t the outbreak of the war
affected him deeply. A man of a sympathetic character who had lived all
his life in an amiable atmosphere, had been a member of prison reform
associations and charitable societies, he now found himself surrounded
by a storm of horrors. Day by day he had to see the distress and
suffering of thousands of people. He threw himself at once into the work
of relief. His health was not strong and he always looked tired and
worn. He was the scholarly type of man, the kind who would be happy in a
library, or in the atmosphere of a college, but he rose to the
emergency.

The American Legation became the one staple point around which the
starving and suffering population could rally. Belgians will never
forget what he did in those days. On Washington's Birthday they filed
before the door of the American Legation at Number 74 Rue de Treves,
men, women and children of all classes; some in furs, some in the
garments of the poor; noblemen, scholars, workmen, artists, shopkeepers
and peasants to leave their visiting cards, some engraved, some printed
and some written on pieces of paper, in tribute to Mr. Whitlock and the
nation which he represented.

But the man whose name stands cut above all others as one of the biggest
figures in connection with the work of relief was Mr. Herbert C. Hoover.
Mr. Hoover came of Quaker stock. He was born at West Branch, Iowa, in
1874, graduated from Leland Stanford University in 1895, specialized in
mining engineering, and spent several years in mining in the United
States and in Australia. He married Miss Lou Henry, of Monterey,
California, in 1899, and with his bride went to China as chief engineer
of the Chinese Imperial Bureau of Mines. He aided in the defense of
Tientsin during the Boxer Rebellion. After that he continued engineering
work in China until 1902, when he became a partner of the firm of
Bewick, Moreing & Co., mine operators, of London, and was consulting
engineer for more than fifty mining companies. He looked extremely
youthful; smooth shaven, with a straight nose, and a strong mouth and
chin. To him, more than anyone else, was due the creation and the
success of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. The splendid
organization which saved from so much suffering more than seven million
non-combatants in Belgium and two million in Northern France, was his
achievement.

A good story is told in the Outlook of September 8, 1915, which
illustrates his methods. It