Into Action

Rested and notified, Nominee Hoover once more became the busy Beaver Man. He concluded his conferences with managers at Palo Alto and set out, via the Southwest, to explain further to the Midwest what he means to do about "the most important obligation of the next Administration"--farm relief.

Quotas. The managerial conferences ended with the impression that the Beaver Man is, more than ever, his own manager-in-chief. The Hooverlike scheme of vote quotas for each State to "shoot at" superseded Dr. Hubert Work's idea of specialized drives among women or in the South. Returning to Colorado, his own home State, Chairman Work proceeded to lecture the local G. O. P. Unless it ceased its internal quarreling he predicted "a greatly reduced majority, if any." He said: "You in Colorado have become careless of your party."

Ballot. Of all the things a Nominee must do, one is to cast his own vote. He votes for himself, of course, but it is not the vote that is important. It is the principle of the thing, the example to others, the patriotic performance of one's civic duty. Unfortunately, it was discovered last week, the California law will prevent Nominee Hoover from casting his vote by mail. He had planned to be in the crucial East on the eve of the election. Plans were changed.

Boulder Dam. At Los Angeles, Nominee Hoover had to speak out on a subject of prime importance in the Southwest. Led by Senator Hiram Johnson, southern Californians, especially in booming Los Angeles, have long sought to multiply their resources of water and waterpower by urging the Government to build and operate a $200,000,000 dam on the Colorado River. Six other States are affected by the scheme. The proposed site is at Boulder Canyon, between Arizona and Nevada. Interstate disputes have raged, arising from cultural, economic and political differences, and differences in engineering opinion. Finally, the issue between Government operation and privateering has entered.

So vast is the project, so complex the factors, that Nominee Hoover might well have wished to avoid stump discussion of Boulder Dam. But Senator Johnson, his alleged ally, without whose friendship California might not be Hooverized, last fortnight cried out that "no man on earth is so sacrosanct but that his position on the Power Trust and Boulder Dam should be made plain" (TIME, Aug. 13). And so, after his multitudinous reception in Los Angeles last week, Nominee Hoover mounted the city hall steps and said:

". . . There is but one limitation [to the growth of Los Angeles] which looms, . . . and that is adequate water supply. That can and must be assured from the Colorado River. . . . We want the greatest reservoir and the highest dam at Boulder Canyon that the engineers will recommend and I am hopeful that the project will receive favorable action from the present Congress."

He went on to say what a rich national asset the Colorado River is and how much bigger and better Los Angeles would be when its waters were thoroughly exploited. He implied that such exploitation should be under Government auspices, but by no syllable did he express hostility towards private operation, or commit himself beyond the findings of "the engineers."* He was careful to add that the "highest dam" and "greatest reservoir" must have the full approval of the six other Colorado River States.

Trains. At Los Angeles, the Hoover party changed private cars, to distribute equally between rival railroads (Southern Pacific, Santa Fe) the honor of transporting a Nominee.

Buses. Out of Washington, D. C., rolled two spanking motor buses, red, white and blue, laden with loudspeakers and literature. One had the same destination as the eastbound Hoover Special--West Branch, Iowa, the Hoover birthplace. The other rolled for Providence, R. I., to campaign with Curtis. This new ballyhoo was called "garage-storming."

Film. In Manhattan, Hooverizers viewed a first showing of The Master of Emergencies, pieced together by the Nominee's friend, Author Will Irwin, from some ten miles of miscellaneous cinema films showing Hoover activities since 1914.

*There have been a half-dozen separate engineering reports, pro and con, on Boulder Dam. Nominee Hoover apparently referred to the commission of five engineers, appointed last spring at the Senate's behest by the Secretary of the Interior, to restudy the project and report once more this Autumn. This commission began its work last week, at Denver.