The Hoover Week

President Hoover is much given to reading about himself in the newspapers. A published personal anecdote about himself is often as irksome to him as the well-directed digs of his Democratic opponents. If he had picked up the New York Herald Tribune last week and turned to the first page, second section, it is possible that the small Hoover mouth would have fallen. Trenchant Liberal Walter Lipmann had read Citizen Coolidge's cool renunciation of presidential aspirations in the Satevepost (TIME, Oct. 5), had detected therein no accolade for President Hoover but a singular difference in character between Citizen and President. Excerpts:

"[Mr. Coolidge] appears, there, as a man who has thought out and arrived at a clear, a well ordered, rather narrow, if you like, but entirely consistent set of convictions about the functions of the President. ... It turns out that what his [President Hoover's] critics complain about is that Mr. Hoover is indecisive and hesitant about dealing with political issues and extraordinarily fertile, impulsive and energetic in trying to influence matters that lie outside the duties of his realms and his powers.

"Thus in meeting this depression he has in respect to those elements which are governmental and require his leadership--like tariffs, debts, reparations, political stabilization--been extremely disinclined to act and greatly bewildered by political opposition and public criticism. He does not seem to know how the political functions of the President are exercised effectively, and to be rather dismayed at not knowing. On the other hand, he has had the utmost confidence and boldness in attempting to guide and oversee the industrial life of the country, initiating major policies as to wages, purchases of raw materials, capital investment and what not. Scarcely a week passes but some new story comes out of Washington as to how Mr. Hoover has had somebody on the telephone and is attempting to fix this situation or that." P: A secretary was instructed to bring in little slips of paper and put them on President Hoover's desk last week. Curious visitors saw that they were inning-by-inning returns from the World Series baseball games in St. Louis. For the third game the President trained to Philadelphia, threw in the first ball (and got it back as a souvenir), watched the St. Louis Cardinals (National League) whip the Philadelphia Athletics (American League). Not till the game was over did he learn of the sudden death of Senator Dwight Whitney Morrow (see below), though thousands of radio listeners heard Graham McNamee interrupt his play by play description of the game to flash the news. Leaving Shibe Park, a bulletin was handed to President Hoover. Secretary Theodore Joslin spoke for him: "The President is greatly shocked. . . . He will enlarge on that statement when he returns to Washington." P: Prior to leaving for his Rapidan camp last weekend, President Hoover breakfasted with Bernard Mannes Baruch, wisest of Democrats, famed director of the War Finance Corp., breakfasted and talked so long about world financial affairs that the President was two hours late getting to his office, thereby missing Secretary Mellon who had called. The late Senator Morrow in Washington to discuss details of Premier Laval's visit, called before Secretary Mellon got back. Among the Rapidan guests were: Board Chairman Julius Barnes of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce; Chairman W. Kingsland Macy of New York State's Republican Committee; Charles J. Hatburf, Philadelphia lawyer; Mark Requa, California oilman; Mark Sullivan, the President's favorite correspondent.

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