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diff --git a/29489.txt b/29489.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c85db4f --- /dev/null +++ b/29489.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7410 @@ +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: ASCII + +*** 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) + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: +The following inconsistent or typographical errors were corrected: + +Page 27: to-day corrected to today +Page 63: type-writer corrected to typewriter +Page 67: Hooved corrected to Hoover +Page 85: Pekin corrected to Peking +Page 150: praccally corrected to practically +Page 169: frans corrected to francs +Page 331: progresively corrected to progressively +Page 364: necessary corrected to necessity +] + +HERBERT HOOVER +THE MAN AND HIS WORK + +BY +VERNON KELLOGG +AUTHOR OF "HEADQUARTERS NIGHTS," ETC. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +NEW YORK LONDON +1920 + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + +DEDICATED +TO MY COMPANIONS OF THE +C. R. B. + + + +PREFACE + + +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 attributes to America itself. + +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. + +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. + +V. K. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +PREFACE vii + +I. CHILDREN 1 + +II. THE CHILD AND BOY 10 + +III. THE UNIVERSITY 31 + +IV. THE YOUNG MINING ENGINEER 59 + +V. IN CHINA 80 + +VI. LONDON AND THE REST OF THE WORLD 102 + +VII. THE WAR: THE MAN AND HIS FIRST SERVICE 124 + +VIII. THE RELIEF OF BELGIUM; ORGANIZATION AND DIPLOMATIC + DIFFICULTIES 140 + +IX. THE RELIEF OF BELGIUM; SCOPE AND METHODS 165 + +X. AMERICAN FOOD ADMINISTRATION; PRINCIPLES, CONSERVATION, CONTROL + OF EXPORTS 199 + +XI. AMERICAN FOOD ADMINISTRATION; GENERAL REGULATION; CONTROL OF + WHEAT AND PORK, ORGANIZATION IN THE STATES 225 + +XII. AMERICAN RELIEF ADMINISTRATION 256 + + + APPENDICES + + APPENDIX I 283 + + APPENDIX II 291 + + APPENDIX III 311 + + APPENDIX IV 334 + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDREN + + +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. + +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 honor than to this uncrowned simple American citizen whose name +was for them the synonym of savior. + +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. + +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 had so often urged to come to Poland was +really moving swiftly on from Prague to Warsaw. + +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. + +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. + +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 liberated +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. + +So in all the excitement of the few hours possible to the citizens of +Warsaw and the Government officials of Poland to make hurried +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! + +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. + +They marched and marched and cheered and cheered, and waved their little +pans and cups 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. + +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 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. + +When the American Relief Administration, 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. + +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. + +But just now I want to tell another story. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CHILD AND BOY + + +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. + +There was one outstanding fact, however, 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. + +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. + +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. + +Herbert Hoover, or, to give him for once his full name, Herbert Clark +Hoover, was born 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! + +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 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. + +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. 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. + +The immediate Hoover ancestry is Quaker. The more remote is Quaker mixed +with Dutch and French Huguenot. The Dutch name was spelled with an _e_ +instead of the second _o_. 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 _trekked_ +north. + +Another Canadian branch, French Huguenot in origin, has traditions of +hurried removals 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +It was a joyous and wholesome two years, 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. + +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 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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +That part of his reason for running away 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." + +Just what led him to the decision about the modern university and +science is not easy for the grown-up Herbert Hoover of today 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +He remembers once standing fascinated before a sign that read: "Table +d'hote, 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. + +There was a bank-vault just across the alley from his secret back room +in the real estate 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. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE UNIVERSITY + + +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 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. + +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 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? + +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. + +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 arithmetic +and geometry--and was a brave Quaker boy, besides--was not to be too +summarily turned down. + +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 +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." + +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. + +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 his university of dreams come true, +but it was really to be the university of his graduation, the _alma +mater_ 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"_Die Luft der Freiheit weht_" 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 pocket. They amounted +in grand total to about two hundred dollars. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +_tour de force_. + +Noting that a credit was offered in physiology, about which he knew +nothing technically, 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! + +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. + +His two hundred dollars could not last long 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 _after_ 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 nurse to the professorial babies, which also has been often +placed to his credit by imaginative story-tellers. + +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. + +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 Jose and San Francisco establishments. He acted also as +impresario, at a modest commission, for various lecturers and +musicians, developing an arrangement for bringing visiting stars from +San Francisco to the near-by university. + +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. + +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 both in the management of student +activities and in the handling of the financial affairs of the whole +university. + +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. + +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 ambitious 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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 was what +he usually did with his extra money. + +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! + +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 +education 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. + +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 +committee 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. + +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. + +After failing regularly at each semester's trial principally, he thinks +(and Mrs. Hoover is inclined to agree), because he always had 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. + +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. + +Then Professor Smith disappeared with the paper in his study, but soon +came out with it, 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." + +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?" + +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 enough for us." And with +his Dante pencil he wrote a large "Passed" across the paper. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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 view; and in those days it was a _terra_ more or +less _incognita_. 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE YOUNG MINING ENGINEER + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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." + +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. + +That kind of boy could not remain for long a typist in the office of a +discerning man like Louis. Perhaps certain idiosyncrasies of 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, which the +typewriter boy had himself helped to discover during his work in the +Grass Valley region. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + +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 Hoover appeared before the head of the great London house--perhaps +the greatest mining firm in the world at that time--without encumbering +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?" + +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 in the harbor with the thermometer never +registering below three figures, even at night. + +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. + +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" 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. + +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. + +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 Hoover'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. + +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. + +Into this cheerful hell came the young Quaker engineer, from the heaven +of California and the "city" offices of London where 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 uncovered 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. + +Occasionally, however, they had some relaxation. For one thing, they +thought sometimes about food. One of the men had his wife 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 L65 worth of water, he +discouraged further gardening. + +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 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. + +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 +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. + +Just about this time a young Chinaman of royal family in Peking had made +a successful _coup d'etat_ 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 cooerdinated 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 equivalent, 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. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN CHINA + + +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 London +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. + +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" 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. + +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 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. + +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 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 role in the career of +her distinguished husband. + +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 Peking and +his wife, and a missionary pair who may or may not have survived the +Boxer massacres. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 _sobriquet_ 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. + +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 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. + +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-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." + +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 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 _thinking_," 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. + +Some of the results expected from this imported 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. + +"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 beneath 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 +_Woerterbuch_ 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." + +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 protect 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 Comite National +during the long hard days of the German Occupation. It was with these +men among all the Belgians that Hoover was to have most to do in +connection with his work as initiator and director of the Commission for +Relief in Belgium. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LONDON AND THE REST OF THE WORLD + + +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 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. + +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. + +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 +proportions. 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. + +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 +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. + +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 unrealized 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 enormously. It is this night-reading that explains it. + +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 _in extenso_. 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 social science +and politics of the bipedal lords of creation, my role was chiefly that +of fascinated listener. + +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 _Principles of Mining_, 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: + + "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." + +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 is a concise but illuminating +treatment of the subject of labor unions. After discussing contract work +and bonus systems he says: + + "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. + + "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 differences 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 _laissez faire_ 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. + + "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 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." + +Three years before publishing the _Principles of Mining_ Hoover had +collaborated with a a group of authors in the production of a book +called _Economics of Mining_. 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. + +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 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. + +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--probably 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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WAR: THE MAN AND HIS FIRST SERVICE + + +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 "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. + +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 chapter, 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 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. + +Hoover kept up, too, an active interest in the development of his _alma +mater_, 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. + +He believes that the collegiate training should be less practical than +fundamental. 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 _raison d'etre_, 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 universities or technical schools those who have had +thoroughly scientific, as contrasted with much technical, or so-called +practical, training. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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." + +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 circumference 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 _Tennessee_, 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. + +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 expenses incurred in +connection with the work. + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE RELIEF OF BELGIUM; ORGANIZATION AND DIPLOMATIC DIFFICULTIES + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 Belgium except under extraordinary circumstances, +such as a special permission from both Germany and Allies or a daring +and almost impossible blockade-running. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 they readily turned +to the work of helping the Belgians, the more readily because they were +the right sort of Americans. + +Their first effort, in cooeperation 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. + +Burgomaster Max had already written on September 7 to Major General +Luettwitz, the 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 _Comite Central_ sufficient to purchase about half this +amount of foodstuffs. + +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 should be +distributed under American control solely to the Belgian civil +population. + +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. + +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. + +Sometime during the course of these negotiations Ambassador Page and the +Belgian authorities 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 practically +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. + +Between October 10 and 16 it was determined by Ambassador Page and Mr. +Hoover that it was desirable to set up a wholly 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, Senor 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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 planned most of the work for himself and all of us. + +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. + +On the other hand other influential governmental officials, notably the +Prime Minister 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. + +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 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. + +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 _Tir National_ +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 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." + +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 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. + +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 discovered 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. + +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. + +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 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." + +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 _by promotion_ +to the Quartermaster Generalship at Great Headquarters! + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RELIEF OF BELGIUM; SCOPE AND METHODS + + +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. + +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 _ravitaillement_, the constant +provisioning of the whole land; and the phase of _secours_, the special +care of the destitute and the ill and the children. + +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 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 +_ravitaillement_. + +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 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 _secours_. + +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 _ravitaillement_. 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. + +The money, as finally arranged for, came from government subventions +about equally divided between England and France, in the 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. + +For the _secours_, 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 francs to the +_secours_ 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 +millions of dollars, was turned into the funds for benevolence. All +this created an enormous sum for the _secours_, 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 benevolence, 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. + +A number of states very early concentrated their efforts on the loading +and sending of "state food ships." California sent the _Camino_ in +December, 1914, and in the same month Kansas sent the _Hannah_ loaded +with flour contributed by the millers of the state. In January and +March, 1915, two Massachusetts relief ships, the _Harpalyce_ (sunk by +torpedo or mine on a later relief voyage) and _Lynorta_, sailed. Oregon +and California together sent the _Cranley_ 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 _South +Point_. 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 Belgium, and what America was doing and could further do to +help meet the need. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 too eager or too brutal submarine commanders +let fly their torpedoes at these ships of mercy. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +obstruct us; or, if you won't, then formally and officially and +publicly before the world kick us out as your arch-jingo, Reventlow, +demands. + +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. + +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 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 _in +time_. This was the transportation undertaking of Hoover's C. R. B. + +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 British 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. + +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 keen-eyed young Americans moving +ceaselessly all over the country and ever checking up consumption and +stocks against records of importation. + +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 Comite 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 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." + +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, almost 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. + +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. + +They were patient and long-suffering under difficulties and provocation. +Ted Curtis, whose 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. + +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 children'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. + +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. + +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. + +Hoover had to make his headquarters in London at the Commission's +central office. Here he could keep constantly in touch by 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 by destroyers and specially hunted by +German submarines. + +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 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. + +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 at +all across frontiers in the tense days of the war. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +superiority in both constructive administrative capacity and effective +practical action. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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." + +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. + +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 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 _schneidige_ 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. + +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 machinery 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. + +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, 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. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AMERICAN FOOD ADMINISTRATION: PRINCIPLES, CONSERVATION, CONTROL OF +EXPORTS + + +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? + +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. + +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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And the response came. Even where 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 their confidence in his fairness, their admiration for his +knowledge and resourcefulness and their respect for his devotion to the +national cause. + +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. + +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 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! + +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 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. + +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; 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 cooeperation of the people and food trades that +these three kinds of powers were made really effective. + +The most conspicuous features of the voluntary cooeperation 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 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. + +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. + +But long before this, indeed immediately 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. + +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. + +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 supplies 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. + +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 cooeperation +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 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? + +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, sent to Hoover in January, 1918. +This cable, in part, was as follows: + + "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...." + +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 people do it? He did not hesitate either in his belief or +his action. His prompt reply was: + + "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." + +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. + +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 general program of food +administration that were pushed primarily for the sake of our own +people. + +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. + + "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 _en route_, 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 + 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. + + "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. + + "I am sure that all the millions of our people, agricultural as + well as urban, who have 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." + +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 +Hoover outlined his conception of the functions and aims of the Food +Administration, as follows: + + "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 cooeperate 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. + + "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 disturbance and to restore business as far as may be to + a reasonable basis. + + "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 + cooeperate 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." + +From the beginning of the war the food necessities of the Allies and +European neutrals 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 a moment when we were calling on our industries and our +people as a whole for their greatest efforts. + +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. + +Growing out of this export control and really including it, was the +wider function of the centralization and cooerdination 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 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 cooerdinating centralization the +possibilities of much good in the stimulation of production and +stabilization of home prices. A Division of Cooerdination of Purchase was +therefore formally set up about November 1, 1917, under the efficient +direction of F. S. Snyder. + +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 Cooerdination 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 Cooerdination 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 +Cooerdination 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 Cooerdination of Purchase. + +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 Cooerdination 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 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. + +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 Cooerdination +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 cooerdination of the various agencies set up by the Food +Administration aggregated over seven and a quarter billion dollars +during the course of its existence. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AMERICAN FOOD ADMINISTRATION; GENERAL REGULATION, CONTROL OF WHEAT AND +PORK; ORGANIZATION IN THE STATES + + +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. + +Hoover's answer was that unrestricted sky-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. + +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. + +But Hoover did not and does not believe in price-fixing or immediate +government control of commerce where they can be avoided. In his +statement before the Senate Committee on Agriculture in June, 1917, he +said: + + "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. + + "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 cooeperation the regulation + of the distributing machinery of the country in such a manner that + we may restore its function as nearly as may 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." + +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. + +But it was far from easy to determine all at once either what trades and +commodities should 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: + + "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." + +And, referring again to the same matter in an address before the United +States Chamber of Commerce in September, 1917, he said: + + "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 must be designed to + repair the break, not to set up new economic systems or theories." + +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. + +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; contracts 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 regime 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +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." + +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 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: + +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. + +Second, the licensing of all store handlers and millers of wheat and +controlling them both through voluntary agreements and license +regulations. + +Third, the prohibition of trading in futures. + +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 6-1/2 per cent and the middlemen and +bakers the remaining 66-1/2 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +In order that the swine growers should have an opportunity to +participate in the determination 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 good to select hogs of +sixteen dollars a hundred pounds on the Chicago market." + +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 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. + +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: + + "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 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." + +The effect of Hoover's action to accomplish the imperatively needed +stimulated production 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. + +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 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. + +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. Besides it would have been a plain breach of faith. Hoover +would not do it. + +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. + +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 a 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. + +Hoover had said, in May, 1917, within a few days after the President had +told him that he wanted him to administer the food 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." + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +And that was what Hoover wanted and intended. For he knew that only the +people, all of them working voluntarily together, could really +administer the food of America, as it had to be administered in the +great war emergency that had come to the country. + +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: + + "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 + cooeperation of ninety-five per cent of the trades of the country, + but under peace conditions it would degenerate into an harassing + blue law. + + "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. + + "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 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." + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AMERICAN RELIEF ADMINISTRATION + + +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. + +No man knew this situation, as far as it could be known before the veil +of blockade and military 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. + +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. + +His first steps were directed toward: First, securing cooerdination with +the Allied Governments by setting up a council of the associated +governments; second, finding the necessary 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. + +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. + +Before actual relief work could be intelligently 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. + +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. + +The atmosphere of Paris was an irritating one. The men in control were +always saying "wait." There were a thousand considerations 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +He returned with one of the gentlemen of high hat and long coat who +said, in broken French: "Well, anyway, you are the food mission, 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." + +"But," he persisted, "you are the Americans, aren't you?" + +"Yes, we are the Americans." + +"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. + +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 +Corporation, 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. + +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 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." + +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 moment, 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +For the general re-provisioning of the peoples 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. + +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. 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. + +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 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 actual +necessities of the people for the preservation of health and life. + +Vienna, itself, "_die lustige schoene Stadt Wien_" 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. + +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-Italian 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +As already stated, Hoover's food ships had left America for Southern and +Northern European ports before Hoover's men had even 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. + +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 message to Paris +announcing the Archduke's passing read: "August 24th, Archie went +through the hoop at 8 P. M. today." + +Relief in Eastern Europe was spelled by Hoover with a capital _R_ 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. + +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 Eastern +Europe, and even in the councils in Paris[1] have said, that Hoover +saved Eastern Europe from anarchy, and held active Bolshevism to its +original frontiers. That meant saving Western Europe, too. + +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 Europe 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. + +[Footnote 1: 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."] + + + + +APPENDICES + +APPENDIX I + + +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 + + +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. + +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. + +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: + +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. + +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 +cooeperation with producers and manufacturers, a certain amount of +stability in price. I have never favored attempts to fix maximum prices +by law; the universal history of these devices in Europe has been that +they worked against the true interests of both producer and consumer. + +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. + +An examination of wholesale prices, that is, of prepared foods, shows a +different story: + +The Department of Agriculture does not 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +It is obvious enough that prices have risen 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. + +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., +amounts to ten cents, or a total of eighty cents without including the +increased costs of the miller or retailer. + +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. + +We have had a large measure of voluntary cooeperation 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 or another to +the public. The number of firms penalized is proportionately not large +to the total firms engaged. + +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. + + + + +APPENDIX II + +ADDRESS OF MR. HOOVER AT HIS INAUGURATION AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN +INSTITUTE OF MINING ENGINEERS (NEW YORK CITY, FEBRUARY 17, 1920) + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +equipment. 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. + +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. + +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, cooeperation with employees, and the least possible +advance in rates, together with freedom from political interest, will be +the scales upon which the public will weigh these results. + +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. + +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 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 cooeperation 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 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. + +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 reduction +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. + +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 contract for delivery a year or +two hence, thus making the government a reservoir for continuous +construction. + +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. + +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 +cooerdination, 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. + +They recommend the solution that almost every civilized government has +long since adopted, that is, the cooerdination 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. + +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, cooerdination, provision +of synchronizing parts in organization, the whole notion of our +hit-or-miss system is repugnant. A budget 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 cooerdination 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. + +Another great national problem to which every engineer in the United +States is giving earnest thought, and with which he comes in 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. + +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 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. + +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 cooeperation 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 deliberate organization within industry +itself. I am convinced that the vast majority of American labor +fundamentally wishes to cooeperate in production, and that this basis of +goodwill can be organized and the vitality of production re-created. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Its conception of the State is one that, representative 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. + +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. + +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 this +country by the "interests" and other forms of our domestic +reactionaries. + +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. + + + + +APPENDIX III + +ADDRESS OF MR. HOOVER BEFORE THE BOSTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (MARCH 24, +1920) + + +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. + +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. + +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 medicines, 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 cooeperative channels. There is no +surer road to radicalism than repression. + +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 employees 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 cooeperation 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 cooeperation of labor itself and to obtain +cooeperation 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. + +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 organization of this relationship conflict in industry can +be greatly mitigated, misunderstanding can be eliminated, and that +spirit of cooeperation can be established that will advance the +conditions of labor and secure increased productivity. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 give full liberty of action to all +existing arrangements of this character and stimulate their further +development. + +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 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. + +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 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 _a priori_ +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. + +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 +organization 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. + +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 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 cooeperation 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. + +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. + +The trade unions of the United States have conferred such essential +services upon their 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. + +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 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 cooeperation +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 cooeperation and +the further reduction of industrial conflict. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +As to whether such acts will not tend to crush out initiative, credit, +and curtail the proper development of industry, can only be determined +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. + +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. + +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 to +improved relations among men than are discussion and disposal of their +own differences. + +The whole world is groping for solution to this problem. If we cannot +solve it progressively, 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +APPENDIX IV + +SOME NOTES ON AGRICULTURAL READJUSTMENT AND THE HIGH COST OF LIVING[2] + +BY HERBERT HOOVER + + +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. + +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 price of food between the different links in the chain of +production and distribution. These propositions are: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +abnormally during the war, except during the year of food control. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +PRESENT PRICES DUE TO INFLATION AND SHORTAGE IN WORLD PRODUCTION + +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 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. + +-------------------------------------- + | | Per Cent + | Bank Deposits | Change + Year | Total | from 1913 +-------------------------------------- + 1913 | 11,390,918,596 | 100.0 + 1914 | 11,974,760,593 | 105.1 + 1915 | 12,282,097,638 | 107.8 + 1916 | 15,398,090,701 | 135.2 + 1917 | 18,444,103,496 | 161.9 + 1918 | 20,425,067,839 | 179.3 + 1919 | 24,971,784,000 | 219.2 +-------------------------------------- + +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 quarries, we +shall cover the great bulk of our products. These figures also must be +taken as merely indicating the tendencies of the times. + +------------------------------------- + | | Per Cent + | Production | Change + Year | in Tons | from 1913 +------------------------------------- + 1913 | 1,081,293,417 | 100.0 + 1914 | 1,019,018,207 | 94.2 + 1915 | 1,073,472,988 | 99.3 + 1916 | 1,162,489,530 | 107.5 + 1917 | 1,241,173,806 | 114.8 + 1918 | 1,247,787,883 | 115.4 + 1919 | 1,117,181,233 | 103.3 +------------------------------------- + +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: + +------------------------------------------------------ + | | | Department + | Per Cent | Per Cent | of Labor + | Change in | Change in | Wholesale + | Production | Bank Deposits | Index + Year | from 1913 | from 1913 | of All + | | | Commodities +------------------------------------------------------ + 1913 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 + 1914 | 94.2 | 105.1 | 99.3 + 1915 | 99.3 | 107.8 | 100.5 + 1916 | 107.5 | 135.2 | 120.5 + 1917 | 114.8 | 161.9 | 175.9 + 1918 | 115.4 | 179.3 | 196.6 + 1919 | 103.3 | 219.2 | 214.5 +------------------------------------------------------ + +Two different extreme schools of economics will interpret these tables +differently. One will 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. + +That short world production has been one of the causes of rising prices +cannot be denied. The warring powers of Europe took 60,000,000 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. + +Our own industrial production, as distinguished from agricultural +production, has 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. + +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. + + +THE THREE DIVISIONS OF THE PRICE + +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. + +The diet of the American people from a nutritional (not financial) +standpoint comprises the following articles and proportion: + +Wheat and Rye 29.5% Pork Products 15.7% Dairy Products 15.3% Beef +Products 5.3% Corn Products 7.0% Sugar Products 13.2% Vegetable Oils +3.6% 89.6% All other, including potatoes 10.4%------ 100.0% + +The wholesale price of about 90 per cent of our food in normal times is +only remotely determined 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 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. + +It will be seen that the farmer enjoyed prices 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. + +------------------------------------------------------- + | Index of Prices at the + | Farm in Principal + | Produce States + ----------------------------- + | A P | | | | + | l r | | | W | C + Department of Labor | l o | H | C | h | o + Wholesale Index of | d | o | o | e | t + All Commodities | F u | g | r | a | t + | a c | s | n | t | o + | r e | | | | n + | m | | | | +------------------------------------------------------- + Pre-war | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 + First Quarter 1918 | 187 | 200 | 213 | 224 | 254 | 246 + Last Quarter 1918 | 206 | 204 | 223 | 220 | 258 | 246 + First Quarter 1919 | 200 | 202 | 225 | 228 | 264 | 215 + Last Quarter 1919 | 230 | 206 | 178 | 216 | 277 | 268 +------------------------------------------------------- + +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. + + +THE TWO MARGINS + +As stated, the margin between the farmer and consumer falls into two +divisions--one of 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. + +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. + +Studies of the cost of our distribution system, made by the Food +Administration during the war, established two prime conditions. The +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +------------------------------------------------------ + | Price of Hogs | Price of | Margin + Six | in Principal | Cured Products | Between + Months | States | to Consumer | Farmer and + | Per 100 Lbs. | 100 Lbs. Hogs | Consumer +------------------------------------------------------ + 1914 | $7.45 | $18.97 | $11.52 + 1919 | 16.27 | 37.33 | 21.06 + 1920 | 15.37 | 37.71 | 22.34 +------------------------------------------------------ + +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. + +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. + +These margins between farmer and consumer 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 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. + +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 profit per pound over pre-war, even after +allowing such items as interest on the larger capital involved. + + +REDUCTIONS OF THE MARGINS + +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. + + +BETTER TAX DISTRIBUTION + +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 operator 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. + +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 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 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. + +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. + +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 commodities 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. + +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. + +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 suggestions 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. + + +BETTER TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES + +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 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. + +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. + +There is possible help in handling the peak load by improving the +waterways from the 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 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. + +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 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. + + +A FREE MARKET + +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 +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. + +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 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. + + +SPECULATION AND PROFITEERING + +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 necessity, +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, 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +The two latter types of speculation are an impediment to free markets +and they become an unnecessary charge on the margin. + + +CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING BY THE FARMER + +There can be no question of the improvement in position of both farmer +and consumer in cases where cooeperative marketing can be organized. The +high development of cooeperative 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 cooeperative development among consumers as have we discussed +elsewhere. + + +SUNDRY ITEMS + +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 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. + + +THE MARGIN BETWEEN THE WHOLESALER AND CONSUMER + +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 +seconds 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 +cooeperative 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. + + +ILL BALANCE OF AGRICULTURE AND GENERAL INDUSTRY + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 strikes and +disorder. Theirs is the breeding ground of radicalism--for all such +phenomena belong to the towns and not to the country. + +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. +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. + +_In conclusion_ 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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +[Footnote 2: _Saturday Evening Post_, Issue April 10, 1920.] + + +THE END + + + + + +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.txt or 29489.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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