'Umility v. Hoover

Most contributors to Science (weekly) are staid men who avail themselves of the magazine's columns to write polite letters of criticism concerning the ideas in their fellow scientists' heads. In last week's issue, however, was printed with editorial hesitancy and apologies a letter from "An 'Umble Scientist"--anonymous because the author implied he was hoping for an appointment to the Federal Power Commission--criticizing Herbert Clark Hoover, President of the U. S. "Most scientific men," wrote an 'umble scientist, "were delighted when for the first time since George Washington an engineer became President of the United States. It is however said that Mr. Hoover, as a member of the Cabinets of Mr. Harding and Mr. Coolidge, did not support the scientific work under his charge, and there seems to be no evidence since he has climbed to the presidency that he realizes the dependence of our civilization on scientific work and its applications." Evidence of Engineer Hoover's neglect of Science as outlined in the article: as Secretary of Commerce he appointed a commission on highway safety, paid no further attention to the members, made them pay their own expenses "though he managed to have it called in the extensive newspaper publicity The Hoover Commission." Though every other recent President has done so, he has not received at the White House the Government's official scientific adviser, the National Academy of Sciences, "of which President Hoover is the only member elected for reasons other than eminence in scientific research."* He refused to speak to the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held last month in Cleveland.

President Hoover, however, did consent to encourage Norman Baker, a cancer doctor of Muscatine, Iowa, who has been branded a quack by the American Medical Association. Recently Dr. Baker started a newspaper to air his opinions. Science's anonymous contributor quoted an editorial printed this month in the A. M. A. Journal: "By some of the strange influences known only to politicians, President Hoover was induced to apply to a pushbutton in Washington the presidential digit, thereby giving to the presses in Muscatine the electrical juice necessary to induce motion, whereby inked rollers applied to paper aided still further the dissemination of Baker's notions and nostrums. . . . Somewhere, somehow, some secretary succeeded in precipitating the President of the United States into a situation that awaits explanations." Herbert Clark Hoover, engineer, was graduated from Stanford University in 1895 with an A. B. in Engineering. For 18 years he was engaged in applying the latest U. S. engineering methods in mines, railroads, work which carried him into almost a dozen countries. He has written Economics in Mining (1906), Principles of Mining (1909), used as a textbook in technical schools. He has lectured on engineering at Stanford and Columbia Universities. With his wife, in 1912 he translated from Latin the first book ever written (published 1556) on mining, de Re Metallica, for which he was given a medal by U. S. mining engineers.

As Cabinet member and President, he is best known for his work in the Child Health movement. In 1922 he formed the American Child Health Association, was the first president. As Secretary of Commerce he was concerned with the development of radio, of aviation. Among other of Engineer Hoover's encouragements to science: in 1926 he officially opened the Midwestern Engineering and Power Exposition, Chicago; in 1921 he was president of the American Engineering Council; he is a member of the American Mining & Metallurgical Engineers, the Western Society of Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geological Society to which he sent greetings at their last meeting (TIME, Jan. 12); he has received at the White House Einar Paul Lundborg, rescuer of Umberto Nobile, Dr. Hugo Eckener, Capt. Lewis A. Yancey, U. S. to Rome flyer, Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Capt. Dieudonne Coste and Maurice Bellonte. He has approved Government help given to scientific institutions, Smithsonian Institution, etc.; in 1929 he appointed 17 delegates to the World Engineering Congress, Tokyo; he spoke at the 50th anniversary of invention of the incandescent lamp; he appointed a committee to study social trends, put Sociologist William Fielding Ogburn, University of Chicago, in charge; he plans to invite Albert Einstein to the White House.

* Awarded membership to President Hoover in 1922 for achievements in Engineering.

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