The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-03-02
AN ERA OF HIGH SALARIES.
MEN WHOSE PAY rs LARGE AND
THE QUALITIES THAT EARN TT.
Lyman J. Cage on the DEMAND for Men
Worth s4S ZOO q Year Instances OF
Men Comparatively Young With
Great Incomes salaries OF $50.
600 q Year and More In Business.

refer TO tho present time as the era OF big
salaries. When Lyman ]. Gage, former
Secretary OF the Treasury, left his 5000
Cabinet place In Washington the other day
and accepted an offer to become President
OF the United States Trust Company at a
salary said to be 5000 a year, certain
business men In Chicago, his old home,
expressed a doubt as TO whether he was
able to earn that enormous amount
The idea OF a big salary for little work
has its fa~scinations-and its fallacies. Big
pay and little or nothing to do are two
circumstances seldom %conjoined In this
world: though the uniformed wistfully
dream Of such conditions.
That any man should end actual SER
vices commensurate with a salary OF $4,000
a year Is really beyond the understanding
of the average toiler whose stipend Is
g. or 81 @ day. Nevertheless, in this matter
of-fact age there are probably very few
persons receiving prodigious pay who do
not earn every dollar Of IL.
you may be sure that Mr.. Gage will he
worth more than $4,000 a year to his en-
ployers, or they wouldn't hire him. said a
Chicago banker who formerly was Comp
troller OF the Currency. Perhaps you
may remember a highly interesting remark
made by former Secretary Gage last fall
In an address TO the bank clerks OF Denver.
HE told them that the demand for good
bank clerks was so much greater than the
supply that he could place at least twenty
young men in financial institutions Of this
country at a salary of SIS 900 a year each.
The fact il that capital. whether employed
n commercial or industrial enterprises,
or In banking. Is always on tho watch for
able managers. There never was a time
when first-class abilities could command
So much in salaries as now"
This seems to be true enough. Even
SIS 600 n year for the hire Of ono mans
brain is a vast sum; it is half the salary Of
the President OF the United States. and
few persons in private enterprises receive
go much: yet there is still an unsupplied
demand at this rate OF pay
Mr.. Cages Remark doubtless was in
tended TO lay stress upon the fact that a
score OF young men worth SIS. 900 zach
could not easily be found. II is conceded
bv business men generally that when found,
e strong. buoyant, resourceful. geous
young man whose education has been
specialized may obtain ready employ
men; at the salary named, not only in bank
us 'uN III AAk AIN
developing large commercial and industrial
enterprises. The field is broad and the
masters Of the situation are few.
Some months ago, when Charles Coun-
selmnn was elected President of the Ameri-
can Fisheries Company. a concern hat has
control Of many of the canning factories
in the State of Washington and along tho
shores OF Alaska, it was announced that his
soIarr vro 20 DO esO Onn a yoar I;La NJ.
Gage. Mr.. Counselman is a C~hicagoan, and
he has had a long and successful experience
a. a grain merchant on the Board Of Trade.
IN owner Of grain elevators, a builder OF
skyscrapers, a dealer in real estate and a
man Of large business Interests generally.
He began with little or nothing, and such
education as he possesses he acquired In
the school Of experience. He was always
alert, creative and res ourceful. looking
for big problems to solve. and he solved
them. He Is to-day a man of large fortune
and great commercial activity, still in the
prime OF life.
There is still another Chicago man who is
said TO be receiving a yearly salary so big
that many would onsider II a fair fortune
after a lifetime Of Industrious effort. This
In Conrad H. Matthieson, President Of the
Chicago Sugar Refining Company, some
times called the Glucose Trust.
He is now about IS, and his annual salary
has been variously stated az s85. 900 and
$4,000, At any rate. it is big enough to be-
highly exceptional. It is hut fifteen years
since he left college, and at first he worked
ten hours a day, carried his lunch with
him, and earned sl1 a week. Step by step
he mastered every detail Of the business
and rose to be manager.
Then a crisis arose. calling for the highest
executive ability, and he was equal 10 the
emergency. His company was in a rate
cutting pool and its profits had disappeared.
Upon his aggressive initiative il with
drew from the pool, inaugurated a fight
Of its own and within two years was paving
30 per cent. In dividends. This triumph
inspired In Mr.. Matthieson an ambition
to control the entire field. and this was
accomplished under his direction shortly
after the passage Of the Dingley Tariff
bill, which opened up a better future for
the trade.
Most OF the concerns absorbed by his
company were losing money. but under
the combine which he organized their
stocks we're transmitted into gold. This
young man earns his p~rincely salary by
successfully handling $40, 900. 900 OF COM
bined capital and conducting the glucose
business, comprising some twenty de-
partmonts, in such a systematic and pros
porous way that the shareholders are we'll
satisfied.
He says hat hard work Is a tonic 10 him
and he keeps at it early and late, never
asking a subordinate to do more than he
does himself. He knows no other secret
Of Success.
When Richard Delafeld. President Of
The National Park Bank Of New York,
haa Ms salary raised from s25,ooO to $40, 900,
cary last year, 1t was said that no other |
Lenk President in the United States re-
ccl'ed such big pay for his services. The
reason given for this Increase was that
the bank'sb business had expanded so much
end the responsibilities Of It's executive
heal had become so great that he well
deserved a salary only $4,000 less than
that received by the Chief Executive OF
the nation.
As the custodian Of $40, 90 {, 900, to be
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