The Hoover Week

A good President never gets away from his troubles. President Hoover took his with him on last weekend's outing to his Shenandoah National Park fishing camp. His chief trouble: to pick from 400 names the eight best men to administer the Federal Farm Board. To his camp he also took Secretary of Agriculture Arthur M. Hyde. Together they pondered in the Virginia Backwoods while a downpour of rain interfered with fishing.

P: Another Hoover trouble last week was Prohibition. The President seemed to be unable to hold this issue at arm's length. He publicly "deplored the killing of any person" in connection with shootings by dry agents. The National Loyalty Commission of the Presbyterian Church called upon him at the White House, pledged him its moral support which he said he "wanted and needed." The Anti-Saloon League designated Sunday, June 30 as "Support-the President Day" for churches throughout the land.

P: President Hoover last week appointed Arch Coleman as First Assistant Postmaster General, Col. James C. Roop as Director of the Budget. He also named an Interoceanic Canal Board, with Major-General Edgar Jadwin, Chief of Engineers, at its head, to resurvey the canal route across Nicaragua, to determine the wisdom of enlarging the Panama Canal.

P: President Hoover formally announced last week that the U. S. would not sign the Young Reparations Agreement, that there was "no occasion" to submit it to Congress. Congress, however, will be asked to sanction the reduction of "the comparatively minor items of army occupation costs and mixed claims."

P: When Hoover Secretary Lawrence Ritchie bought his fishing preserve on Little Hunting Creek in Maryland, he posted it so that the President, his guest, might fish in seclusion. Local fishermen were vexed. They said they had stocked the stream themselves and been assured when they did so that the state would never permit it to be posted. They disregarded the Ritchie signs--and three poachers were arrested, fined. Because he did "not wish to have the President embarrassed by being brought into such a discussion," Secretary Ritchie then prepared to sell his property, to play host to the President elsewhere. That pleased the local fishermen but made other Marylanders feel ashamed. The Mayor and citizens of Frederick, Md., last week reaffirmed their hospitality, suppressed the protesting anglers. Secretary Ritchie changed his mind, decided to keep his preserve.