Herbert Hoover: Miner

胡佛：礦工

While still a teenager, Hoover and a friend started a company that sold and repaired sewing machines. The business failed, but it was not the future president's only brush with entrepreneurship.

He enrolled at Stanford in 1891, in the university's first class. Although tuition was free at the time, students still had to pay for room, board and books. To cover the costs Hoover ran a laundry service, a concert series and a campus paper route. He made a profit selling the laundry service to another student, allowing him to graduate with no debts and $40 in his pocket, according to a biography written by Amy Ruth.

After graduating, Hoover took a job pushing carts underground in mine shafts in California. He earned $2 a day, working 70 hours a week, according to presidential historian Richard Norton Smith. That daily wage is equal to $56 today.

胡佛十幾歲的時候就和朋友開了個小公司，出售和維修縫紉機。不幸小公司沒撐多久，可他創業的腳步沒有就此停下。1891年，胡佛進入斯坦福大學，成為了斯坦福的第一屆學生。當時的斯坦福是不收學費的，不過食宿和書本要學生自己負擔。為了掙到這筆錢，他又開始為同學們提供洗衣服務。畢業后，胡佛找了一份工作，在地下的礦井里推礦車。一周工作70個小時，可每天只能掙2美元。