The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-02-23
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
GREAT MEN HAVE NOT THE DISEASE
CALLED THE BIG HEAD"
The UnassuminG Manners Of George Gould.
the son Of His Father-How the Mill
ionairc Rockefeller Touches His Hat to
u Conductor.

the son Of His Father-How the Mill
ionairc Rockefeller Touches His Hat to
n Conductor.
Especial Correspondence.
New YORK. Feb. lS-Jamcs Giltlllan, once
treasurer of the United States, has learned
graphic name is not confined to politicians.
Gilhllan, who was claSsmate of Garfield at
Williams, began humble career rs II Wash
ngton clerk AT the same time that his dis
tinguished college friend became a repre-
sentative in congress.
When Garfield reached the pinnacle of poiti-
cal ambition he found Gilillan handling the
millions of the treasury, bonded 10y SSOO,OOO
sureties that he would render, 10 the uttermost
copper, account for all the money that passed
through his hands The bond was good, for
when Gilhlan resigned his accounts of thou
sands of millions were found straight into one
cent, and that coin was discovered on the floor
soon after.
Now this was a strange thing, this climb
ing Of an humble clerk of the lowest grade to
the office of guardian of the strong box of
the government, and when Garfield, on Gil
iillan's resignation TO engage III more lucra-
tive business. asked him how happened it
that he alone of all the thousands of fellow
clerks had risen by the gradual process of
promotion To one of the chief offices in the
government, the treasurer answered with
Socratic wisdom:
Because never would permit myself to
have the biz head That is the disease that
has buried in obscurity many politicians
whom have seen come and CO."
Since Giliilan has been n New York bust
ness man he has both qualified and enlarged
this definition. He now regards 1.-THE big
head" not as "A disease, but as Il symptom of
weakness, and he confesSes that the symptom
is true not only of politicians, but of men Of
every sphere of activity or Incidence.
The truly great men of this city do not
have big heads. The men of shoddy intel
lects veneer their weaknesses with the affec-
tations of pomposity, vanity and offensive
self aSsertiveness. The men of talent, the
geniuses who have done the great things, in
business. in science, in learning, in intellec-
tual achievement, are simple as children In
their personal intercourse with men. They
do not overawe, neither do they bully, nor
indulge in the most offensive of all personal
conduct to man of self respect mean the
habit of condescension.
A few days ago, happening in the Grand
Central station, | saw IA young man leaning
against a car brake, chatting in the most
cordial way to a brakeman. The emplOye
wore the uniform of Servltude biz snutty
gloves were ON his hands, his blue coat was
darned that it might last few weeks longer,
and the bras, buttons had been polished al
most smooth by constant service. His pay
was so month.
The Young man who chatted with him was
a black eyed, faint mustached chap, with skin
hrouzed like am Arabs and teeth that glis-
tened like an opera singers. He wore u
brown overcoat, brown derby hat and
trousers of lighter color, and his arm was
hooked about good sized bundle done up with
a newspaper. He was well dressed, but we'll
dressed because neatly but inConspcuously
dressed. He wore no gloves, and there was
an ink stain upon the fore finger Of the right
band Now the brakeman was johnny, or
Billy, or Tommy somebody, and the young
man who ChaLted with him was George
Gould. The brakeman received less i'll a
year than Young Gould makes in a day
But 50 far as appearances went the two
Young men had found a common level and
met on it. Gould was learning something
from Il man who knew more about some de-
tails of running railroads than he did, and
the brakeman was the better man 50 far of
the two, and Gould let him know that this
superiority was acknowledged
BY and by, when the chat ended, Gould
samtercd away. like a man who had Qet an
old friend and the brakeman took up his du-
lies like man who had met another on even
terms.
Who knows yet whether George Gould has
inherited much Of his fathers talent or not :
That brakeman doesn't care. The million
aire who has the rcins of enormous power in
his hand possesses a greater power than that,
and that il the power of recognition of the
right of another TO preserve his self respect
from wounds.
One OF the young railway kings, who is at
home with ali the monarchs of the rail, is
Charles II. Clarke, the presdentof the New
Haven railway. His talents put him where
he is. The talent of aggressive energy is be-
trayed in every motion Of his snugly built
body; the talent of Judgment is revealed in
rs clear and bright a pair Of eyes as the best
trained athlete possesses and the talent of
perception lies confessed behind the bullying
eyebrows.
Now see this man who has conquered by
his talent one of the great prizes, as he goes
about among the men who serve him. He
knows the engineers by their first names, and
when he approaches them for information he
goes to them as man to man. One hour he is
talking in the confidence of the directors
room with millions of money in the shape of
directors or railway chiefs, and the next he
meets Ben, or Billy Hemingway, or George
Corbett, or Oil Can Dan, and there is no
limit of pride in his way. I'VE are both
working for the New Haven road, he said
TO one engineer; you get as much out Of
your engine as you can, and III get as much
business for the engine to do Us | can
The other daya newsboy was passing along
in front of the Vanderbilts great bank, the
Lincoln national on Forty-second street, just
as a short, stocky man, with black Galway
whiskers and a ruddy complexion on fat
cheeks was coming from the bank, where
he had been chatting with his old friend and
colleague in Gariields cabinet, Thomas L.