he sent mellen to the court of st. james. but the other thing is, we tend to think that the stock market collapsed in october 1929 and the next day there were bread lines. and in fact, this was a story that took time to evolve. early in 1930, "the new york times," among other media outlets, praised hoover for doing more than any president before under the circumstances. hoover did not believe in a boom and bust. in fact, to go back to warren harding's administration, as secretary of commerce, there was a severe recession right after world war i and it was hoover who was, in effect, delegated with the responsibility. and what he did was, among other things, greatly increased public work spending. which, again is in many ways, a foreshadow of what we associate with the new deal. well, likewise, hoover immediately, again, voluntary association, hoover called to the white house for job owning dozens of the nation's leading business executives. he got them to agree to undertake an increase in their commitments. and wages were -- t