The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-09-12
LYMAN j. CAGES CAREER.

On. ellison Gardner. in Chicago Journal.)
In one respect the biography of Ly-
man ]. Gage, secretary of the treasury,
differs radically from that of almost
every public man who has achieved
equal prominence; this is the absence
| OF the element by chance. BY the I'M
| romantic road of bookkeeping Mr.. Gage
| reached hrs position in the cabinet He
pursued no method beyond being
| good bookkeeper, or a good cashier, or
good anything else which came to
| him in the regular line of promotion.
! He always did the very best he could
| in the position in which he found him
| self, and the result was he was always
little too good for the position; in
time the fact was discovered and he
took another step upward.
There are no dramatic incidents in his
| career; no spectacular features. He
| has no story to tell about arriving in
| Chicago barefooted and with cents
| TO buy food and lodgings. He did not
/ take a cow pasture for bad debt and
have it develop into Johnstown real
| estate worth hundreds of dollars a
| square foot.
On the contrary, he arrived in Chi
/ cago on the regular passenger train,
| travelling first class. and went to the
best hotel in the city. This was in 1855
| and the best hotel was the fremont
| House, then a fOur-story brick build
| ing with white limestone trimmings.
Mr.. Gage was 20 years of age. He
had worked two years in the Oneida
| Central bank at Rome, n. Y, and
| brought letters of recommendation in
| his pocket He was a healthy, bright
| looking young man, of good habits, a
| little business training, and looking for
position Anyone wishing to know
/ more of him would have found that he
| had lived in Rome since he was IL
\ years of age, going to the town school
! ana spending two terms at the acad-
| envy Previous to that he had been
/ one or the small children resident in
Du Ruyter, a village some thirty miles
| from Rome and the nearest railroad
! g @ @
The unlovely, overgrown, hustling
! boomtOwn of Chicago needed clerks
and bookkeepers in 50, and young Gage
| did not have TO walk the streets long
( in search of work A salary of $500 a
/ year induced him to cast his fortune
/ with Nathan Cobb's sash, door and
! bhnd factory out on the west side, in
/ the vicinit- of Twenty-Second street
| and the river. He became the firms
| bookkeeper, and it is not true as re-
| ported, that he worked as a hand in
/ the mill; neither is it a fact that he
! worked for ex-Alderman Addison q
| Ballard, though that gentleman is ac2
cuStomed to relate the circumstance at
! old settlers gatherings. Mr.. Gage
/ worked for the Cobb factory three
/ years, when he received an offer of
more pay and went to the Merchants
! Savings Loan & Trust company Here
| his promotion was steady and fairly
rapid, and at the end of four years he
had been paying teller, assistant CASH
| Ter. and cashier.
| He served for six years in the latter
! capacity, and after trying in vain TO in
| duce the directors to organize as a
| bank under the national law, he left
70 accept the position of cashier and
| virtual manager of the First National
| bank which had been so organized five
4 years previously. After fourteen years
of faithful service he was rewarded
| with the title of vice president and
| nine years later, in 1891, was made
president. -Four years later he resign
/ ed to accept the portfolio in President
| McKinley's cabinet.
During the forty years business ca
reer in Chicago, Mr.. Gage took ninety
I days vacation. He never was dis
charged, and he never sought a better
I position than the one he held. What
ever came to him was unsolicited.
From the management of a bank Mr..
! cage stepped into position of mani
fold and diverse duties. The EMPLOYEES
or his department number $4,000. The
| various bureaus have to, do with
finance. immigration, coast and land
J surveys, Gfe-saving on the borders of
/ the great lakes and the ocean. inter-
nal revenue, steamship inspection. the
I minting of money and the printing of
! stamps and evidences of the govern
mentS Indebtedness, the maintenance
OF lighthouses. the regulation of the
public debt and many other allied and
| ramifying matters too numerous to
mention. Add to this executive re-
! sponsibility the share which he must
take in the general problems and la
Dor of the country's administration,
and some idea may be had of the scope
| of this new field for activity.
To a conscientious man lacking in ex-
ecutive ability the Office is certain
] to be deadly. No human man can
grasp all the details, and an attempt
I to do so has resulted in several in
/ stances in hopeless confusion and fail
ure. The other extreme is represented
by the secretary who remarked that
/ the Office was not arduous his duties
I being simply to sign his name, and his
messenger always showed him where 10
sign" The successful incumbent has
been one who could strike a happy
middle course, knowing what is essen
tial, trusting details TO competent lieu
tenants, and so determining the broad
questions of policy as to get the best
| results.
After his four years experience in
public life Secretary Gage has revised
his opinions of the people who work
for the government. AS a private citi-
zen he admits that he shared the pop
lsular notion that the majority Of them
are inclined to be inefficient and are al
ways ready to soldier" or neglect the
| work He SAYS now the majority of
them are las loyal and true q set of
! people as there are in the world; that
/ they understand their work and serve
/ the government with zeal, intelligence
and fidelity" That they work as siren
! uouSiy, or as many hours as employ
! ees of private concerns, he does not
/ claim. but he believes they do all that
should be expected of them.
g 8 &
When his four years term as secre-