The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-29
MIR. GAGE ACCEPTS.
Sketch of the Next Secretary of the
q. s. Treasury

Canton, Jan. 2e.-When Lyman ].
Gage, president of the First National
bank of Chicago, emerged from the din,
ing room of the Mckinley home to fill
an appointment with the Associated
Press and special correspondents to tell
them the result of his conference with
Major Mckinley, he said:
MIR. Mckinley offered me the treas
ury portfolio. I told him I would ac-
cept the high honor and fill the posi-
ton to the best of my ability"
This was the first utterance OF the in
coming secretary of the treasury on be-
ing presented to the party.
Mr.. Gage reached Canton at 2:30
o'clock yesterday afternoon, his train
being beIated 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
Mckinley home, from which no hint of
what was transpiring within came I'M
til dinner had been served and Mr..
Gage stepped into the office library and
addressed himself as quoted above
Beyond this he had little to say. He
declined to discuss any feature of the
policy of the incoming administration
Mr.. Gage said there was no ground for
the publication that he was gold
Democrat during the campaign, and
that his only utilization with the Demo-
for Cleveland. He also said that he
and Major Mckinley substantially
agree the tariff question. The guests
at dinner besides Mr. Gage were Ma
tional Committeeman Leland of Kansas
Ex-Governor Cornell and Colonel j. j.
McCook of New York, w. c. Eber of the
National Security company OF New
York and General Osborne, the secre-
tary of the national committee.
Lyman J. Gage was born at Deruyter
Madison county, New York, June %.
1885, His parents were both born IN
the state of New York and were of
English stock. When he was 10 years
of age his parents moved to Rome.
where he entered the Rome academy,
the term of four years which he spent
in that school practically constituting
his school education. His first posi-
ton in business life was as clerk in
the Rome postofice, and after leaving
there he became a route agent on the
Rome & WATERFOWL railroad.
In 1855 he secured position in the one
ida Central Bank of Rome, at a salary of
500 per year, and remained with the bank
in the fall of 1855 and was engaged as a
bookkeeper by a lumber firm His duties
driving of one of the teams belonging to
the firm and loading and unloading luTn-
Der. He also acted for a time as nlgh5
Waterman. While he was thus engaged
he was offered the position of bookkeeper
of the Merchants Savings, Loan and
Trust company, and this was the actual
beginning of his career as a banker
In the spring of 1860 he had worked his
way up to the position of assistant CASH
Ter and later to that of cashier, which he
held until 1865 when he left the Mer-
chants Savings, Loan and Trust COM
pany to accept a similar position with
the First National bank, with which insti-
tuition 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 abil-
ity was paid a high compliment by his
election to the presidency of the Ameri-
can Bankers association. On January
"a, 1891, he was elected president of the
First National bank and still holds that
position. He was prominent in all of
the work that made the Worlds fair a
great success and was one of the four
men q. J. P. O'Den Writ Dexter and J.
w. Doane being the others who practi-
cally guaranteed that Chicago would car
~ out it's pledge in raising $40 900 for
the building of the fair. He was for
time president of the local board of d.
rectors but upon his election to the presi-
dency of the bank he was compelled to
muneration for all the time he had spent
as president of the local Worlds fair di-
rectors, although a handsome salary had
been voted for the position
Mr.. Gage has been twice married, his
first wife being Miss Sara Ethridge OF
Little Falls, N. Y, whom he married in
1864 She died in 1874 and in 1887 he mar
ried Cornelia Gage of Denver, Col.
He is a member of the Commercial and
Union League clubs, of Chicago, and per-
sonally is a very popular man.