The news & observer., 1897-01-29

offered to Mr.. Lyman J. Gage,
of Chicago.
He ACCEPTS THE HONOR
FFE SAYS HE Is NOT A GOLD
DEMOCRAT.
VOTED FOR CLEVELAND IN 1884
Agrees Substantially With Mckinley on
the Tariff Question--A Short
Sketch of His Life.

Sketch OF Ills Life.
Canton, O., Jan. 2S.-Lyman ]. Gage,
president of the First National bank of
Chicago, viii be Secretary of the Treas
ury I'm McKinley's cabinet This an-
nouncement was made by Mr.. Gage to the
Associated Press tonight after con-
ference with Mr.. Mckinley. He said:
MIR. Mckinley offered me the Treasury
portfolio. | told him ] would accept the
high honor and fill the position to the
best of my ability"
Mr.. Gage reached Canton about 6 30
O'Clock this afternoon, his train being be-
lated by cold and snow. With him was
National committeeman Cyrus Leland, OF
Kansas.
The Mckinley conveyance was in
waiting and the visitors were hurried
over the snow covered streets to the Nc
Kmley home from which no hint of what
was transpiring within came until din.
ner had been served and Mr.. Gage step
ped into the office library and addressed
himself as quoted above. Beyond this
he had little TO say. He declined to dis
cuss the policy of the incoming admins
tration or any matter other than that re-
lating to himself
He said there was no ground for the
publication that he was a gold Demo
crat during the campaign and that his
only affiliatfon with the Democratic party
was in 1884 when he voted for Cleve-
land He also said that he and Maj Nc
Kinley substantially agree on the tariff
question.
Lyman j. Gage was born at Deruyter
Madison county, New York, June 2S,
1886. His parents who were both born
in the State Of New York were of Eng
lish stock. When Lyman was ten years
OF age his parents moved to Rome, New
York, where he entered the Rome Acad-
envy, where he remained four years, the
term he spent in that school practically
constituting his entire school education.
His first position in business life was as
a clerk in the Rome postofFice and after
leaving there he became a route agent
for the Rome, Watertown and Ogdens-
burg Railroad. In 1859 he secured po-
sition in the Oneida Central bank of
Rome at a salary of 81 900 per year and
remained with the bank Is months. He
came TO Chicago in the fall of 1855, and
was engaged as a book-keeper by lum-
ber firm. His duties as book-keeper,
however, comprised the driving of one of
the teams belonging to the firm and load
ing and unloading lumber. He also acted
for time as night watchman. While
he was thus engaged he was offered the
position of book-keeper Of the Merchants
Saving Loan and Trust Company, and
this was the actual beginning Of his ca
reer as a banker. In the spring Of 1860
he had worked his way up to the position
of assistant cashier and later to that of
cashier which he held until 1868 when
he left the Merchants Savings Loan and
Trust Company to accept a similar posi-
tion with the First National Bank, with
which institution he has been identified
until the present time
The old charter OF the bank expired in
1882 and upon its reorganization he was
chosen vice-president and general mana
ger. About this time his financial ability
was paid a high compliment by his elec-
ton to fhe presidency OF the American
Bankers Association On january "a,
1891, he was elected president of the
First National Bank and still holds THAT
position.
He was prominent i'm all OF the work
that made the Worlds Fair a great sue
cess, and was one OF the four men, ]. j.
p. ODell, Writ Dexter and ]. W.
Doane, being the others, who practical
ly guaranteed that Chicago would carry
out its pledge of raising $10,000,000 for
the building OF the Fair. He was for
time president of the local board of direc-
tors, but upon his election to the presi
dency OF the bank, he was compelled to
resign THAT office. He refused amy re-
muneratiom foG all the time he had spent
as president of the local board Of directors
of the Worlds Fair although handsome
SALARY had been voted for the position.
Mr.. Gage has been twice married, his
wife being Miss Sarah Btheridge, of
Little Falls, N. Y, whom ne married
IN 1864. She died in 1874 and in 1887
he married Cornelia Gage, of Denver,