to make a real start was
like that of a race-horse at the starting gate or a runner with his toes
on the line awaiting the pistol shot.

The atmosphere of Paris was an irritating one. The men in control were
always saying "wait." There were a thousand considerations of old-time
diplomacy, of present and future political and commercial considerations
in their minds. They were conferring with each other and referring back
to their governments for instructions and then conferring again. Common
sense and necessity were being restrained by political sensitiveness and
inertia. In Hoover's mind one thing was perfectly clear. Time was of the
essence of his contract. Every day of delay meant more difficulty. The
Eastern countries, struggling to find themselves in the chaos of
disorganization, waiting for an official determination of their new
borders, were already becoming entangled in frontier brawls and
quarreling over the control of local sources of food and fuel. Their
people were suffering terribly and were clamoring for help. Hoover was
there to help; he wanted to begin helping. So he began.

Hoover had already taken the position that the day of hate was passed.
With the end of mutual slaughter and destruction came immediately the
time for help. It was like that pitiful period after the battle when the
bloody field is taken over by the stretcher-bearers, the Red Cross
nurses, and the tireless surgeons. So Hoover had already clearly in mind
that the hand of charity was going to be extended to the sufferers in
Hungary and Austria and Germany as well as to the people who were
suffering because of the ravages of the armies of these nations. Dr.
Alonzo Taylor and I, whom he had sent early in December to Switzerland
to get into close touch with the situation in Eastern and Central
Europe, listened, for him, in Berne to the pitiful pleas of the
representatives of starving Vienna. By January Hoover's missions were
installed and at work in Trieste, Belgrade, Vienna, Prague, Buda-Pest,
and Warsaw. In February Dr. Taylor and I were reporting the German
situation from Berlin.

The attitude of the people in these countries was one of pathetic
dependence on American aid and confidence that it would be forthcoming.
The name of Hoover was already known all over Europe because of his
Belgian work, and the swiftly-spread news that he was in charge of the
new relief work acted like magic in restoring hope to these despairing
millions.