The Hoover Week

President Hoover last week had need of all his good cheer to meet discouraging reports from London on the progress of the Naval Conference (see p. 21). While he was not ready to despair of some form of success from the parley, he was disappointed at the manner in which its negotiations seemed to be going around & around & around in a profitless circle. Chief Delegate Stimson continued to send him optimistic reports on the possibility of progress, but Stimson optimism did not seem to jibe with the pessimistic cablings of expert newsmen. Strong though the temptation was for him to interfere with the U. S. delegation, to take what diplomats call "a strong public position," President Hoover continued his patient hands-off policy. Even to his closest friends he said little of what he thought of the London Parley, preserved a cheerful exterior.

¶ Representative William Robert Wood of Indiana, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who lately investigated the U. S. fight against the fruit-fly in Florida, last week reported to President Hoover that: 1) $60,000,000 worth of property had been destroyed in the campaign, much of it needlessly; 2) $6,000,000 had been spent on eradication which, if done efficiently, should not have cost more than $1,500,000; 3) "bugologists,'' by their loose talk, "have done more damage to the Florida citrus industry than the bugs."

¶ President Hoover last week awaited a full report by his Haitian Commission which sailed for the U. S. from Port-au-Prince after a fortnight's investigation in the Black Republic. General was the prediction that the President, on the Commission's recommendation, would promptly withdraw Brigadier General John Henry Russell, U. S. High Commissioner and unofficial autocrat over Haiti, and appoint in his place a regular diplomatic representative (see p. 25).