allowed to enter until our credentials had been carefully inspected.
Then we were permitted to go into a small outer room where we wrote our
names, addresses, etc., in a large book. After a scrutiny of this and a
long wait, giving them sufficient time to telephone and see if our
passes were authentic, we were formally escorted through beautifully
carved portals, past endless, handsomely decorated, empty rooms, over
the squeaky door sill (that is supposed to warn the inmates of someone's
approach) and finally to the canopied gold-mounted throne itself.

We began to feel a little easier, when we got out in the sun of the
garden, but even there we felt formal, for in these sacred gardens no
gay flower or dashing stream is permitted. Nature, too, must be subdued,
and even the little trickle of water circling the buildings, was there
for the sole purpose of suggesting purity, we were informed.

After the reception and investigation tour of Kobe, forty of the party
boarded a train for Peking, under the direction of Hoover's
representative, F. R. Eldridge.

We had enjoyed Fujiyama by moonlight, but did not know that we were also
to glide by the Inland Sea at sunset. Korea's roads, built of course, by
the Japanese soldiers, and the guarded stations of Manchuria, were of
much interest to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce investigators.

Every evening impromptu speeches on conditions were held in the dining
car. M. A. Gale, Henry S. Bridge, and Louis Mooser also vied with each
other telling funny stories, Carl Westerfeld contributing to the
entertainment by organizing a group of the party into "The South
Manchurian Quartet." Dave and Resse Lewellyn started to sing "Annie
Rooney" and "Mother McCree" whenever things were too quiet.