A HUMAN HERBERT

One of the most unhappy things about the presidency of Mr. Hoover has been the ineptitude of the attempts to "humanize" his personality. The unique popularity which has fallen to the lot of Calvin Coolidge naturally suggested the idea of presenting the present president to the people so as to produce the same effect. Although the misfortunes of his term of office would probably make that impossible in any case, the obviousness of the attempt would serve to alienate the sympathy of intelligent people anyway.

The statement in the House recently that the president, who once possessed a large fortune, is worth less than a million today, due to his generosity to charities, is just such a shoddy bid for public favor. Whether or not the statement was made with Mr. Hoover's knowledge is of little importance. The only thing that matters is that a blatant advertisement of his generosity is not calculated to set it in a pleasant light. Charity which can be capitalized for political gain is not charity at all. It can be written down as part of the expense of the campaign.