THE PRESIDENCY: Stand Steadfast

The winter of 1777-78, low ebb of the Revolution, was one of intense hardship and discouragement for General George Washington and his Continental troops encamped at Valley Forge, Pa. The winter of 1930-31, low ebb of the Depression, was one of almost equally intense suffering and heartbreak for President Herbert Hoover and his Republican advisers encamped in Washington. Last week President Hoover went to Valley Forge, now a military park, to deliver a Memorial Day address in which he drew a parallel between his own troubles and General Washington's. President Hoover has never been called a Republican stand-patter. But his advice to the country, to emulate Washington at Valley Forge, may supply a slogan for the 1932 campaign: "Stand Steadfast!" In the 17-minute Valley Forge speech the word "steadfast" recurred seven emphatic times.

Where Washington faced ice and snow, President Hoover had to contend with a scorching sun. Twenty thousand spectators, most of them in their shirtsleeves, were packed about his wooden stand. As he spoke, perspiration dribbled down his forehead. Behind him on the platform were six Civil War veterans, including a Negro with cavalry insignia. The President's continuous gesture as he read an address which smacked of careful editing by the literary secretariat at the White House, was a series of little pats by one hand on the back of the other. Excerpts from his speech:

"The sufferings of Washington's army have made this place famous. ... It is a shrine to the things of the spirit and the soul. . . . Here men endured that a nation might live. . . . They met the crisis with steadfast fortitude. . . . We pay tribute to those in all wars who have stood steadfast. . . . The American people are going through another Valley Forge at this time. It is an hour of unusual stress and trial. You have each your special cause of anxiety. So, too, have I. The whole nation is beset with the difficulties incident to a world-wide depression. . . . Many have lost the savings of a lifetime, many are unemployed. . . . This is passing trial. . . . Never was the lure of the rosy path to every panacea or of easy ways to imagined security more tempting. For the energies of private initiative we are offered an alluring substitute in the specious claim that hired representatives of 100,000,000 people can do better than the people themselves in thinking and planning their daily life. . . . "We are still fighting this war of independence.

We must not be misled by the claim that the source of all wisdom is in the Government. Such battles as we are in the midst of today cannot be won by any single stroke, by any one strategy sprung from the mind of any single genius. . . . Valley Forge met such a challenge to steadfastness in times and terms of war. Our test is to meet this challenge in times and terms of peace. . . . We are enduring sufferings and we are assailed by temptations. If we weaken, as Washington did not, we shall be writing the introduction to the fall of American institutions. . . . If, by the grace of God, we stand steadfast, we shall insure that we and our sons and daughters shall see these fruits increased many fold. . . . God grant that we may prove worthy after George Washington and his men at Valley Forge."