the Atlantic seaboard by way +of the St. Lawrence River, so as to pass full +seagoing cargoes. It has already been determined +that the project is entirely feasible and +of comparatively moderate cost. The result +would be to place every port on the Great +Lakes on the seas. Fifteen states contiguous +to the Lakes could find an outlet for a portion +of their annual surplus quickly and more +cheaply to the overseas markets than through +the congested eastern trunk rail lines. It would +contribute materially to reduce this effectual +stricture in the free flow of the farmer's commodities +to the consumers. Of far greater importance, +however, is the fact that the costs of +transportation from the Lake ports to Europe +would be greatly diminished and this diminished +cost would go directly into the farmer's +pockets. It is my belief that there is a possible +saving here of five or six cents a bushel in the +transportation of grain. Although a comparatively +small proportion of our total grain +production flows to Europe, I believe that the +economic lift on this minor portion would +raise the price of the whole grain production +by the amount saved in transportation of this +portion of it. The price of export wheat, +rye, and barley—sometimes corn—usually +hogs—in Chicago at normal times is the<!-- Page 360 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> +Liverpool price, less transportation and other +charges, and if we decrease the transport in +a free market the farmer should get the +difference. Not only should there be great +benefits to the agricultural population, but +it should be a real benefit to our railways in +getting them a better average load without the +cost of maintaining the surplus equipment and +personnel necessary to manage the peakload +during the fall months. It has been computed +that the capital saving in rolling stock alone +would pay for the entire cost of this waterway +improvement over a comparatively few years. +The matter also becomes of national importance +in finding employment for the great national +mercantile fleet that we have created during +these years of war.</p> + +<p>Another factor in transportation bearing +upon the problem of marketing is the control +by food manufacturing and marketing concerns +of refrigeration and other special types +of cars. This special control has grown up +largely because, owing to seasonal changes in +regional occupation for these cars over different +parts of the country, no one railway wished +to provide sufficient special cars and service +for use that may come its way only part of the +year. The result has been to force the building +up of a domination by certain concerns who<!-- Page 361 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +control many of the cars and stifle free competition. +Much the same results have been attained +by special groups in control of stock +yards and, in some cases, of elevators. Where +such formal or informal monopolies grow up, +they are public utilities, and if the farmer is to +have a free market they must be replaced by +constructive public service.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">A Free Market</span></p> + +<p>Every impediment to free marketing in +produce either gives special privileges or increases +the risks which the farmer must pay +for in diminished returns. We have some commodities +where manufacture has grown into +such units that these units exert such an influence +that they consciously or unconsciously +affect the price levels of the farmer's produce. +When a few concerns have the duty of manufacturing +and storing the seasonal reserves in +a single commodity they naturally reduce +prices during the heavy production season and +increase them in the short season as a method +of diminishing their risk and increasing profits. +Moreover, their tendency is often to sell the +minor portion of their product that goes for +export at lower than the domestic price in +order to dispose of it without depressing local +prices. They do not need to conspire, for<!-- Page 362 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> +there can be perfectly coincident action to meet +the same economic currents. Such coincidence +has much greater possibilities of general influence +with a few concerns in the field than if +there were many.</p> + +<p>The experience gained in the Food Administration +on these problems during the war led +to the feeling expressed at that time, that such +business should be confined to one line of activity, +just as we have had to confine our railways, +banks and insurance companies. This is useful +to prevent reliance being placed upon the +profits of alternative products when engaged +in stifling of competition, through selling below +cost on some other item. Even this restriction +may not prove to be sufficient protection +to free market by free competition. I am not +a believer in nationalization as the solution to +this form of domination, but I am a believer in +regulation, if it should prove necessary. If +experience proves we have to go to regulation, +it is my belief that it should be confined to overswollen +units and that the point of departure +should not be the amount of capital employed +but the proportion of a given commodity that +is controlled. The point of departure must +depend upon the special commodity and its +ratio to the whole. When such a concern obtains +such dimensions that it can influence<!-- Page 363 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> +prices or dominate public affairs, either with +deliberation or innocence, then it must be placed +under regulation and restraint. Our people +have long since realized the advantage of large +business operation in improving and cheapening +the costs of manufacture and distribution, +but when these operations have become so enlarged +that they are able to dominate the community, +it becomes of social necessity that they +shall be made responsible to the community. +The test that should apply, therefore, is not +the size of the institution or the volume of capital +that it employs, but the proportion of the +commodity that it controls in its operations. +It is my belief that if this were made the datum +point for regulation, and if regulation were +made of a rigorous order, this pressure would +result in such business keeping below the limit +of regulation. Thus the automatic result +would be the building up of a proper competition, +because men in manufacturing would +rather conduct a smaller business free of +governmental regulation than enjoy large +operations subject to governmental control. +There are probably only a very few concerns +in the United States that would fall +into this category, and they should be glad +of regulation in order to secure freedom from +criticism.<!-- Page 364 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Speculation and Profiteering</span></p> + +<p>There are three kinds of speculation and +profiteering in the food trades. The first is +of the inherent speculative character of foodstuffs +due to their seasonal nature. The farmer, +more by habit than <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: necessary in original">necessity</ins>, usually markets +the bulk of his grain in the fall. By necessity +he must market his animals at certain seasons +for they must be bred at certain seasonal +periods, they must be fed at certain seasons, +and thus they come to market in waves of production +larger than the immediate demand. +In perishables he must market fairly promptly +as he cannot himself maintain necessary special +types of storage. Thus, the dealer must speculate +on carrying the commodities for distribution +during the period of short production +while the farmer markets in time of surplus +production. While full competitive conditions +might reduce the charges for this hazard, there +is a possibility of reducing the hazard by better +organization and, consequently, the charge +for the hazard that is now debited to the farmer. +It is worth an exhaustive national investigation +to determine whether an extension +of a system of central markets would not afford +great help. I do not mean the extension of our +so-called exchanges dealing in local produce,<!-- Page 365 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> +but the creation of great central exchange markets +with responsibilities for service to the entire +people. This help would arise in two ways. +The first is the hourly determination of price at +great centers that all may know, and thus the +farmer protects himself against local variations +and manipulation. The second is a system of +forward contracts through such a market between +farmer and consumer on standardized +commodities. Such contracts in effect remove +the necessity of a speculative middleman. This +system exists in grain and in cotton and in its +processes eliminates large part of the hazard +and carries the commodity at the lower +rate of interest. The present trouble with the +system of future contracts is that it lends itself +to manipulation, but I believe this could +be eliminated.</p> + +<p>Take the case of potatoes; here is an +unstandardized, seasonal commodity, with no +national market and therefore no established +daily price as a datum point. A grower in +Florida, Maine, or Wisconsin, through a local +agent, or through local sale, consigns potatoes +to Pittsburgh because a larger price is reported +there than in Chicago. The grower can usually +make no actual sale to an actual retailer or +wholesaler at destination because the buyer has +no assurance of quality. Coincident shipment<!-- Page 366 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +from many points to a hopeful market almost +daily produces a local glut at receiving points +somewhere in the country. Often enough the +shipper gets no return but a bill for freight and +the perishables sometimes rot in the yards. If +potatoes were standardized and sold on contract +in national market, protected from manipulation, +three things should result. First, +there would be a daily national price known to +growers. Second, by the sale of a contract for +delivery the grower would be assured of this +price. Third, the contract and directions for +shipment would flow naturally to the distributor +where the potatoes were needed, and thus +the present fearfully wasteful system would +be mitigated. Potatoes would be a most difficult +case to handle; dried beans, peas, even +butter and cheese would be easier. I am not +advocating widespread dealing in futures, but +short contracts giving time for delivery would +probably greatly decrease the margin between +farmer and local distributor by saving great +wastes in transport, in spoilage and in manipulation.</p> + +<p>The second class of speculation is one largely +of the war as a period of rising prices growing +out of inflation, and so forth. It lies in the +marking up of goods on the shelf to the level +of the rising daily market. This marking up<!-- Page 367 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> +has been one of the large factors in increasing +the margin during the war. No better example +exists than the rise of flour during the 1916-1917 +harvest year, referred to elsewhere. We +shall have a remedy for this the moment the +tide of inflation turns. The farmer and consumer +cannot, however, expect that they will +get even during such a reverse period for their +losses on the rise, because the trades have too +great an individual power of resistance against +selling goods at a loss. Anyway, the marking +up of goods will cease when prices cease +to rise—and there is a limit.</p> + +<p>The third class of speculation is wholly vicious. +That is the purchase of foodstuffs, in +times of rising economic levels, sheerly for the +rise in price or the deliberate manipulation of +markets during normal times. These operations +are against the common welfare; they +can find no moral or economic justification. +They are not to be reached by prosecution; +they must be reached by prevention. Our great +boards of trade in fine patriotic spirit proved +their ability during the war to control deliberate +manipulation of grain and other futures.</p> + +<p>The two latter types of speculation are +an impediment to free markets and they become +an unnecessary charge on the margin.<!-- Page 368 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Co-operative Marketing by the Farmer</span></p> + +<p>There can be no question of the improvement +in position of both farmer and consumer in +cases where coöperative marketing can be organized. +The high development of coöperative +citrus fruit marketing has resulted in lower +average prices to consumer, better quality, and +better return to the grower. Here is a case +of scientific distribution lamentably absent in +many other commodities. There are other +specialized products to which it could be well +extended. To reach its best development +it should have parallel coöperative development +among consumers as have we discussed +elsewhere.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Sundry Items</span></p> + +<p>There are many ways of assisting the agricultural +industry not pertinent to this discussion +on the cost of distribution. They do demand +inquiry, and public illumination; most of +them do not demand legislation so much as +public education and consideration when legislating +on other subjects. Our agricultural interests +also need a foreign policy. For instance, +during the last month there has been +a consolidation of control of buying in world<!-- Page 369 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +markets by the European Governments. How +far it may be extended in its policies is not +clear. Nevertheless, a combination of importers +in all Europe under government control +could determine the prices on every farm in the +United States.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Margin Between the Wholesaler +and Consumer</span></p> + +<p>As the datum point of price determination is +the wholesaler's market, the accretions of +charge for distribution from that point forward, +the economy of extravagance in these +costs, is of primary interest to the consumer. +The same phenomena of marking up goods on +the shelf, calculating profits not on commodities +but on dollars handled, a minor amount +of vicious speculation, and the passing on +of excess profits tax, are present in those trades +during the past years. A much more pertinent +phenomenon in unduly increasing their margins +is the increasing demands of the consumer +as to service. Several deliveries daily, purchases +on credit, the abandonment of the market +basket in favor of the telephone, mean many +costs. One of them much overlooked is that +customers must always have "first" quality +when they buy over the telephone, and the sec<!-- Page 370 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>onds +and thirds of equal food value in many +commodities go to waste and are added to the +price of the firsts. That there are some people +in the United States who want to buy +sanely is evidenced by the 400 per cent increase +in "cash and carry" shops. There are also too +many people in the final stages of distribution. +One city in the United States has one meat retailer +for every 400 inhabitants; it would be +equally well served with one dealer for every +1200. The result is high margin to the retailers +and no out-of-the-way income to any of them. +There is no very immediate remedy for this. +One possibility is an extension of coöperative +buying by consumers. It has proved a great +success abroad. It is not socialism, for it arises +from voluntary action and initiative among the +people themselves.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ill Balance of Agriculture and General +Industry</span></p> + +<p>There is now a tendency to ill balance between +the agricultural and general industry. +For many years we were large exporters of +food and importers of manufactured goods. +We gradually imported mouths, manufactured +our own goods and just as rapidly diminished +our food exports. Up to the point where we<!-- Page 371 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> +consumed our own food and manufactured our +own goods it has been a great national development. +Our annual exports of food decreased +during the past twenty-five years from some +15,000,000 tons to about 6,000,000 just before +the European War. In the meantime we increased +the import of such commodities as +sugar, rice, vegetable oils, until our net exports +were about 5,000,000 tons. Of the kinds +of food exported this probably represents a +decreased export of from twenty-five or thirty +per cent of our production down to five per +cent of it.</p> + +<p>During the war we gave special stimulus to +food production and produced greater economies +in consumption so that these later years +somewhat befog the real current, for our agricultural +surplus in normal years is really very +small. During the war and since, we have +given great stimulus to our manufacturing industries. +If we shall continue to build up our +manufacturing industries and our export trade +without corresponding encouragement to agriculture, +we will soon have more mouths in our +country than we can feed on our own produce. +We shall, like the European States which have +devoted themselves to industrial development, +ultimately become dependent upon overseas +food supplies. If we examine their situation<!-- Page 372 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> +we find the very life of their people is thus dependent +upon maintaining open free access to +overseas markets. From this necessity have +grown the great naval armaments of the world, +and the burden they imply on all sections of +the population. Such nations, of necessity, +have engaged in fierce competition for markets +for their industrial products. Thus they built +up the background of world conflicts. The titanic +struggles that have resulted have endangered +the very lives of their people by starvation. +Their war tactics have, in large degree, +been directed to strangle food supplies. One +other result of this development is the terrible +congestion of populations in manufacturing +areas with all the social and human difficulties +that this implies.</p> + +<p>There is a jeopardy in industrial over-development +which has received too little attention +because the world has only experienced it +during the past eighteen months. In times of +industrial depression, or great increase in the +cost of living, whether brought about by war +or by the ebb and flow of world prosperity, +these populations, oppressed with misery, turn +to political remedies for matters that are beyond +human control. They naturally resent +the lowering of their standards of living, and +they inevitably resort to industrial strife, to<!-- Page 373 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +strikes and disorder. Theirs is the breeding +ground of radicalism—for all such phenomena +belong to the towns and not to the country.</p> + +<p>By and large, our industries are now in a +high state of prosperity. More favorable hours, +more favorable wages, are today offered in industry +than in agriculture. The industries are +drawing the workers from our farms. If this +balance in relative returns is to continue, we +face a gradual decrease in our agricultural productivity. +If we should develop our industrial +side during the next five years as rapidly as +we have during the past five years, we shall by +that time be faced with the necessity to import +foodstuffs to supplement our own food supplies. +Some economists will argue, of course, +that if we can manufacture goods cheaper than +the rest of the world and exchange them for +foodstuffs abroad, we should do so. But such +arguments again ignore certain fundamental +social and broad political questions. These +dangers have become more emphasized by experience +of the war. From dependence on +overseas supplies for food, we will, by the very +concern that will grow in public mind as to the +safety of these supplies, soon find ourselves +discussing the question of dominating the seas. +Our international relations will have become +infinitely more complex and more difficult.<!-- Page 374 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> +Unless the League of Nations serves its ideal, +we will need to burden ourselves with more +taxation, to maintain great naval and military +forces. But of far more importance than this +is that social stability of our country, the development +of our national life, rests in the +spirit of our farms and surrounds our villages. +These are the sources that have always supplied +our country with its true Americanism, +its new and fresh minds, its physical and its +moral strength. Industry's real market is with +the farmer by the constant increase of his standard +of living. We want our exports to grow +in exchange for commodities we need from +abroad, but we want them to grow in tune with +our social and political interests, and to do so +they must grow in step with our agriculture.</p> + +<p><i>In conclusion</i> we are in a period of high inflation +and shortage of world production, and +consequent abnormal prices. The tide is likely +to turn almost any time. Some of the outrageous +margin between the farmer and consumer +will be remedied by the turn in the tide itself, +for it will eliminate the marking up of goods +and the opportunity of vicious speculation. +The dangers of the turn are twofold. First, +unless we constructively remedy the unnecessary +margin between the farmer and the +wholesaler the farmer will receive the brunt of<!-- Page 375 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> +the fall long before the supplies he must buy +and the labor he must employ will have fallen in +step. It will bring to him the greatest suffering +in the community.</p> + +<p>The farmer's position can be remedied by better +distribution of the tax load, by improvement +in our transportation system, by getting our +markets free of impediments to free flow of +competition, and by constructive improvement +in our whole distribution system. The consumer +will get relief from deflation, improvement +in world production, and by eliminating +the same wastes and unnecessary costs in our +distribution system.</p> + +<p>The second danger is that deflation itself will +take place without constructive consideration. +Great wisdom will be required on the part of +our government in its great control of credit +that it shall take place progressively and with +care, in order that there shall be no sudden +breaks, with their resulting demoralization, unemployment +and misery.</p> + +<p>We require a careful balance of general industry +to agriculture. We cannot afford to +build this nation into an industrial state dependent +upon other lands for its food supply. +We want our industries to grow, but we want +agriculture to grow in pace with them. Many +of our farmers made great sacrifices in the<!-- Page 376 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> +war; they do not want to be coddled in peace; +but they must have an equality of opportunity +with all the other elements in the country.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Saturday Evening Post</i>, Issue April 10, 1920.</p></div> + + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Herbert Hoover, by Vernon Kellogg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HERBERT HOOVER *** + +***** This file should be named 29489-h.htm or 29489-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/8/29489/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Jason Isbell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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