Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-19
HAS WON CONFIDENCE
Why Cortelyou is Proposed
for Head of the Equitable.
SHOWS SELF CONTROL
ABILITY TO KEEP SILENT SHOWN
AS CAMPAIGN MANAGER.
Power of Reticence Admired by Big
Financiers-What Parker is Doing
Worlds Finest Race Course.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

kept his mouth-shut during the last pres
idential campaign. Big fnanciers have
great confidence in any man who can keep
his mouth shut and is gifted with that fac
ulty known as self-control 1t Is SO rare
that judges of human nature and those
who have to do with large affairs associate
1T with other qualities equally valuable.
The Old adage that silence is golden is
very highly appreciated in Wall street and
on lower Broadway. and the greater the
provocation to speak the greater the adj
miratfon for those who have sufficient self
control to keep silent. Mr. Cortelyou went
through an extraord. nary experience last
october He was accused of the meanest
and groSest crimes. A man climbed down
from the supreme bench of the state of
New York and accused him of accepting
an appointment in the Presidents cabinet,
at the head of the Department of Com
merce and Labor. in order to learn the Sc
erets OF certain great corporations and ex-
tort biackmail from them for campaign
purposes. Few people believed it then: no.
body believes it now-now even Judge Par
ker, who made the charge and who injured
himself more than he injured the man he
attacked. This is a good illustration of the
wisdom of the man '. no said that
1t Is not what others say about YOU hut
what you say yourself that affects your
reputation!''
Cortelyou Kept Silent.
Corteiyou did not say anything He
stood at his post silently and let the cv
clone go by, and the men who control the
finances. the commerce and the industries
or this nation watched him with great
admiration. They believe that a man who
can do what Cortelyou did-who pos
seSSeS tnat degree of self-control-is NOT
only worthy of unlimited confidence hut
Is capable of performing any great task.
Hence his name has been proposed for
otner positions or great responsibility as
Wen as for the presidency of the Euui-
table; and the men who are trying to
stralghten out the insurance muddle
think he would command public conf
dehce: Ihey are also sure that he is capa-
bic of running the business of that com
pany, and Elihu Root and Senator Knox.
who sat with him in the cabinet have
confirmed this conviction.
1t is unfortunate however that tho
proposition has gotten into the newspa-
Eers, because the time is not yet ripe 1t
was sprung too soon. The contending in
terests are angry, and neither is inclined
to make compromise on anything or
anybody. 1t may be that those who are
working the scheme (and they are the
most influential people in the city) may
be able to convince both sides of the wis
dom of the suggestion.
Value of Reticence.
Sometimes reticence is necessary Peo-
pie who give money away or do other
acts of benevolence nowadays are COM
PEELED to withhold their names from the
public to avoid being pestered by people
who want funds for various purposes
honest and dishonest Hence with the
exception of few professional phiIan-
thropiSts who have organized means of
defense, large gifts to public and chart
table purposes are anonymous. Most of
the recent great benefactions for educa-
tional purposes and for charity have been
made without Tho ri oif
to the new Episcopal Cathedral and to
Columbia University recently have been
anonymous, simply because. a great
man expressed it:
The giverS do not want other people
pulling their legs,"
Mr.. Carnegie has two men to look after
his correspondence and never sees more
than one in twenty of the begging letters
that are ADDRESSED to him. Since Mr. Phipps
gave a million dollars for model tene-
ment houses he has had bushels of applica-
tons from all parts of the country for
assistance in all kinds of enterprises
Whenever anybody receives a large legacy,
or is reported to have been fortunate in
business or speculation, the newspaper an
nouncenent always proyokes an annoying
stream of letters from cranks, ilnoostors
and many good people who think they are
entitled to consideration. Hence, the dis
position to conceal rames from the public.
Annoyed by Appeals
For example, the newspapers announced
the other day that young lady had erect
ed a very costly memorial window in a
New York church. Within the next week
she received seventy-nine letters from all
kinds of people in different parts of the
country, begging for money for windows
and orphans, schools and hospitals and
from private individuals who were suffer-
ing from that misfortune call poverty -Four
young women begged for funds to pay their
expenses at FORMAL schools, and one wrote
a pathetic letter asking for 500 to buy her
wedding dress.
Another young lady was driven nearly to
distraction by letters from strangers in a
dozen different states, who had read in the
newspapers that she was paying $1,000 a
year rental for suite of nine rooms in
ar apartment house. 1t was declared to
be the highest rent paid in New York. AS
a. matter of fact, her rent is just one-half
that amount She was the victim of an
enterprising real estate agent, through
whom she had leased an apartment He
saw chance to get a bit of free advertise
ment and gave the story to the reporters
If he had said that her rent was $500
they would not have printed anything about
it, but the fact that a young girl pays
$4,000 year for rooms to live in was
worth a good deal of space. 1ttwas a good
story, but the publication brought down
upon her sensitive head all kinds of re-
Dukes and reproaches from clergymen and
busybodies and hundreds of poor people
who are struggling and suffering all kinds
of privations 40 keep roof over their heads.
One clergyman wrote her such an intemper-
ate letter that an unwise friend advised her
to bring him before the courts, but what
touched her most were the appeals from
poor women. who thought that if she could
pay $4,000 year for her rooms she might
send them something to relieve their dis
tress, and she did. She was kept busy
writing checks for the next six weeks. This
was the only way she could recover her
happiness.
What Judge Parker is Doing.
see that Judge Alton B. Parker is going
to Chicago next week to address the bar
association, and am sure he will be kindly
received He has dropped almost entirely
out of sight in New York. You never hear
his name mentioned. He has been offered