The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-22
TWENTY THOUSANDADAY
BOW A MILLIONAIRE PUTS IN
THE TIME.

ties-His Methodical and Systematic
Business Habits-His Amusemeuts-
Nr. Gould and DR.. Norvin Green.
From the Ner York Star.
There is probably no person in America
who has never held an official position about
whom 50 much has. been written as jaw
Gould. Indeed, it may be said that It
would be almost impossible to pick ND a
single number Of any Of the leading daily
newspapers in the United States. issued
during the past ten years. without finding
somewhere in its columns the name
OF the man who has had
so much to do with the vast
railroads and telegraph system with which
his name has been &>Sp+ified, Notwith-
standing this fact, there are few men in
America, who come before the public gaze
at all, about W ose home life, personal
habits, and daily routine so little is known as
about that of Mr.. Gould. Even his daily
business associates know nothing about this
feature of his life, save that in a general
way he is domestic in his tastes, temperate
in his habits, and moderate, without being
stingy, as to his personal expenditures. 1
am not going to fall into the mistake made
by SO many others of trying to i'm
press the public that Mr.. Gould wears
shabby, or even cheap clothes, nor am
going to advertise his tailor by telling just
where his clothes are bought, or what he
pays for them, but the fact is that Mr..
Gould Is clad very much as any other bust
ness man with quiet tastes and a good in
come would be. His tailor in the main is a
fashionable one, but is restricted as to the
cut and fit of the millionaire's garments bv
Mr.. Gould's ideas upon the subject, W. ich,
faUr 4hel
not n unusual thing for him to buy a
ready-made suit or an overcoat if it
happens to strike his fancy, and when he
do S this be never haggles about tue price
One of the most striking peculiarities of
Mr.. Gould's daily life is his remarkable
ability to avoid personal observation. At
least 800 days of each year are spent, in
whole or in part, in his office In the Western
Union building. Hegoes in and out without
making any apparent effort to keep from
being seen, his face is perfectly familiar to
everybody in New York, and vet
among the thousand or more persons
who are employed in and about the
Western Union building, and whose duties
call them there every day in the year, more
than 30 per cent. of them have never seen
Mr., Gould in their lives. If he is seen at
any time by one Of the little knots of tele-
graph operators who are nearly always
gathered about the door of the big build
ing, the fact creates as much of q stir
among these people. whom one would sup
pose ought to know him well, and exctes
from them quite as much comment as if
they had just caught glimpse of the Gar
OF Russia or the Wild Man of Borneo. Out
of tue hundred of thousands of theater-
goers in New York city but few remember
ever havi & seen him at a place of amuse-
ment. and this is not because he doesn't go
often, but arises more from the f CT of his
abilt to avoid attracting observation,
coupled with the other fact that there are
so many men who resemble him in a gen.
eral way that one is never quite certain
whether be is looking at Mr.. Gould or one
Of his many doubles. This latter fact was
very cleverly illustrated In one of the comic
pictorial papers not long ago, in which
twenty different men were grouped in
barber shop, none Of them being counter
part OF the other, yet every one OF the
twenty bearing striking resemblance to
jay Gould
There is absolutely no foundation for the
many stories told about Mr.. Gould's being
constantly accompanied by a detective.
Those who know him best, and there are
very few who know him at all, say that to
their certain knowledge Mr.. Gould never,
at any time, las been watched by anybody
at his ow instance. He is rarely seen on
the street with any one except his son
George who always has been his almost
constant companion.
So far as the appointments Of Mr. Gould's
home are concerned, where they affect
other members of his family, they are as
luxurious as the most extravagant taste
could desire, but those portions which affect
him personally are like his wearing apparel,
plain, comfortable and quiet IN the extreme.
He has no valet and has never had one,
attending to his personal needs Of the toilet
and the bedroom with his own hands, just
as he used TO do when he was poor sur
veyorup in Ulster county or hard-w orking
clerk in his uncle's tannery.
Like most Of the successful men of the
present age, Mr.. Gould is extremely
methodical and systematic in his habits.
de rises every morning at precisely 1880
O'clock, seldom varying from that hour
more than ten minutes. At s o'clock he
sits down to his breakfast, which usually
consists of French rolls and a cup Of coffee,
and expects to find every member of the
family present at that meal. Breakfast
over, his private secretary is called in and
the numerous begging letters of the morn
lng's mail are laid upon the table. Each
member selects at random number OF
these letters and reads them over. II any
one of them is impressed by any of the
letters, it is laid aside for future
reference, while the others 60 into the
waste basket. Those letters which have
been laid aside are them taken up and dis
cussed, and if majority of those present
conclude that the case is one which really
deserves assistance, the assistance is sure to
come within few hours in very sub
stantial form, aud without the slightest
mint as to the identity of the donor. This
part Of his work over, Mr.. Gould turns to
0ls business correspondence, which he dis
poses of very rapidly, having his own
senographer at home, his private wire to
ais house, and special telegraph operator
70 work it. Then he goes to his office,
usually taking the Sixth Avenue Elevated
road, over which, it is hardly necessary to
say, ne has pass. Ten o'clock finds him
IN his Office at the Western Union
building, where he looks over the
oiiiclal re orts of the various enter
prises in which he is engaged. 1t is about
ms time Of the day that Mr.. Gould is
popularity supposed to spin that complicated
web In which financial flies are allowed to
eGtaugle themselves. What he really does
while he is in that Office probably no man
% % earth knows, for it is a well-known fact
mat even his son George never knows just
mhat the old man" is doing. At IL o'clotk
~ a little after, DR.. Noryin Green, president
u Inc Western Union, comes down for a
T TAU hours chat with his principal.
mere are no two men on earth
more exactly unlike than Norvin Green
ana Jay Gould. yet DR.. Green is the only