Reaction to Hoover

Britain. The Lady Beauchamp revealed, last week, that on election eve David Lloyd George, shrewd, intuitive, said to her: "The chances that Mr. Hoover will be elected are 50 to 1 in his favor."

London's press of course chronicled President-elect Hoover's triumph with felicitations and urbanity, but also dug up the old and rusty hatchet which Secretary Hoover flung at the British rubber monopoly (TIME, April 16). Even the impeccably well-bred London Times printed a distinctly savage cable from its Washington correspondent:

"The clock has been set back, no man can tell how far! If the United States is to be the gainer by the result ef the election, it will be because Mr. Hoover is strong enough to rise above some of the forces which have helped to elect him. . . . He will have need of all his strength and all his independence of mind--of all those qualities, in short, which even his admirers have vainly sought in him when expediency rules his action--if he is to justify the faith which has been placed in him. . . .

For him, the American way, whether it be political, social or religious, is better than any other way, and in its essence different and superior. His is a conception of America romanticized by long residence abroad."

Polite and typical was the comment of the Daily Mail, London's. newspaper of world's largest circulation: "The British people will tender their respectful congratulations to Mr. Hoover, the new President of the United States. ... He has traveled or practised his profession in many parts of our Empire, including Burma and Australia."

Butler John Dunn, who buttled for Engineer & Mrs. Hoover in England 14 years ago, soothingly observed at London last week: "Every Christmas, Mr. & Mrs. Hoover used to give a party to all their servants and to the children, and Mr. Hoover used to dress up as Father Christmas and distribute lovely prizes from the Christmas tree to the children.

"The best time, however, was at Easter. Mr. & Mrs. Hoover used to have several dozen eggs boiled hard and painted different colors. On Easter Saturday night they used to creep secretly into the garden and hide the eggs in various places. Next morning all the children, including their own two boys, had to find the eggs and a prize was awarded to the one who found most, although as an actual fact every child got a prize. They used to call the game 'hunting the rabbit's egg.' "

Said Labor's Daily Herald: "Why should the average American kill a Republican Government to make way for a Democratic Government when the difference between them is negligible? Smith's defeat is at bottom the judgment of the American electorate upon the unreality of American politics. The people just don't care. Only 50 per cent of the electorate trouble to go to the polls, and of these the majority choose to keep Dum in office rather than bother to change to Dee."

France, Spain, Italy. Wine selling, Roman Catholic and debt-owing countries carped at Herbert Hoover.

Paris semi-official Journal des Debats gloomed: "We see small hope that he will cancel our debts or greatly reduce them.

"Yet Hoover who contributed so much to save the starving populations of Belgium and northern France will not be blind to the lot of Europe."

Commenting on rumors that Ambassador to Mexico Dwight Whitney Morrow will be the next U. S. Secretary of State, Le Soir observed: "Morrow's banking connections might be held against him, were it not that the Republican Party is so completely controlled by bankers."

Le Journal, oldest French Liberal daily, explained that the "dry women of America" defeated Candidate Smith, adding: "We French must regret their unmerited hostility to the good wines of France, just appreciation of which has nothing in common with the excesses developed under the mask of social reform."

With erroneous erudition the Royalist Gaulois said: "Like Lincoln, Hoover was born in a log cabin. Like Mussolini, he is the son of a blacksmith."

In Madrid the personal organ of Dictator Primo De Rivera, Debate observed: "The large majority given Hoover makes us think that the imperialistic policy followed for years in the Philippines and Spanish America will continue, and this we, of course, regret."

Throughout Italy the Fascist press, always comparatively uninterested in affairs beyond the Atlantic, meagerly voiced disappointment, since Governor Smith was favored, not only as a Roman Catholic but as a possible scaler down of Italy's debt. The Vatican's Osservatore Romano, always adept at leaping into a breach, pontificated "satisfaction" at the election of "an old friend of the Holy Father."

Germany, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe & Belgium reacted in the order named with approval, satisfaction, ardor and joyous frenzy.

German approval was accurately gauged and summed by the Conservative Lokolanzeiger: "We know that Hoover once in the time of war and passion spoke about the hell into which Germany ought to sink, but we also know that the relief action for feeding starving Germany was taken under the aegis of Hoover. We cannot measure with a yardstick the extent of Hoover's sympathy or antipathy toward Germany, but we may assume that he will not be prejudiced on German affairs. Hoover is especially famed as an economist, and Germany, with its Dawes problem, has every interest in seeing that common-sense economic principles should be put into effect throughout the world."

Scandinavian satisfaction seemed to spring from the clean, temperate, protestant, idealistic qualities of President-elect Herbert Hoover.

Genuine ardor characterized Polish and Czechoslovakian celebrations of the victory. Wreaths were laid at Warsaw upon the American Relief Monument in Hoover Square. A few ignorant citizens of Prague betrayed by their shouts that they identified the victory of Herbert Hoover with the party of Woodrow Wilson, since it was under the latter's aegis that the former fed Czechs & Slovaks. Since Woodrow Wilson is the revered "Godfather of Czechoslovakia," shouts were all the louder on account of the mistake. Ardor was further manifest in Vienna and Budapest.

Belgium seethed with rejoicings, exuberant public speeches, honest joy. Foreign Minister Paul Hymans orated: "Without America's intervention, the tremendous efforts of organization and solidarity made during the 50 months of the war would have been impossible, and from beginning to end Mr. Hoover's outstanding personality played a foremost part. We hail him and we honor him as the 'Friend of Belgium!'"

Russia, China, Japan. The smug satisfaction of the Soviet State press, last week, seemed to spring from an assumption that William Edgar Borah will be the next U. S. Secretary of State and will consummate his well-known wish for U. S. recognition of Soviet Russia.

Chinese satisfaction was suavely phrased by Foreign Minister C. T. Wang: "China views the Republican Party as a consistent friend of China, beginning as long ago as Hay's open door declaration which prevented the partition of China, Roosevelt's remission of the Boxer indemnity, the Washington conference action of Hughes and Harding, and Coolidge's opposition in 1927 to foreign armed intervention in China."

Japanese news organs predicted a dire elevation of the U. S. tariff wall.

Latin America. Minute and able analyses of the election were made by all the great Latin American dailies. Thus La Nacion of Santiago, Chile, worried over the fact that, "Hoover's best merits fail to explain the Democrats' loss of New York and Virginia." Ecuadorian editors published especially complete and well-organized electoral statistics.

Mexicans rejoiced with Morrow and Hoover. Chileans would have preferred Smith. Throughout Argentine metropoli wonder was repeatedly expressed that the two U. S. parties had campaigned on practically identical platforms.

Ireland. In the boglands of County Covan dwell a clan of Smiths of whom the Governor's late grandfather was one and his second cousin, James Smith, is another. At the cottage in the boglands where Grandfather Smith was born, descendant Smiths huddled bleakly, waiting for a cablegram of victory. Upon receiving it they would have hoisted the Irish Free State's tricolor above the cottage and otherwise made Irish whoopee.