Drought Relief

President Hoover last week took up the kind of national problem with which he knows best how to deal. A drought,* worst since the Civil war, was upon the east and midwest (see p. 15). Husbandmen across a checkerboard of devastation faced immense crop and livestock losses. President Hoover could not bring rain, but he could and did organize relief agencies

Sure of his ground, the President held White House conferences in rapid succession. He called for detailed reports on the extent of drought damage, summoned to Washington this week the governors of the twelve hardest-hit states to set up a National Drought Commission, unify relief measures. He asked and got railroads to cut freight rates temporarily. He was deluged with advice, professional and amateur.

Said he: "The situation is one to cause a great deal of concern . . . the drought has mainly affected animal feed, the bulk of direct human food production [is] abundantly in hand. Nevertheless there will be a great deal of privation . . . due to the loss of income. . . . The American people will proudly take care of the necessities of their countrymen in time of stress or difficulty."

Driving through Virginia to his Rapidan camp for the weekend, President Hoover saw for himself pastures toasted brown, corn drooping dead on the stalk, lean kine herded miles to water. At his camp he discussed relief plans with Secretary of Agriculture Hyde and Vice Chairman James C. Stone of the Federal Farm Board.

P:President Hoover was 56 last week. Boy Scouts gave him, as their honorary president, a carved buffalo horn. At camp he had an angel-food cake with 56 candles. Dr. Joel T. Boone, White House physician, said the President was in "fine shape." Since inaugural the President's hair above the temples has turned white.

P:To Camden, N. J. and the yards of New York Shipbuilding Co. went Mrs. Hoover last week to help American Export Steamship Corp. launch its first of four 8,700-ton vessels built with U. S. loans under the new Merchant Marine Act. A whistle tooted; Mrs. Hoover put down her roses, took a basketed bottle of spring water, cracked it smartly over the moving prow, exclaimed: "I christen thee Excalibur." Declared the first lady: "I got a real thrill when my hand touched the bow of that powerful vessel." Later in the week at Camp May Flather near Harrisonburg, Va. Mrs. Hoover broke an ivy rope, presented a 100-ft. rustic bridge across North river to the girl scouts (to whom she is "Buffalo").

P:To President Hoover last week was sent a report by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Charles J. Rhoads on his Bureau's program "to make the Indian a self-sustaining, self-respecting American citizen." The Indian Bureau will "discourage the proclivity of the average Indian to participate in circuses, rodeos, Wild West shows and similar enterprises."

*Presidcnt Hoover spells it "drought," the Federal Farm Board "drouth," Webster prefers "drought."

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