The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-02-23

ment. 1t was not long before the bank
people noticed what lively interest he
took in everything. He seemed to be
eager to do any and every kind of
the. inkwells and in running errands.
He was keen, alert,> cheerful and tire.
less. If he was expected at the bank at
9 o'clock it was a sure thing that he
would be there half an hour ahead of
time. If he was supposed to leave at
or he was loath to depart until he
felt certain he could be of no further
service.
The fact that he was getting very
small salary did not seem to affect his
spirit any. When he got his first pro-
motion he worked all the harder. He
was anxious to learn all he could about
tom when he finished his own work to
look over that Of his fellow clerks to
see if he could improve by their meth
DDS. Step by step he was advanced in
the Gallatin until he became loan clerk.
By this time young Lee had attracted
the attention of persons outside the
bank. In 1899, when the City Trust
company was organized, the assistant
secretaryship was offered to him. He
was barely 25. Some. men-men of
fine education and infiuence-have been
century and have not got that far. He
accepted the offer Of the trust COM
pany, and when that institution was alb
sorbed recently by the North American
Trust company he was made manager
of its Wall street branch, which office
he now fills.
Success has not changed his habits.
He is the first of the employees to be
in the office in the morning, and, as
general thing, is the last to leave his
| desk at night. He shows just as much
interest in his work as he did when he
was cleaning the inkpots. While there
| is work to be done he is happy in do
| ing it. He is a master of detail. and
takes as much delight in solving tho
! problems Of figures as a chess master
does in the problems of the figures on
the chessboard. 1t was this faculty.
for mathematics that stood him in such
! good stead when, as secretary of the re-
organization committee of the ship
building trust, he had to straighten out
the multitude of tangles in the affairs
of that concern. He. kept at that work
j until the accounts of the trust were
Strengthened out and the Bethlehem
Steel. company organized. Charles M.
Schwab has the reputation of knowing
bright man when he meets one. He
was much impressed by Mr.. Lees work
in the reorganization committee of the
| shipbuilding concern. Mr.. Schwab re-
Gently became director Of the Ma
tional Bank of North America. Pose
\ sibly it was he who urged his fellow
directors to offer the vice presidency
to the young man who loves to work.
IA man who went to Mr.. Lee the
other day to inquire what he thought
of the chances of young men in Wall
street was told that conditions there
!. are Just. the same as in any other
branch of business.
'sYou've got to make yourself felt
to succeed, - he declared. GIVE seen
boys come down here who would not
get ahead in thousand years, and I've
seen others who simply couldn't be
kept back, because, they worked just
: as hard as they knew how"
8 Mr.. Lee was reluctant to say this
I much. Like most men who tdc
3 things he is not inclined to talk free
e T. yA He ascribed his own success tx
: what he termed plugging along
: Then he said he had only one rule
!, That is the one referred to before
( always to do little bit more than wa,
Z expected of him