Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-03-28
TWO BUSY MEN OF GOTHAM
The Demand on the Time of Gould and
Sage.

/ X
wealth, became the bulls eye in target
for bores and teggars and oranks of al
sorts and conditions and of every com
ple1ion in America, says the New York
Sun. He also had an army of them at
him from the United Kingdom aud the
continent of EUrope and Asia snd of the
far East. In Mr.. Goulds case, as with
many others renowned for their great
wealth, well-meaning clergymen have
| been choice source of annoyance. Mr.
| Gould has been asked to start missions,
and provide blankets and socks for the
| inhabitants of the most out-Of-the-way
s pots on earth. Women who lost their
pocketbooks or who wanted to start
boarding houses; students who wanted to
| go to college: ambitious young women
who wanted to become great singers and
musicians; embryonic statesmen who
needed only few hundred to advance
them to high political places; unfortun-
ate small tradesmen and even merchants
with sound business training; bootblacks
anxious for stands in hotels and barber
shops; yoEng men who owned up to
| losing their last dollar in Wall street or
at fargo, and only Divine Providence
knows the innumerable number of others
all have called on Mr.. Gould in persol
or flooded his mail with appeals for aid,
Charity organizations have cent him
bushels of tickets for fairs, or, as the
good old DR.. Haskins of Brooklyn calls
them, "sells," accom- panied by requests
for checks. There is scarcely any limit
to the character of the appeals Mr.. Gould
has received. Discouragement in the
shape of fiat retusals or unanswered let
tiers does not stop the flow. But for
number of years Mr.. Gould has refused
to see any but those who have business or
social engagements with him. He began
this practice when he made his head
quarters at II Broadway, and it has been
still more rigidly enforced since he ss
tablished his main offices in the Western
Union building.
To enter Mr.. Gould's presence one
must pass through three outside offices
and file among half score of confden-
tial clerks, and then in nine out of ten
instances he will be greeted by Mr..
George Gould, who acts as loyal and
Jealous buffer between the bores and lis
father. Young Mr.. Gould disposes of
the visitors who have no business there
quite as rapidly as could be desired. But
there have been any number of the bores
and cranks and beggars who have way
laid Mr.. Gould in the corridors Of the
Western Union, or on the street, or on
| the elevated road to and from his home,
Their reward is cold stare and quick
ened pace by the railroad magnate, or
soft and Unconditional "Please ex ouse
me-" Mr.. Gould once said that if he
complied with all the requests made on
him in day he would have to walk home
at night and start life anew the next
morning.
Mr.. Gould quickly learned that it
would be necessary to employ clerk
especially for the purpose of receiving
the begging letters. Two capacious
waste-paper baskets were bought at the
same time. Mr.. Gould says the combina-
ton, the clerk and the basket work with
expedition. In fact, Mr.. Gould never
sees or reads one of the thousands of
written appeals sent to him every week
or month of his existence. The clerks at
first had some amusement glancin9 at
the variety of appeals, but his entries
have loug since become wearisome and
frightfully monotOnous. He can tell
begging letter before he rips il open, and
after a perfunctory glance it is flung
aside to join the myriads gone before.
For several months Mr.. Gould's Fifth
avenue home has been his Office, and a
telegraph wire connects it with his West
ern Union Office, where George Gould is
at the instrument. couple of years ago
Wall street men talked about the "new
hobby of George Gould" They learned
that the dark eyed young man was learn
ing telegraphy, and were highly amused
at the stories of young George pounding
away ON a practice keyboard. To these
Wall street men young Gould's conduct
was nothing but joke or an amusement
necessary to deaoen the hours at bust
ness for this son of millionaire. Young
Gould smiled and let 'em talk. He is now
a proficient operator, and he learned tel
egraphy for the value it now is to him in
communicating quickly and directly with
his father. His father in his library,
surrounded by the choice flowers he
is SO fond of, is as close TO his office
and his son as an electric flash can make
him.
Russell Sage has had like experience
with beggars and bores, and nuisances
genaralIy. The fact that Mr.. Sage can
raise $50, 900 ,OGO in cash In an hour, all
his own, to throw Into the streets if he
chooses, has been made known over the
land. It is known as we'll that Mr.. Sage
has no children. Mr.. Sage enjoys the
reputation of philanthropist With some,
and this has enhanced the interest of
| outsiders in his cash box. Mr.. Sage
| thinks most of his ''bore time" as he
calls it, has been taken up by colored
| clergymen and school trustees, and facul-
| ties that itch for rich endOwments for
their college. Mr.. Sage IL brisk, spry
| man. His stew is as quick and his ways
are as alert as they we're forty years ago.
| He doesn't relish the request of faculties
for endowments. They SAVIOR too much
of the tomb to Trinity church-yard over
the way from his Office to recall things
solemn, and ne is apt to be i'm patient
with endowment hunters.
Mr.. Sage is especially magnate for
stock market bores. Not day passes
that be is not the recipient of tips" on
the market. They are pumped into him
| by Wall street men who want to do bust
ness On the Stock Exchange, for him, Mr..
Sage is member of the Exchange, but
| he has never been on the floor. 1t
wouldn't be safe for him to make prac-
tice of visiting the Exchange. He would
be besieged with brokers with most valu-
| able information as to the future OF the
market and all sorts Of schemes to reap
millions. Mr.. Sage is good listener.
He hears all the tips and then winks with
his of eye end chirps, "Hah! hah! hah!
That's good. I never thought of that"
It is in many cases, freight car to an
ash barrel that Mr.. Sage isn't running
some stock deal which will eventually
show results directly opposite to those
contem plated by sauguine tip purVeyors.
Mr.. Sage is very well protected from
bores outside Of those with Wall street
proclivities. His secretary of state, John
| Ernest Mccain, the poet, has an eye like