THE PRESIDENCY
"Mysterious" Visitor
The first evening of Canadian Prime Minister Richard Bedford Bennett's "unofficial" three-day visit to Washington was spent in the company of President Hoover, Secretary Stimson and his assistant William R. Castle Jr. Also present: Hanford MacNider, U. S. Minister to Canada. Although no intimation of what was discussed was forthcoming, it was generally assumed that Liquor, Tariff, St. Lawrence River power, and a possible U. S. embargo on Canadian wheat furnished dinner conversation. Only public utterance on Mr. Bennett's visit was made by President Hoover. Said he: "We are mutually interested in the common welfare of our peoples. Informal conversations of the future always lead to better understanding."
¶ Deciding that joint congressional receptions were too crowded, President & Mrs. Hoover set a precedent by holding a reception for members of the House and their ladies alone. Present for the first time at a White House function—although his wife's attendance at a White House tea two years ago caused a ruction—Representative Oscar De Priest, Chicago Negro, shook hands with the President, retired with Mrs. De Priest to the East Room, leaving to the other guests the option of speaking to or ignoring them. Mrs. De Priest was gratified when Secretary Lament's wife, a fellow Chicagoan, stopped to chat. Speaker Longworth came over, slapped Mr. De Priest on the back, shook his hand.
¶ The President appointed Paul Martin Pearson of Swarthmore, Pa., elocutionist, Red Cross speaker, Quaker, to be first Civil Governor of the Virgin Islands. Purchased from Denmark in 1917, the islands have hitherto been in charge of the Navy Department with Captain Waldo Evans, retired, as governor. Jurisdiction of the Virgin Islands now passes from the Navy to the Department of the Interior.