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Show AowJTe f berfc Hoover 3 impresses 1 Veiv a in Bisior Herald r? I The American who fed stricken Belgium for three .years, and who now is head of the United States Food Administration, makes us believe we can do what we ought to do, as a matter of patri- otic service Here's a good pen picture or three s1m . xv Mates f -vx ?an I 1 iTC f V ' ft uniAo6-t J ZitJ II MMEHooD IT JM-lV. T jn ASHINUTON. Things have changed rapidly. The cap-H cap-H ft H ltol and White House are dimmed by a plain vlne-cov-VV Vi? eled' six"story brlck ouildlng (evidently used to be an yl 'C'j apartment house or family hotel) on the corner of I fswSviNLo antl Sixteenth streets that would pass unnoticed were T It not for a plain black nnd white sign over one of the $l?Ssft entrances which says In modest letters, "FOOD AD-sSi AD-sSi MINISTRATION," and the sight-seeing busses as they roll by slack up for an instant while the bally hoo -EtSk through his megaphone Impressively announces, "this Is where Mr. Hoover is." ffryi3 That tells the story. To my mind congress may i"iinT resout:e an(j cnntter, the White Hottse wires may whir steadily with messages fraught with grave Import, but as I look at It today, the fate of this nation and her allies, the success of our own soldiers on the fields of France, depend In greatest measure on what is being consummated day after day In that unpretentious red brick building wherein sit Food Director Hoover and his food generals. To me that building appears as the very center of the world. I can think of it in no other way. I am a case-hardened newspaper man of 27 years experience. I have participated in state, national and international conferences of grave Import, but the most serious session I ever sat in was that last week In the food administration building in Washington and the most serious talk I ever listened to was that delivered to us by Mr. Hoover at that time. I have seen activity in many forms departments working at high speed, great newspaper offices at press time, firemen battling great conflagrations, congress and parliament in session, but never have I been so Impressed as with the indescribable, noiseless, ceaseless, feverish methodical action I saw no, I didn't see it; I felt it In this building, where is being mapped and planned and plotted the bloodless food battle of the world, a battle In which if we will only follow as good soldiers and patriots should, the orders of "General" Hoover, victory will be ours. Here is the doctrine of "Speed up" that's the slogan of the food administration, you know exemplified in the nth Power. We were e-athpred In one nf the henrinir rooms fifi nf n: On)-- side of myself the gathering was wholly comprised of fish producers and dls- tributors who had come for this conference at the behest of Mr. Hoover. They represented the largest fish centers and the largest fish concerns in tills country. - Mr. Hoover quietly entered the room ; quietly I say, for no one noticed his presence until he had taken a seat near Kenneth Fowler, fish expert of the food administration. There he sat, an interested spectator, until two speakers had finished the thread of a discussion necessary to clear up a certain cer-tain point, and then Mr. Fowler, with no fuss and feathers, remarked,' "we will now hear a few words from Mr. Hoover." "A few words !" I wish every man, woman and child in the country could have heard them. He wasted no time on preliminaries. He got down to cases at once. He outlined conditions and then elaborated on every point. With cold figures he impressed upon the gathering what the United States had been doing In the matter of sending supplies to the allies and that the allies, besides doing the fighting for themselves and us, had drawn upon their own food resources to such a serious extent that the continuation of the war and its successful outcome actually depended on their receiving their main food supply from the United States. Then he very quietly, but very gravely said, with just a perceptible lift of his eyebrows and a sweeping glance that took in every man in the room, that the people of the United States were not going to fall down on the job. But before we go any further let us take a glance at this wonderfully resourceful man, who has become a world figure; perhaps at this time THE world figure, and this is said with all respect to a plentitude of great men I have in mind, who have done, are doUig and will continue to do to the end. Imagine before you a man of medium stature, well set up, broad of shoulder and thick of chest. Place on this body, a well-rounded head, face full cheeked and deep-set eyes well apart; eyes that you can feel, eyes that you realize are instantly helping a big brain behind to make a mental Inventory of you at first glance ; eyes, the heavy lines around which are the only Indication of the stress and strain the man is working under; eyes that once looked Into, give an impression of concentrated power, force and' absolute confidence; the greatest pair of "I can, I will, I must" eyes I ever gazed Into. Now dress this man in an Immaculate suit of blue serge, double breasted coat and tie to match ; part a handsome head of smooth laid hair absojutely in the middle; fit the whole being with a low Intensive voice, a voice wonderfully even in tone and seldom raised above the conversational tone, which lowers rather than raises when he makes his telling points ; add for the only gestures ges-tures just a now and then raising of tlte eyes and a straight, boring look at his auditors ; hands resting easily at his side, in pockets or finger tipped on the table in front of him that's Hoover as I saw him. While we were all forming a once-over mental impression of the man before us, he wasn't losing a minute. In detail he explained in just what measure our allies were able to cater to their own needs and that measure wasn't anything reassuring, I can tell you. He then, always giving the exact figures to prove or back up or intensify his statements, told us exactly of the immense quantities of grains and meats the United States had poured into the waiting mouths of our allies and impressed on us that this procession of food across the seas must continue in increasing volume. He explained at length just the food supply condition of the United States at the present time, and at what expense to ourselves we had been supplying the allies. Then again reminding us that the output to the friends "across" must continue in increasing quantities, in a quiet, but most impressive, impres-sive, manner, reminded us that now "our own people" were over there, and that soon there would be more of them. "And you know, gentlemen," he remarked, "what you must do for them, what you will do for them. They are fighting our battle on the forefront. Our duty Is to keep them well fed. We will do It." He then went on to show exactly the foodstuff condition ; that the world supply of wheat was short; at the same time giving the encouraging statement state-ment that our corn crop probably would exceed last year. He cited the flesh food status, giving in detail just how we stood on our beef, pork and poultry, and what portion of the whole we must send abroad to feed our troops and our allies. He showed, in short, that In order to live up to our food duty abroad, we must eat less wheat and meat at home. And right here he got down to the fish question. Leaning the tips of his fingers on the table and gazing at every man In that room at once it seemed so, anyhow he said quietly : You gentlemen here are going to help your country as a patriotic duty. You must realize from what I have told you today Just how your own country and her allies stand In the matter of actual food supply, and what we must do to keep up a food supply for them and ourselves. You are going to increase the fish production of this country by 50 per cent. I am not going to try and tell you how you are going to do it. I have faith in you as patriotic men and business men, who know your own business to the minutest point, that you will make the great effort, and that you will succeed. Remember that this is no personal call to you ; it is the call of your whole country. Now, these are not exactly Mr. Hoover's own words, but that Is the way a newspaper man remembers them, and those are the impressions this wonderful won-derful talk left in my mind. He was not demonstrative at any point. He was cooler than a college professor explaining a geometry proposition to a class of beginners. He was calmly enthusiastic, If you can sense the scope of that expression. One or two points more remain In my memory ; not his exact words, but what he was driving at. He didn't try to tell us that we were going to starve, but he did try to tell us how to prevent ourselves and our allies from sighting that clanger point. He did claim that if the advice, the appeals of the food administration were followed, our armies would be able to fight better, ourselves and allies in Europe, the men, women and children all would not see the shadow of the gaunt specter of want In their door yards, and that final victory would be ours : in short, that "food will win the war." He did counsel us to eat less wheat and wheat products, less beef and beef products that they might be sent to supply the abnormal demand abrond, now made even larger by the constant increasing of our own armies across ; and to eat in their place more fish, poultry, fruit, vegetables and all cereals except wheat. Oh, the words and thoughts he crowded into that hour! The former none there can remember, but the thoughts they conveyed will never be forgotten for-gotten by the men who heard him. He stopped as suddenly as he began, smiled winningly; bowed and walked toward the rear of the room and the door, and then as though imbued with the same feeling of respect and confidence con-fidence for the man who is carrying such a world-wide burden every man In the room rose to his feet, and as this food Atlas came down through them, gave him a round of applause which must have made him feel, "well, those fellows will help me, I know.", And then that body of fishermen got right down to business, talked and planned like all-possessed how to do the bidding of the man who had just left the room, nnd after two days of intensive labor went their ways to their various home's, each determined that the fish supply of the country should be increased or he'd know the reason why. It was one of those meetings that tells why the Hoover way is winning all over the country, why the Hoover idea is gradually forcing itself on the public mind as something that MUST be lived up to, why the United States Is going to keep on feeding herself and her allies, why "food will win the war." Every man in that assemblage went home "Hooverlzed" find carried within his busy brain the slogan so aptly suggested by Mr. Fowler, "Catch 'em for Uncle Sam.". I would like to quote a few real Hoover paragraphs shot across the table at us and which to my mind are vital. "In America there always lias been a surplus of foodstuffs, and we havt contributed materially to the support of other countries. We have never had to make a particular effort to conserve our food supply or to avoid hunger and starvation by thrift. We now find ourselves the one great source of the surplus food that must reach Europe, if we are to win the war. That surplus will he scanty, particularly this year, because of the comparative use of our supplies and by the most restricted use of food by our European allies. "The problem of feeding ourselves and feeding our own army abroad nnd of feeding our allies Is the most pressing one that Is immediately before each and every individual. "I feel confident that the splendid volunteer spirit of service of the American people will demonstrate itself In solving our food problem rind that all American producers, manufacturers, merchants and consumers will work together toward a common end. "The available supplies this harvest year are loss than last year; the demand upon us Is greater than last year, and from the last harvest wo exported more than we really could afford. We can only meet the call upon, us next year by saving and by substitution of commodities which cannot bo transferred." |