The Irish standard., 1905-07-15

VI lue SqudreSl ana most llDeral en-
ployers in the country, and his liber-
ality goes further than money. He
always give his subordinates full
credit From the time when he was
first able to afford clerks in his office
he has made it a rule that every
creditable brief shall bear, not his
own name, but that of the clerk who
drew it up. In this respect he is an
among eminent lawyers.
Above all these qualities is that of
hard work and intense concentration.
They used to notice at Washington
that he never when meal time came
and that night was announced for him
by the coming of the electric lights.
When important matters came be-
fore him he went into long periods of
concentrated thought, during which,
the doormen and employees learned.
he was to be disturbed only at their
peril. When his door was closed,
when the Secretary had gone into ex-
ecutive session with himself, not even
a Senator or Cabinet member was
to disturb him. He had
started to analyze something; he
must carry it out to the very end be-
fore he let the machine stop.
In his earlier days his recreation,
like that of President Roosevelt, lay
in long hunting trips to the West. He
has dropped that in his later years.
For a time he found recreation in
golf. Now his avocation is his friends
and his family. He loves long,
familiar talks, in which his exterior
sloughs off and the real man. shines
out.
Otherwise it is all work. During the
troubled summer of 1900, when the
Boxers were besieging the legations
at Pekin, he was the only Cabinet Of
ticer who stuck it out all during the
hot Washington summer. He stayed
with it twenty-four hours out of the
twenty-four, while the melting as
phalt pavements were pulling off
shoes.
He is no longer young" Elihu Root.
The name was dropped after he en-.
tered the Cabinet. Yet he appears
younger than his GO years.
His photographs make him appear
still younger; one would guess his
age, from the pictures, at 40. Seen in
real life, his hair and mustache are
iron gray, but his smooth, brownish
skin is hardly wrinkled. His familiar
bang of hair tops the round and rather
high forehead which is said to denote
imagination.
Trained in the rather formal school
of oratory taught at Hamilton College
Mr.. Root is solid rather than brilliant
as a speaker. He lines out good, hard
sense, without much trimming.
For that reason he is at his worst in
an after dinner speech and at his best
in a serious political speech. His
speech to the convention which nom
mated Roosevelt for president is {
good example of his finest oratory.
Yet Mr.. Root has his sense o
humor, which CLEANS out now ant
then. A reporter who had annoyed
him by foolish questions once capped
the climax by asking whether the
president was going to remove Mr.
Conger, Minister to China, or wa.
going to ask his resignation.
Neither" answered Mr.. Root. {"
think that the president will emplo,
the Oriental subterfuge of sending
him poisoned letter."
Mr.. Root married a daughter O
Salem H. Wales. They have two sons
and a daughter, all grown up. Theil
home life has always been quiet.
Mr.. Roots working habits have
given him little time for society, ant
Mrs. Root clings to the old-fashionet
belief that a woman should not appear
in society without her husband.
It has been a pleasant, harmonious
and agreeable family. Mr.. Root ha!
made it point to chum with his two
sons.
While they were young he walked
to school with them almost every da,
of the year. Both followed the family
tradition and went to Hamilton Col
lege, from which they have just beer
graduated. His daughter, Mis-,
Edythe, was very popular in Wash
ington during his residence there a.
Secretary of War.
How to be Happy.