Evening star., 1897-04-03

| of the man who
made it. For to the new Secretary of the
| Treasury. the meaning of the wCrd rest.
except in its merely comparative sense.
! is probably unknown: il is certain that
! during the whole course of his vicissitudin-
| GUS career-better, his Chicago career. for
the terms are practically synonymous-he
has Fever experienced complete rest as the
| ordinary citizen apprehends that condi-
| ton.
| The president (and brains) of one of the
| greatest banks in the world, suddenly re-
| lieved of the direct responsibility for over
| thirty millions of dollars of other mems
money. might very possibly find compare
! tive rest even in the assumption of the
| duties of a governmental office so notori-
/ orsly eNacting as the headship of the
| Urited States finance department. Yet
| other ex-presidents of banks have become
| Secretaries OF the Treasury without ENJOY
| ing any particular amount of rest during
| their respective incumbencies. In truth. to
| a greater or smaller degree. the strain of
| the position deepened the lines in the couu-
| tenaLCes of most of them, and fastened
| chronic nervous prostration upon several
| But few, if any, of them had trod in early
lie the caggy path that stretched before
Secretary Cages youthful vision.
1t would be difficult to picture Lyman J.
Gage in condition of nervous prostration.
| He is perhaps the most evenly poised. the
u
me n. His head is like the early Greek por-
| trdyals. in marble and gold. of the head
| OF LeuS. His frame. fragile when he was
| a lad, was amplied into proportions of
| colossal strength by years of roustabout
| labor in a sawmill. He is as straight as
! the trunk of cocoanut palm. He has
| tie chest of a pugilist. His great biceps
| swell beneath his coat sleeves. He is the
| picture of physical strength. His eXuda-
| tion of mental power is known to every
man who ever sat in room with him
| for five minutes
| moments conversation with him is a
| sedative. He regards a man of excitable
! speech as freak. In manner he is judicial
without being pouderous. He reads his
visitor with half-closed eyes. and talks to
| him with eyes fully closed. He is prob
| ably tie best listener in Washington, but
| he wants his man to arrive al the point
| in season. The only dislike of which he is
| generalizer. Such a one he breaks off.
| courteously enough, with And YOU wish
me TO do-what?'' or Your point being
| or You were saying" Yet he is not an
| abrupt man. Rather. he is courtly. He
| has manner of other days. He makes a
| better obeisance to woman clerk than he
| does to United States senator. He has
| faculty for making his affairs slip on
| OILED gear.
| Not Afraid of Work.
| when decided to come to Washington
he said, the day he arrived here. my
|
! of the treasury would make me a physical
wreck. They painted for me many lugu-
| brious pictures of the last days of former
| Secretaries of the Treasury. 1 made them
| reply that. as / had put in about ferty
| years of trifle more than moderately hard
| work, an average of ten hours day Of it,
| 1 thought 1 could make out all right in
| Washington for four years. 1 felt what
| said. for physically L am strong man
| today as l three decades ago"
| The first month of Mr. Cages incumbency y
| of the treasury has been a sufficiently Sc
| we're one in all truth, and yet the peculiar
| smile he executes under his white beard
| is as warming ii was when he came
| here. Seen at his treasury desk at any
| hour of the day. he looks like the .east
| worried man on earth, in spite of the fact
| that since the 5th day of March last he has
| been stormed. besieged and ambuscadei 10y
| office hunters in a fashion that has been
| endured by few cabinet ministers since the
| foundation of the government. He has re-
| ceived them all. No man has been turned
| from the door of his office.
| And yet it is probable that Mr.. Gage has
| learned more of the details of the opera
| tion of the vast machinery of the Treasury
| Department within the space of the single
| month during which he has been its head
| than any former Secretary of the Treasury
| ever acquired within the period of half n
twelve-month His mind acts with the di-
| rectness of a great gun projectile. He has
| odd methods of getting az the heart of
| matters. Today he has an excellent gen.
| eral idea of the workings of every branch
| of his department
| In getting hold of this information he is
| something of an undisguised Haroun- al
| Raschid. In the intervals during which
| the Office seekers. withdrawing from his
| wide-open citadel for conference, grant him
| temporary armistice. Mr.. Gage takes SEEM
| ingly directionless walks throughout the
| treasury building. In the course of these
| tours, quite unattended. he casually drops
1 ;.,ta ha 1ffio nf fau of fha yicinn
| chiefs. He draws up a chair to the desk
| of the division chief and engages the OFF,
| cial in a few minutes conversation. The
| sharp directness Of the questions he asks
on such occasions never fails to excite the
| wonder of the official thus sought out. AS
| Chicago newspaper men know, Mr.. Gage
| has a facile cleverness in asking questions
! almost equal TO that displayed by the dis
| tinguished Ii Hung Chang on the occasion
| of the Chinese statesman's recent visit to
| this country. When anything happened in
| any part Of the world. the Chicago re-
| porter was always sent to find out what
| Lyman Gage thought about it, just as in
| New York the reporter is always dis
| patched to interview Chauncey Depew on
all. conceivable subjects. Courtecusly and
| graciously as Mr.. Gage always received
| the newspaper men on these occasions
| they would invariably leave him with what
| Is known as that pumped feeling" for
| while permitting himself to be interviewed
| up to certain point. he would generally
contrive to dig more out of :he reporter
| than he gave up himself.
| AbsOrbs Information.
The treasury officials are now is,over-
ing the ability of the new Secretary as a
miner and an absorber of informa ton. In
| making his little treasury building tours
he will notice an official letter lying on the
| top Of a heap Of documents on the desk of
| division chief. He picks 1t ue, reads it
| carefully. studies It. What reply shall
you make to this?" he finally inq,.ires.
| Thus he puts his head men on their met
| .le and gathers necessary Information a
the same time. In this fashion he has Wis
| tied nearly all o: the important divisions
| in the Treasury Department. visitations
| of q similar character on the par. of any
| former Secretary of the Treasury are NOT
| recalled by the oldest employees Of the de-
| partment. But no Official knows Just wlen
| to expect a visit from Secretary Gage and
1 as Mr.. Cages reputation as a man-reaJer
| Of piercing. though kindly. ability is well
| Known, the Treasury Department pa-s,n-
mel has perhaps never before heeu 40 much
on the alert as 1t is today.
/ 1t is not the division chief alone who
| swims within the 6ecretarys ken on these
visits He notices. and fines In HIS memorv.
1 every man and woman at work In n rs,o.,,