The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-10-19
SEEN THE MAYOR OF NEW YoRk.

| The personality OF Robert A Van Wyck
has come 10 be measured by extremes
/ says the Evening Post Ask his friends
what they think Of him. and You viii
/ be regaled with sesquipsdalian supe-la-
tives anent his geniality. gentIeness. and
/ good humor. Ask the others and another
/ array OF superlatives viii be forthcom-
1 ing. He viii be characterized as cap
tious irascible. and OF ruIianly temper
| There is no estimate which takes the
! middle course No man says. oh
Van Wycks all right: he's good
| enough with an II suppose" tackled
on as an afterthought- No man damns
/ him with faint praise. nor vice-versa-
/ He either swears BY the Mayor or-at
/ all.
| Go TO see Mayor Van wyes, and You
/ viii come away with a decided opinion
of him. The opinion VIII depend great
" upon your errand. II you seek 10
/ take up his time with something which.is
Of far more interest to you than 70 him.
/ you may come out Of the Mayors Office
! dissatisfied. if not insulted. Go to get
an interview, and you viii come away
| empty-handed. Go 10 see him concerning
something in which he is interested.
either personally or officially. and. II you
have not been verbose, you viii come
away with a remembrance OF a warm,
main in your minds eye Tor a long
time
The mayor is intolerant OF any one who
wastes his time. He is a busy man,
whose Office is a place OF business, not
one Of polite amenities.
In his outward. visible aspect, Robert
A. Van Wyck is a small man, somewhat
/ below the average Of men one sees on
Broadway. He Is well-grOOmed. II you
like the word. Tammany considers him
"dapper," -natty,' or ''nobby." accord
I ing 10 the admirers particular district
It is true that the Mayor does make
/ concessions to fashion and sometimes
even wears a whife-strip lining 10 the
collar Of his waistcoat. AS these are
not much in vogue below Fourteenth
street, Tim Sullivan and Martin Engel
are not one with the Mayor IN this de-
tail, however much they admire him.
Why the Mayor wears il. or, IN fact. why
any man ever wears II, is among the
long list of things unanswered. This
white strip is the one tie that binds the
Mayor 10 fashion.
The most eloquent attribute OF Mayor
Van Wyck is his dignity. It is upon
him, maybe bit heavily ar times. even
when he laughs. OF this dignity he Is
tenacious TO the point Of irritabllity. If
there is one thing you must bear ia
mind, IL is that the Mayor neither over
looks nor condOnes anything that i'm
ringes upon his amour propre. When
he sat upon the bench this trait was evil
dent from the first day. Since then he
has. from having had TO receive and
talk TO so many kinds Of persons. grown
bit suspicious, and 1t is not rare for
him to espy a slight where none exists.
He is stubborn IN defence of his official
rover, and the sarcastically stormy meet
ings Of the board of estimate and ap-
portionment in his office have arisen
from Just such mans-hand clouds. II is
no far cry from smile 10 frown with the
Mayor, and the frOwn comes like a sum-
mer storm, thunder and all. And it
passes as quickly.
The Mayor is most methodical He
reaches his office at five minutes after
ten O'Clock every day, and for al hour
devotes himself to his mail and his post
breakfast cigar in his private room. This
does not mean that he is unapproachable
at this time. but it must be an influential
visitor or some Ito hin) very important
affair TO bring him ont. The visitor who
succeeds in getting at the Mayor at this
time is generally standing first on one
foot and then the other at the doorway
leading to the inner private room Then
out bustles Mr.. Downes. the Mayor
secretary. with word that the Mayor viii
see Mr. X in Il moment There is a
on his desk-this is SO much like the
faint hddling that prefaces the entrance
of the hero or the villain-and presently
the Mayor appears. Invariably he has
his eyeglasses in his right hand and an
expression on his face which carries with
It nothing Of augury He smiles. changes
the glasses TO his left hand. greets the
visitor with quite a hearty handshake.
If he knows him at all, and then waits
for the other TO begin It is distinctly
not part Of the Mayors method 10 ask
a man what can he. do for him. Il might
mislead the visitor. besides il would not
be according TO the art of self-defence
The visitor talks while the Mayor looks
''clear through" him. bobbing the eve
glasses up and down and now and then
rubbing them nervously with his hand
kerchief. Without his glasses the Mayor
would probably fare III for speech. they
seem SO much part Of him. Always az
one point the Mayor adjusts the glasses /
They go far down on his nose and serve
no purpose at all, unless he reads. be-
cause he looks over them. And before
one has finished wondering why they
do not tumble of, the Mayor whips
them of and begins rubbing them again. /
Three or four minutes have served to /
decide the Mayor whether or not 10 con-
tinue the conversation with his visitor
If the Mayor is bored ne shows Il in
every line of his face, every impatient
bit OF business with the glasses. and /
presently he turns away, saying. II DO T.
not see that can do anything for you.
while the visitor edses after him. When /.
the threshold Of the private hallway Is !.
reached the Mayor simply exits. leaving I
the visitor still expostulating. And per /
haps all this time Mayor Van Wyck may 4
not have uttered ten words The other /
man has quite exhausted himself.
- -r-rs
according to the Mayors estimated worth 1
the time. he IS conducted 70 the Mayors 4
desk, asked TO seat himself. and he may I
have ear for an hour The Mayors desk, I
by the way. IS a most modest AFFAIR. IL I
is not large and has no imposing litter +
OF books and papers. II IS not 70 Dc /
compared 10 Secretary Downe's tower 4
Of desk. papers. bills. books. baskets. 4
and things. II really seems as n the 1
Mayor goes 20 the wrong desk.
The friends Of Robert A. Van Wyck \
make no attempt 70 reconcile his much +
described il-humor with their Own yiew
OF him. They simply say that those
who do not know him may ACCEPT him 4
as they please. Neither are they much \
concerned over the action % the Bar
association tonight. which f. 20 decide
upon the eligibility o. the Mayor ~
candidate for the supreme court bench. f
There fs certainly 20 be = fight over the
MAYORS name when the committee on
judicial nominations reports upon him
and the ether candidates. But IL IS sail
that neither the Mayor nor his friends
are greatly concerned. Whatever usT
happen. lie never has shown hi-1seif de-
sirous u any ones good opinion. save.
perhaps. Cookers.
When one stands before THE Mayor
there ara certain thi1gs which group
themselves into Background ard refuse
u dissolve in tte Right THAI beats u91l
him Among these Frectr=e are tfa
49, IL. IL. 49, -----I 49,.