High Hope

"There are no differences of view between the President and our delegation in London. The delegation has always had, and now has, his unqualified support and authority. The delegation is in London patiently to explore every suggestion made and every possibility that leads to the great purpose of the Conference, that is, the reduction and limitation of naval arms and the preservation of the peace of the world. It is the high hope that a plan for so doing can be evolved."

President Hoover did not issue that statement last week. Instead he shifted the authority and responsibility of explaining his position to Undersecretary of State Joseph Potter Cotton who spoke for him. Explanations were in order because of utter confusion among the World Press as to the Hoover-Stimson policy at the London Naval Conference. Wise indeed was the President not to speak out in his own official person. Had he done so, he would have encumbered himself with a direct responsibility for all of Statesman Stimson's future deeds or misdeeds at the Conference.

P: Another Cotton statement: the fate of the London Conference will be settled this week.

P: President Hoover last week motored around the tidal basin in Washington's Potomac Park, admired, along with thousands of ordinary citizens, the first pinkish-white bloom of the famed Japanese cherry trees which 'Mrs. William Howard Taft. when her husband was in the White House, received as a present from the Mikado and presented to the nation.

P: On the evening of his inaugural last year. President Hoover retired to the private White House library, seeking a book for relaxation. The bookshelves, he found, had been stripped bare by his predecessor. Last week the American Bookseller's Association revealed that it had prepared a special 500-volume library to present later this month to the White House. The books were selected by Alice Roosevelt Longworth, wife of the House Speaker, and Douglas S. Watson of San Francisco, father of Mrs. Herbert Hoover Jr.

P: In the White House President Hoover touched a gold telegraph key that officially opened a $5,800,000 bridge across the Columbia River, connecting Oregon and Washington at Long View, Wash.

P: Last week President Hoover announced that he had accepted the recommendations of his Haitian Commission. The new Hoover policy calls for: 1) Substitution of a U. S. diplomatic representative for the present military High Commissioner; 2) Gradual withdrawal of the U. S. Marines; 3) Probably complete termination of U. S. occupation in six years.

P: If a shrewd publicist plans a new building, notifies President Hoover that its construction is to stabilize economic conditions, he will have his reward. Last week Elzey Roberts, publisher of the St. Louis Star, announced plans for a new $1,500.000 Star plant as "our contribution to President Hoover's prosperity program." A commendatory telegram from the White House to show to his friends, to broadcast as publicity, was Publisher Roberts' reward.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.