The Hoover Week

Little things can annoy a great President. Last week President Hoover was thoroughly vexed by two occurrences:

1) Into the Eastern food markets moved three carloads of particularly luscious apricots. Each crate was proudly proclaimed: "Grown and Packed on President Hoover's Ranch, Wasco, Cal." A pell-mell demand for Hoover apricots followed until the supply was exhausted. . . . Great was the President's annoyance at this exploitation of his name and position. Careful explanations emanated officially from the White House: President Hoover does not own a Wasco Fruit Ranch. He does own some stock in Pozo Products Co. which in turn controls the ranch. The use of his name was "positively unauthorized," "grossly misleading."

2) One morning last week President Hoover read this press headline: MARINES BUILDING CAMP FOR HOOVER. The accompanying story implied that the President had ordered the Marine guard of 40 men from the abandoned Mayflower to his Shenandoah National Park camp site to build his Lodge, repair roads. Quickly the President despatched Secretary George Akerson to the Press to make this announcement: "Every nail and every board in the President's camp was paid for by Herbert Hoover out of his own pocket. . . . The roads to the camp were built by the State of Virginia. . . . The Marine detail is the usual presidential guard. ... Its only task is to keep its own quarters in condition. . . ."

P: To the White House last week went a Virginia delegation of Izaak Walton Leaguers, led by Congressman Robert Walton Moore. To the President they handed an expensive rod and reel, said it was "a token of esteem and gratitude for the impetus given outdoor sports, particularly fishing, which the President by hi? example has brought to the attention of the whole country."

P: The Hoover week-end outing: to the Shenandoah National Park Camp. Pastimes: building a dam across a creek to make a swimming pool; pitching horseshoes.

P: Last week President Hoover scanned the 1931 Budget estimates. They did not make pleasant reading. They showed that the costs of government are continually mounting. Army, Navy, Postal Service and Public Works would cost $300,000,000 more than they had last year. The figures depressed the Hoover hope for tax reduction.