Across the hilly shoulders of Charleston, W. Va. was draped a grey shawl of early morning mist. From his Chesapeake & Ohio special President Hoover crossed to a stadium near the station. There a sleepy-eyed crowd, many school children, heard him tell how Charleston's chemical industry had waxed fat and strong behind the protecting bulwark of the Republican tariff. A lusty cheer rolled out when the President recalled that he, too, had once worked with pick & shovel in a mine.
Hoover on Harding. "This is my fourth visit to Marion," declared President Hoover during a two-minute stop at the home of the late Warren Gamaliel Harding. "I visited it in 1920 when your fellow-citizen was Republican candidate for President. I visited it again when we buried him, a man broken in the service of his country. I visited it again to dedicate the memorial you erected to his memory. There is no occasion for me to extol his great qualities of geniality, of friendship and devotion to his country ... to go into the sad disloyalties to him which crushed his spirit and brought humiliation to the American people."
At each of the 14 stops between Washington and Detroit President Hoover resolutely acted out his role of hearty campaigner.
Bitter Boos. When the Hoover special drew into hungry Detroit a raucous, disrespectful din arose from 500 out-of-workers, Bonuseers, Communists and disgruntled citizens massed about the station. For 25 minutes the President stuck to the safety of his private car. When he finally emerged, he got a bitter booing. Before his eyes waggled placards: "We Want Bonus." "Down With Hoover." "Hoover—Boloney & Apple Sauce." During the 20-minute drive to the Olympic Arena he was jeered and derided by sidewalk throngs. Inside the hall he was among 20,000 friends yelling and stamping their welcome. On the platform with him were Henry Ford, Governor Brucker, Senators Couzens and Vandenberg, Postmaster General Brown, Secretary of Commerce Chapin.
The President's Detroit speech was his long and familiar recital of his battles with Depression. As at Des Moines and Cleveland, he made the Democratic House and its legislative record his principal target.
Ten Stars. As proof of an economic-upturn, President Hoover cited ten stars in the murk since the Depression's low: 1) return from abroad of $300,000,000 in gold; 2) return of $250,000,000 in currency from domestic hoarding; 3) 20% increase in bond values; 4) 10% increase in manufacturing production; 5) increased building contracts; 6) a jump in weekly car loading from 490,000 to 650,000; 7) 22% increase in foreign trade; 8) improved agricultural prices ("though they are still hideously low") ; 9) "bank failures have almost ceased"; 10) increased manufacturing employment.