"This Is an Emergency!"

THE PRESIDENCY

"This Is an Emergency!"

President Hoover had plenty of business to keep him busy in Washington and on the Rapidan last week. He had already declined an invitation to speak at the American Legion's Detroit convention on the same platform with two men-- Newton Diehl Baker and Theodore Roosevelt. The first might be his Democratic opponent in the 1932 presidential race, the second, his running mate. But as the week wore on the national atmosphere became increasingly charged with anxiety. What if the Legion should go on record for immediate payment of the Bonus in full? There were ample indications that it might do so, in the summaries of sentiment among State delegations (see p. 15). The President knew that few members of the 72nd Congress would have the temerity to disregard the Legion's dictates.

One evening late in the week he called in Secretaries Stimson, Mellon and Lamont. Out of that meeting came sudden decision Saturday morning: President Hoover would accept the Legion's invitation, make a flying trip to Detroit.

From the Rapidan camp he motored to Martinsburg, W. Va., boarded a special train. Only his immediate staff was with him. So anxious was the President to avoid being caught up and delayed by Legion ceremonies that he had the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. slow up the train as it neared Detroit. With hardly a moment to spare, he arrived shortly after 11 a. m., drove immediately to Olympia Arena through yowling crowds, stepped up on the rostrum and with many a decisive shake of his square head gravely told the American Legion what he expected of it. Excerpts:

"I need not recount that the world is passing through a great depression fraught with grueling daily emergencies alike to men and to governments. This depression today flows largely from Europe through the fundamental dislocations of economic and political forces caused by the Great War, in which your service brought bloodshed to an end and gave hope of reconstruction to the world. Our economic strength is such that we would have recovered long since but for these forces from abroad. Recovery of the world now rests and awaits in no small degree upon our country, the United States of America. Some individuals may have lost their nerve and faith but the real American people are digging themselves out with industry and courage. We have the self-containment, the resources, the manhood, the intelligence and by united action we will lead the world in recovery. . . .

"You are aware that during the past year our national expenditures have exceeded our income. Today the national Government faces another large deficit in its budget. There is a decrease in the annual yield of income taxes alone from $2,400,000,000 in the years of prosperity to only $1,200,000,000 today. ... In these circumstances I am directing the most drastic economy in every non-vital branch of Government. . . .

"Do not be misled by those who say that we need only to tax the rich to secure the funds we need. We must face the absolute fact that the rich can be taxed to the point of diminishing returns, and still the deficit in our ordinary and necessary expenditures would not be covered even upon a basis of utmost economy. Make no mistake: in these circumstances it is those who work in the fields, at the bench and desk who would be forced to carry an added burden for every added cent to our expenditures. . . .

"We can carry our present expenditures without jeopardy to national stability. We can carry no more without grave risks. . . . The first stone in the foundations of stability and recovery, both at home and in the world, is the stability of the Government of the United States. . .

"You would not have the President of the United States plead with any citizen or any group of citizens for any course of action. I make no plea to you. But you would have your President point out the path of service in this nation. . . . This is an emergency and these are the times for service to which we must put full heart and purpose to help and not retard the return of the happy days we know are ahead of your country and mine!"

In the moment of silence which followed, the audience felt that its Bonus hopes had vanished. They had been shamed away. The President turned to leave the platform and catch his waiting train back to Washington. Suddenly from the galleries one ruddy veteran shouted: "We want beer!" Other voices took up the cry, "We want beer! WE WANT BEER!" President Hoover moved firmly toward an exit, pretended he had not heard.

P: The word Beer had been ringing in the President's ears all week. Rumors had flown that the President would make a radio speech advocating the legalization of 4% beer. Another rumor whispered that he might offer the Legion Beer if it would cease agitating for the Bonus. Nothing was further from the President's mind. To begin with, he hates & fears the word Saloon, which is Beer's traditional echo. To those who suggested reopening breweries as a means of relieving Unemployment the President had a pat reply: opening breweries would throw out of work thousands in the soft drink industry.

In the midst of Washington's beer rumors came word that the White House had sent to the Census Bureau for figures showing how many people used to work for breweries. Reporters rushed into Secretary Walter Hughes Newton's office, just outside the room where the President works. "When do we get our beer, Walter?" they shouted. Secretary Newton tried to explain that someone "outside the White House" had requested the figures.

"Well, did you give them to the President when you got them?"

"I didn't," said Secretary Newton with dignity. "What goes on between us is confidential."

P: Little old Secretary of the Treasury Mellon called on the President last week, told him that the War Debts moratorium, to do any good, would have to be extended at least two more years. This was no news to President Hoover. Bankers had been coming down from New York to tell him that it should be extended to five years. But he refused to comment on the situation. The one-year moratorium has not yet been authorized by Congress.

P: On the subject of European economic entanglements President Hoover found himself attacked from a new and unexpected quarter last week. Editor George Horace Lorimer of the staid Saturday Evening Post has been engaged in flaying the Administration for trying to "help people out of a morass by plunging into it with them." Said Editor Lorimer in the current issue: "Washington was right-- meaning George Washington, not Washington, D. C. . . . Our international bankers have been babes in the Black Forest."

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