The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-22

boat-His Studies OF Virgil and His
Large Library-His Habits at the De-
partment and How He Lives and
Works
From, tie Nerg York World
WASHINGTON. Jan 10 The new Secre-
tarv of the Interior Mr. Villas, was born
with silver spoon in his mouth and he
carries lucky Stone in ms pocket. His life
has been one Of good fortune and he is a
man who has succeeded with apparently
few Of the elements OF success about him.
He is rather cold in his ways and he has
none of the qualities of a mixer. Still he is
popular throughout Wisconsin, and the
Northwest regards him as a statesman. His
forte. II seems 10 me, lies in fair average
ability, trained to industry and system. He
wastes no time in hobnobbing with
his fellows ana his whole life has
been one Of hard work and study. He got
n good start from his father, and his pster-
nal grandfather Moses ' alas, owned an 800
acre farm in Vermont and left a fortune.
Hi, grandfather on his mothers side, Ma
than Smiley, was a sharp, Shrewd business
man. and the Democrats ran him so often
for Governor of Vermont that, though
never elected, he got the title Of Gov.
Smiley He piled up the shekels also, and
the result was that Villas did not have 10 be
rocked in a sugar trough or go to school in
= log cabin Villas father saw that his son
was well educated, aud the boy entered col
lego at -. At 20 he had graduated and
lad won his first case before the Supreme
Court Of Wisconsin.
To show the character of Villas, as a boy
Of IA be learned to set type for amusement
during his college vacations, and his pen
manship now is like copperpiate, and his
punctuation is as pure as that of proof
reader. He learned TO keep books as a boy,
and am told that ne has all his life kept
his business and private matters thoroughly
1edgered and classified. In bis law practice
he has spent hours over his ledger and day
book, seeing that every item was put down,
and making the whole look like an engrav-
ing Such methods, added to thrift, made
his money breed like Australian rabbits.
Ills clients paid well for his services, and
his practice was large, and during the latter
years of his practice it was largely made up
of railroad business, which pays well He
has invested his money, too, and he under
stands the philosophy of interest. Within
short time he has made a fortune by an in
vestment in Gogebic lands.
The Gogebic iron region along Lake SUI
periOr is perhaps the most wonderful ever
discovered, and its possibilities have only
been ascertained within the last few years.
Some time before this, Mr.. Villas, while
travelling through this region, noted that it
was covered by fine hard wood timber,
which must soon be valuable, and he bought
a large tract as an investment. thinking
that it would be good thing for him, or,
at any rate, il would make big legacy for
his children 1t was close to this land that
the q yebc mines were discovered and
Villas trees are growing, most likely. on
beds Of some OF the best iron ever made.
He has big fortune in them, and his good
sense Is such that no one but fool would
try to cheat him out of them.
Villas cares more for books than for
people, and imagine that down N his soul
lie thinks there is no one quito 30 good
companion for Mr.. Villas as Villas himself.
From the heels of his well-polshed boots to
toe crown of his oily black head he is packed
with a decent self-respect, and his shoulders
are thrown back like those of a drum
major His hair has a curl like Roscoe
Conkling's. He weighs about 160 pounds
avolrdupois and his muscles are iron. He is
q great walker, and there is not a street in
the capital that his boots have
not trodden. He is fond of mus
cular sports. and his house at Madison,
which is worth S50,000 and which he got
for half price lies on the beautiful Lake
MENDOZA, and it has four acres of ground
around it. Villas fishes aud boats on this
bike and he has an ice boat With which he
skins over 1t in the winter He likes to
ride horseback, and for a number of years
he lived at q farm near Madison and trotted
in and out every day. He is a good pitcher
of Quoits and he PLAYS baseball in his for
ties Here at Washington he rents three
story brick which was built by a pawn
broker. but it is in the fashionable quarter
of the city and Just opposite Gen. SchenCk' S
and near the home OF Secretary Bavard
Villas has a library ct Madison and itnum-
bers ) 900 volumes. His library looks out
upon the lake. and he has a tile workshop
IN room al. the side Of it. where he writes
his briefs and casts up his accounts. He is
well read and he keeps up with the current
literature. He likes George Eliot and Charles
Dickens best among the novelists, and ne
reads the French and German, and now and
then takes n taste of the classics. Last sum
ner he and his old crony, Judge Bryant,
took their Nirgils along on a fishing tour
and they daily translated the Latin together
between the bites Bryant dotted most on
tie Georges, but Villas, strange TO say, was
not happy unless the two were reading at
the Enid, and he mouthed the paragraphs
about Dido like an amorors lover
Villas is not. | think, a man of much
imagination. His mind is rather more of a
mechanical one. 1t is wonderfully clear
however, and his training as law lecturer
gave HIM analytical methods of thinking
and his ideas are clear cut. In this he is
fitted well for the head of great depart
meut. He can master a subject as a whole
and in detail with ease where man like
folcer or Manning would fail. In the Post
Office Department, ] am told. he graspe the
service better than any Postmaster General
we have had for years, and he seemed to
understand the details of the workings of
each branch. He was picayunsh il was
thought, however, in his trying to save at
every point. He plugged all the leaks lie
kept his clerks like a taskmaster and kept
each man up to his place He was never
familiar with his employees, and he cut uown
RbsenteeiSm among the clerks. His friends
claim that by strict rules of attendance he
saved the department 5000 DAYS. He came
20 the office at . o'clock in the morning. and
he worked often until q and later, AMI he
continued his working at his lunch, which
was brought to him from a restaurant be-
low.
As Secretary of the Interior he will bring
the same methods 10 bear, and he will not
be as popular as was Secretary Lamar.
lamar was almost social in his dealings
with his employees, and he was as polite to
and consIderate of his lady clerks as though
they were Senators daugh ers or wives. He
never entered an elevator which one of
the Indies happened TO be that he did not re.
move his hat. He received all callers, and
there was 10 red tape about his office.
Villas is sitter and straighter and rather
more CONSERVATIVES