If he were an unknown man, it would be
enough; but you measure him by the stature of Hoover of the Belgian
Relief. Like the issue of great fathers, he is eclipsed by a
preceding fame. As well be the son of William Shakespeare as the
political progeny of Hoover, The Food Administrator!
The War spoiled life for many men; for Wilson, for Baruch, for
Hoover. After its magnificent amplifications of personality, it is
hard to descend to every day, and be not a tremendous figure, but a
successful secretary of an unromantic department.
He might concentrate with advantage to his future fame. A brief
absence from front pages, under the connective "and," would cause
the public heart to grow fonder when he did "make something" of his
own department.
But two disqualifications stand in his way;--his lack of political
intelligence, and his consequent inability to make quick decisions
in a political atmosphere. His present diffusion of his energies
springs, I think, from indecision; for in politics he can not make
up his mind, as he can in business, where the greatest profit lies.
I first heard of this weakness of his when he was Food
Administrator in Washington, and when other members of the Wilson
War Administration, equal in rank with him and having to cooperate
with him, complained frequently of his slowness. He had able
subordinates, they said, the leading men in the various food
industries, and they had to make up his mind for him.
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