Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-04
copyright. 1881

copyright. 1881
AS regular as the clock at 1890 every
morning a middle sized young man of
athletic appearance who seems glad
to be alive. walks briskly into the tall,
red brick structure cornering on Broad
way and Dey street, New York, tips
steps lightly into the car.
This cheerful young mans name is
George ]. Gould, monarch by Inherit
ance of all that may be surveyed in the
Western Union building and the prop
critics there controlled. He is one of
the hardest workers in all New York.
On his shoulders, at "a. rests heav-
ier burden of financial and commercial
responsibilities than was ever before
borne by one of no more years. Just
now this burden is heavier than usual
by reason of the fight he is making
with New Yorks rapid transit commits
sioners for permission to extend the
Manhattan Elevated railroad lines.
Should he win, his prestige in the world
of affairs will be signally enhanced;
should he lose, his defeat win be no
suffered. Undoubtedly he appreciates
the gravity of the situation to the full
but there is nothing in his looks as he
enters the elevator to indicate that he
is worried in the least.
At the fifth floor he leaves the ver-
teal railway, enters door on which is
inscribed Missouri Pacific GALWAY
Company" and, passing through a
series Of apartments that serve prac-
tically as anteroon1s, enters the modest
sized inner office in which he earns his
daily bread. There he throws off his
coat removes his cuffs, sits down at
his desk in his shirt sleeves and plunges
at once into business, for he knows full
well that he has stiff days work
ahead of him and none too many hours
to do it in.
The morning batch of letters and stele-
grams is formidable, even after the less
important ones, including most of those
begging for money and other favors,
have been sifted out by discerning pri-
Vate secretary. But the chief spirit in
the management of some $4,000 or 10000
miles of southwestern railroads and the
greatest network of telegraph lines in
existence makes short work of his mis-
sives by wire and his missives by post
BY LDe IlIlle oO minutes nave TOlleu
around, or at most at the end of an
hour, they are all got out of the way.
But it should not be understood that
this is ever accomplished without inter-
ruption. Far from it, Nine mornings
in ten he is broken in upon by the tele-
phone before he has been at work five
minutes. This does not ruffle him,
however, for neither letters nor tele-
grams bring more important messages
than those sometimes received over the
speaking wire. He can manage a tele-
phone conversation better than SO men
in a hundred. The attachments to his
desk-which was designed and present.
ed to him, by the way, by General Eek
ert, now and for many years president
of the Western Union-include elabo-
rate telephone apparatus by which di-
rect communication with any long dis
tance telephone station in the country
may be made without delay or fuss.
When George Gould's telephone bell
rings, he slips a metal band receiver,
exactly like those used by exchange op-
orators. on his head, thus excluding ev-
cry outside sound, and talks as quietly
and naturally as if the person addressed
were directly in front of him instead Oh
perhaps a thousand miles away. He
never wastes words. In the course OF a
recent half hour talk in his office be-
tween Mr. Gould and the writer the
telephone bell jingled repeatedly. In
every case save one the answer was
made in a single brief sentence so quick
ly uttered as hardly to break the thread
OF our own conversation, yet at least
two of the replies involved transactions
amounting to thousands of dollars
What remains of Mr.. -Gould's morn
ings after the mail is disposed of il
given to callers, though naturally only
the most important of these are ad-
r,1itted to his office. The policy of ex-
clusion is prompted solely by neeessi-
ty, however, and no one whose wants
cannot be properly attended to by
subordinate is kept out.
Though he sometimes goes to the
LAWYERS club, just across Broadway
he generally lunches at the restaurant
in the Western Union building PROVIDED
for the officers and directors or the
C$ould CORPORATIONS. His midday mea
is always simple ana almost always
quickly disposed of, for the Afternoon
has its directors meetings, sometimes
following one another in rapid success
sion till the close of the business day
Mr. Gould himself takes the chair a.
MANY of these meetings, and as pre-
siding officer is genuine hustler, hi!
faculty for transaction, as spoken o
by some of his fellow directors, being
decidedly unusual And whether pre-
siding or not his presence insures rapiC
accomplishment of whatever business il
in hand.
1t would take half column i'll thi
newspaper to enumerate the various
companies in which George Gould is in
terested as managing trustee of tn
family estate The most important o
these corporations, the Manhattan Ele
waited railway, the Western Union Tele
graph company, the Missouri Pacific
Texas Pacific, Interpa tional and Grea
Northern and st. Louis and South
western Railroad companies, are wei
known to the public. But there are lit
orally scores of other corporations t
which he must Of necessity give NOR
or less attention every day. How h
does this no one but himself under
stands, and it is doubtful whether h
could tell if he tried. His general plal
involves the reception of daily repor