Herbert Hoover

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Herbert Hoover

Excerpt from "Public vs. Private Financing of Relief Efforts"

delivered in a press conference on february 3, 1931
reprinted from public papers of the presidents of the united states: herbert hoover, 1931
published in 1976

"The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune."
herbert hoover

Herbert Hoover's presidential philosophy was based on voluntary cooperation and business self-regulation. Hoover believed that Americans would always answer the call for contributions to support local charity organizations and national groups such as the American Red Cross. He strongly believed that federal involvement in aiding the needy would stifle individual donations and lead to the dismantling of the nation's many charitable organizations. He pointed out that far more funding came from such organizations than what the federal government proposed to spend on relief for the poor. Reliance on government charity, Hoover feared, would decrease Americans' sense of responsibility toward their fellow citizens. However, as long as charitable efforts were in place, Hoover was willing to authorize some government funding to support private and local efforts.

In his press conference, Hoover acknowledged two distinct situations that required relief efforts at that time: the drought (little or no rainfall for an extended period of time) in the eastern United States and the growing unemployment in cities. To support relief efforts in the drought areas, he asked Congress to establish a program for government loans to farmers to restore the parched agricultural lands. Hoover also made plans for construction of public works (roads, dams, schools, government buildings) to provide employment in rural areas. However, he pointed out that the American Red Cross refused any funding help from the federal government because it believed it had adequate local organization and enough money and resources that had been donated from private sources to take care of drought relief efforts. To tackle unemployment in the cities, Hoover urged private industry to maintain wages, increase construction activity, and cooperate to equally distribute and stabilize employment. He pledged to greatly increase funding for government construction projects to aid business efforts. At the same time, Hoover strongly reasserted his faith in the tradition of Americans coming to the aid of one another.

Things to remember while reading the excerpt from "Public vs. Private Financing of Relief Efforts":

Raised in Iowa and Oregon, Hoover was immersed in the Quaker tradition of self-reliance and cooperation. He strongly believed that helping one's neighbors in troubled times was the proper approach for solving problems.
In the United States, responsibility for aiding the poor in economic hard times had historically rested with private charities and local government.
Even though he believed volunteerism and self-help were fundamental to the U.S. democratic way of life, Hoover was also a humanitarian. He was interested in the well-being of all Americans and deeply disturbed by the country's growing poverty.

Excerpt from "Public vs. Private Financing of Relief Efforts"

This is not an issue as to whether the people are going hungry or cold in the United States. It is solely a question of the bestmethod by which hunger and cold can be prevented. It is a question as to whether the American people on the one hand will maintain the spirit of charity and of mutual self-help through voluntary giving and the responsibility of local government as distinguished on the other hand from appropriations out of the Federal Treasury for such purposes. My own conviction is strongly that if we break down this sense of responsibility, of individual generosity to individual, and mutual self-help in the country in times of national difficulty and if we start appropriations of this character we have not only impaired something infinitely valuable in the life of the American people but have struck at the roots of self-government .

And there is a practical problem in all this. The help being daily extended by neighbors, by local and national agencies, by municipalities , by industry, and a great multitude of organizations throughout the country today is many times any appropriation yet proposed. The opening of the doors of the Federal Treasury is likely to stifle this giving and thus destroy far more resources than the proposed charity from the Federal Government.

The basis of successful relief in national distress is to mobilize and organize the infinite number of agencies of self-help in the community. That has been the American way of relieving distress among our own people and the country is successfully meeting its problem in the American way today.

We have two entirely separate and distinct situations in the country—the first is the drought area [in the eastern states]; the second is the unemployment in our large industrial centers [these are the two areas presently needing relief efforts].

Immediately upon the appearance of the drought last August, I convoked a meeting of the Governors, the Red Cross and the railways, the bankers and other agencies in the country and laid the foundations of organization and the resources to stimulate every degree of self-help to meet the situation which it was then obvious would develop. The result of this action was to attack the drought problem in a number of directions. The Red Cross established committees in every drought county, comprising the leading citizens of those counties, with instructions to them that they were to prevent starvation among their neighbors, and, if the problem went beyond local resources , the Red Cross would support them.

Charity

charity: helping the needy.

Mutual self-help

mutual self-help: helping each other.

Appropriations

appropriations: funds.

Conviction

conviction: belief.

Appropriations of this character

appropriations of this character: funding charity efforts from the federal government's treasury.

Impaired something infinitely valuable

impaired something infinitely valuable: damaged the valuable tradition of americans helping americans.

Struck at the roots of self-government

struck at the roots of self-government: undermined the responsibility of local communities to work out their own problems.

Municipalities

municipalities: towns and cities.

Appropriation

appropriation: funding from government sources.

Stifle

stifle: halt.

Destroy far more resources…

destroy far more resources…: more help was available privately and locally than would be available through the federal government.

Infinite number

infinite number: large number.

Convoked

convoked: called together.

Comprising

comprising: made up of.

Local resources

local resources: the ability of the local communities to help.

Rehabilitate agriculture

rehabilitate agriculture: restore the land.

To reinforce this work, at the opening of Congress I recommended large appropriations for loans to rehabilitate agriculture fromthe drought and provision of further large sums for public works and construction in the drought territory which would give employment in further relief to the whole situation. These Federal activities provide for an expenditure of upward of $100 million in this area and it is in progress today.

Public works and construction

public works and construction: projects that benefit the public, such as building roads, public buildings, and dams.

The Red Cross has always met the situations which it has undertaken.… They have refused to accept Federal appropriations asnot being consonant either with the need or the character of their organization.

In the matter of unemployment outside of the drought areas important economic measures of mutual self-help have been developed, such as those to maintain wages, to distribute employment equitably , to increase construction work by industry, to increase Federal construction work from a rate of about $275 million a year prior to the depression to a rate now of over $750 million a year, to expand State and municipal construction—all upon a scale never before provided or even attempted in any depression. But beyond this to assure that there shall be no suffering, in every town and county voluntary agencies in relief of distress have been strengthened and created and generous funds have been placed at their disposal. They are carrying on their work efficiently and sympathetically.

Consonant

consonant: being in agreement.

Equitably

equitably: equally.

Coincidentally with

coincidentally with: along with.

But after and coincidentally with voluntary relief, our American system requires that municipal, county, and State governments shall use their own resources and credit before seeking such assistance from the Federal Treasury.

I have indeed spent much of my life in fighting hardship and starvation both abroad and in the Southern States. I do not feel that I should be charged with lack of human sympathy for those who suffer, but I recall that in all the organizations with which I have been connected over these many years, the foundation has been to summon the maximum of self-help … I am confident that our people have the resources, the initiative, the courage, the stamina and kindliness of spirit to meet this situation in the way they have met their problems over generations.…

I am willing to pledge myself that if the time should ever come that the voluntary agencies of the country, together with the local and State governments, are unable to find resources with which to prevent hunger and suffering in my country, I will ask the aid of every resource of the Federal Government because I would no more see starvation amongst our countrymen than would any Senator or Congressman. I have the faith in the American people that such a day will not come.

The American people are doing their job today. They should be given a chance to show whether they wish to preserve the principles of individual and local responsibility and mutual self-help before they embark on what I believe is a disastrous system. I feel sure they will succeed if given the opportunity. [Hoover, pp. 49, 50–53]

What happened next…

The drought that Hoover spoke of only worsened. It moved west and enveloped the Great Plains area from the Dakotas south to Texas. Dust storms, which are clouds of top-soil blown thousands of feet into the air, blew across the Plains, destroying wheat farms and killing livestock. The problem became much too widespread and severe for the American Red Cross to keep up with.

Stamina

stamina: endurance.

Embark

embark: start.

A disastrous system

a disastrous system: turning to the federal government for aid.

In the cities, unemployment continued to rise, and people went hungry as local and private relief agencies were overwhelmed with the demand for assistance. For example, in late 1931 the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began a drive to raise $5 million to help its 230,000 residents who were out of work. The fund drive was successful, but the $5 million was used up in only three months. Seeing that local government efforts and private agencies were not meeting the needs of the unemployed and the hungry, Hoover signed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act in July 1932. It provided $2 billion for public works projects and $300 million in loans to states for direct cash payments to the poor. Many believed these actions, although late and too little, prevented a complete collapse of the U.S. economy. Nevertheless, a majority of Americans blamed Hoover for the Depression. In the 1932 presidential election Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) won by a landslide.

Did you know…

Despite the ineffectiveness of Hoover's efforts to relieve the hardships brought on by the Great Depression, his programs marked an important new trend in the federal government's involvement in domestic economic affairs. For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government set up loan programs to aid Americans and established public works projects to provide temporary employment.
Although he had been a successful businessman and humanitarian in the 1920s, Hoover was uncomfortable in front of crowds. His shyness made him seem insensitive, cold, and uncaring. Few people knew that he donated his entire presidential salary to charity.
Since the public came to blame Hoover for the country's economic troubles, his name spawned a new vocabulary. Shantytowns, concentrations of make-shift shacks on vacant lots or outskirts of towns, were homes to the poorest Americans and were called "Hoovervilles." Hoboes on trains were hitchhiking rides and not paying for tickets. They were called "Hoover tourists." "Hoover blankets" were newspapers used by the homeless for warmth because they had no blankets. Campfires were "Hoover heaters."

Consider the following…

Do you think that if Hoover had taken more steps and acted earlier, his actions might have had more impact on the severity of the Depression?
After leaving office, Hoover remained quiet for two years but reemerged in 1935. Given Hoover's beliefs, do you think he reemerged as a supporter or a critic of President Roosevelt's New Deal? Give your reasons.
In what various ways do you think Americans who had always worked for a living responded to accepting charity or government handouts?