Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-07-28
STORIES OF RUSSELL SAGE

| ned. 1T was natural for me to talk
| slowly and seldom. But Mr.. Sage's
| smile-I could never get on to that.
| Not that 1t was a freakish smile. 1t
| was just like that OF anybody elsa
little drier perhaps-only L never could
tell when to put it on. Downtown Mr..
Sage rarely smiled except when he lost
and not always then. / remember once
or twice when he smiled because he
won. But you never could tell exactly
what his smile meant nor when it
would come. Others might well have
thought him greatly pleased with the
world and fortunes treatment of him
when in fact he was raging within
himself"
was asked.
Eyes. if you didn't know what it
meant
Nearly every man who knew Mr..
Russell Sage can tell a story about
some financial transaction Of his, but
the stories in which Mr.. Sage put down
a cent and took up anything less are
rare, says Golfers Weekly. This story
is one of disappointment.
One day q young man of Mr.. Sage's
acquaintance-in fact, the grandson OF
an old friend of other days-approached
him on the subject of a loan of ten
dollars for two weeks and got 1t. He
promised faithfully to return the money
at a stated hour and the promise was
as faithfully kept. Mr.. Sage had very
little to say when he gave up the ten,
and quite as little. when he got it back.
A week or ten days later. the young
man came to see him again, and this
time asked him for hundred dollars,
making all sorts of representations of
what he would do with it.
Mr.. Sage refused to ante. The young
man was surprised, not to say panied.
why" he exclaimed, you know I'll
pay 1t all right. Didn't l say I'd have
that ten for you on Monday. and wasn't
1 there to the minute with it?'
Mr. Sage beamed softly on the grand
son of his old friend.
MY boy" he said, with no trace of
unkindness in his tone, you disap-
pointed me once, and don't want you
to do it again"
Il beg your pardon, l did not" ar
gued the youth. Il said 1 would pay
you back, and 1 did"
Yes. yes, my boy" purred Mr. Sage,
you paid back the ten. and L never
expected you would. Now, If i let you
have n hundred l should expect you to
pay 1t back, and you wouldn't. One
disappointment at my time of life is
enough, my boy. Good morning"
Russell Sage in his later years gave
many bits of advice and suggestions
to those who asked for his views and
opinions. says the New York World.
One of the scrubwomen in the old
Arcade building approached him when
he had come back to his Office after
the bomb throwing and thought she
could move his purse as well as his
sympathy, In view of his narrow es-
cape.
''Oh. Mr.. Sage" she began, these
are hard days for me, and 1 thought
you might give me a little help, for
you know that I'm a hard working
woman and my husbands down with
broken leg ana my daughter is sick
and one of the children has got diph-
liberia. and If any one dies 1 have no
money for the funeral, and / can't
pay the doctor, and there's little to eat
in the house.
TOO bad, too bad" murmured the
financier, but I'm afraid that money
would do you no good. How much do
you earn a week here?'
six dollars. sir
"And how long have you been here?'
Ten years.
six dollars n week is 1912 a year.
If you had been an economical woman
you would have saved at least 30 per
cent of your income. or S1J6 n year.
In ten years you would have had ST.
$50, or, adding interest about $1,700.
Now. take my advice and make 1t Il
point during the next ten years of
saving at least 30 per cent of your
That Russell Sage had a psrspicuous
mind is shown by the following, which
was told by New York banker in the
New Orleans States:
He could see through nearly every
thing. I doubt if he was ever duped
on an investment
my soy bioL Two OHCC
called on Mr. Sage to try to interest |
him in certain scheme of theirs They |
talked to the great financier about an !
hour. Then they took their leave. hav- |
ing been told that Mr. Sage's decision |
would be mailed TO them in a.few days. |
Il believe we've got him. said the |
first promoter hopefully, on the way |
uptown.
Il don't know rejoined the other. |
He seems very suspicious
suspicious? said the first. What i
makes you think he was suspiciousY
Didn't you notice. was the reply, |
how he counted his fingers after had |
shaken hands with him?'"
Russell Sage" said New York bar |
Der to reporter of the Boston Herald. |
twas gifted with dry humor for which |