Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-06-07
HOW TO GET AT THEN.
the BUSY MEN or NEW YORK
AND THEIR pooRkeePERs.
u II Quite lmPossibls 70 Rsss Some Of
the Lstter-Many Doorkeepers Only
Exercise Proper Cautien IN Admitting
Strangers.

Strangers.
Especial correspoodencel
NEW YoRx. June 5.--Would you like
10 know how to reach some Of the busy
men Of New York in case you had oc-
casion to do so9
don't mean the editors, I mean the
busy men. Everybody knows that edit
ors have very little TO do. They Just sit
in an Office and read newspapers and
write few columns day Of their re-
Elections on matters Of interest, and look
over their mail and answer letters and
attend TO the make up Of their papers,
and the reporters and printers and book
keepers and other fellows do all the
work. II you don't know what tho
make up Is just call on the nearest editor
about the time when he is making
up, and ask him. He will be only too
pleased to show you all about 1t and ex.
plain 1t as he goes along. An editor is
always glad to receive calls. You can
drop in any time and help him read his
exchanges, and he will give you cigar
and drink of good whisky and chat
pleasantly all the afternoon. And you
can tell him while you are there how to
improve his paper.
But mean the busy men-men who
run railroads and great commercial en-
terprisee, and banks. and city govern
ment and things. Men like these are
apt to put on pretense of superiority,
and try to refuse the ordinary citizen
the privilege of a little friendly conver-
sation, especially when the citizen is
stranger and they cannot make any
money out Of him. SO they 80 to great
expense and trouble to fit up inner Of
fees, and maintain great numbers Of
secretaries and clerks and Office boys
solely for the purpose of preventing
sociable man, who may call to make
their acquaintance, from getting access
to them.
should say the two Rockefellers,
John D. and William, and Henry NJ.
Flagler are the hardest men now in New
York for stranger to get at. They are
the principal men in the great Standard
Oil combination, and, when they are in
the city, are daily at the palatial offices in
the Standard Oil building near the foot
of Broadway. The visitor to this build
ing is received with the utmost suavity
and courtesy, and every attention will
be given to him If he goes on business;
but though he can without difficulty see
the secretaries Of the millionaires named,
he may go thousand times without
ever being able to see either one Of the
three.
It is little strange that they should
be so very averse to seeing strangers, un-
less they are afraid of being imposed
upon, for all three Of them are excep-
tionally liberal men ontside of business
transactions. John D. Rockefeller's ia
vorite line Of benefcence seems to be
giving checks to churches and other re-
ligious institutions, while Mr.. Flagler
has q great fondness for reforming
drunkards. It is sail that he las taken
scores Of these unfortunate creatures in
hand and provided them with money
and employment, making men of them
after the usual discouragements. How
they manage to get in communication
with him, though, is more than l have
ever been able to find out.
In sharp contrast with their habits OF
seclusion is the simplicity with which
John Claflin, dry goods merchant, con.
ducts his business. Any respectable
looking man may walk into his private
Office at any time during business hours,
without even the fornlality of inquiring
whether he is in. His enormous store
stands block off Broadway and has
only one small entrance for the public.
Passing in at this narrow door the
stranger may walk unchallenged hall
way down the room, which is more than
two hundred feet long, where he will
find door with a sign beside it, read
ing, "To the counting room" Thread
ing his way through narrow passage
ways, among the thousands of cases Of
goods that are piled on the floor, and
lodging the scores of little hand trucks
that are used in collecting the goods fol
individual orders, the visitor may pas!
through this door, up narrow flight Of
stairs to the enormous counting room
where forty or fifty bookkeepers ART
keeping the accounts of the house, ant
turning sharply to the right may pas.
the various clerks, and the desks of tn,
junior partners, into the little room
where Mr.. Clafin sits alone. No ont
will even ask his business, and Mr.. Claf
lin will give him time enough to explair
it, without fuss or ceremony OF an,
kind. Many men with only a small
fraction of his cares and responsibilities
would consider it impossible to transac
business on such plan, but Mr.. Claflii
demonstrates that it is entirely feasible
Chauncey NJ. Depew is another very &C
cessible man, though he does intrencl
himself behind double barrier of door
keeper and private secretary. The appli
cant for an interview will be politel,
asked by the doorkeeper what the natur
of his business is. And, by the way, yo'
may form tolerably fair notion Of tn
manners of any public man by noticing
those of his personal attendants. hav
never known a really polite man to hav
rude doorkeepers. have known man,
rude doorkeepers. II you are not incline,
to tell this one what your business is, h
will, still with perfect politeness, eithe
ask you to be seated, or show you int
the next room, where Mr.. Du Val, tn
prince of private secretaries, will ask yo
again. If you are wise you will tell MI
Du Val what you want. If he can, h
will attend TO your business, and saw
Mr.. Depew the trouble. II it is reall
essential that you should see the grea
man himself, you will be shown into hi
room as soon as he is disengaged. Their
is no fuss and no fummery about
whatever.
There are men who enjoy the priv
lege, such as it is, Of seeing Mr.. ia
Gould whenever they call on him, eve
In business hours. One such is that yer
clever newspaper man, Howard Irwin
Smith. We used to call him Cockta
Smith, up in camp when the Sevent
regiment was at Peekskiil, because h