The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1907-12-18
FAME FOR CORTELYOU.
Success In Relieving Financial
Trouble Typical of Secretary.
NOT HIS FIRST ACHIEVEMENT.

reau Out of PoIitics-Avoids Deposit
Hunters.
The success of Secretary George B.
Cortelyou of the treasury department
In handling the recent complex finan-
cial situation in New York is thorough
ly typical of the man, say his friends,
who declare Secretary Cortelyou has
never yet failed not only to rise to
every emergency with which he has
been confronted, but to rise above It.
1t may be forgotten by some that the
very fnanciers in Wall street with
whom Secretary Cortelyop held daily
conferences and who accepted his
word and his advice as law were less
than one year ago opposing his confir-
nation as secretary of the treasury on
the ground that he was not fitted by
experience for the position. says Leroy
T. Vernon. Washington's correspond
ent Of the Chicago News.
While the senate has rarely ever
failed to confirm nomination of
cabinet officer sent to it by president
and while the confirmation of Mr.. Cor
telyou was never seriously In doubt
nevertheless there was a decided oppo-
sition to him In financial circles in
New York, which made its presence
felt in the senate.
Secretary Cortelyou took hold Of the
treasury danartmapt with a d;s+ino+
understanding between him, and the
president that he was to run the de-
partment without interference. He had
certain policies of his own he wished
put into operation. not the least impor-
tant Of which was that he determined
to take the treasury not only out of
politics, but out of the stock market.
This was revolution of the worst sort
from Wall street standpoint, but 1t
took just one lesson to teach 'the
street" that it was face to face with a
new regime in the treasury depart.
ment.
In less than month after Mr. Cor
telyou took his new office he got his
first baptism of fire. The panic Of last
March came on. There is no gainsay-
Ing the fact that the new secretary
was nervous over the situation. He
had his ideas how such things should
be handled, but he had never applied
them practically, although assured by
sound financiers that they were prac-
teal. Right in the heat of the crisis,
however, AN opportunity came closer
at home than he expected for an ex-
hibition of his own confidence in him
self and his plans.
That opportunity came at cabinet
meeting. The cabinet was assembled.
and certain members of it who had
been besieged by friends In financial
circles TO urge that the government
come to their assistance crowded
around the cabinet table with anxious
faces. At the outset of the meeting
not one. but several. Joined In the
request that the financial crisis be
made the subject of the meeting. 1t is
related that the president said he
thought 1t fair that the secretary Of the
treasury should first be allowed to telf
the cabinet what the trouble was and
what be had done to remedy 1t. Sec
rotary Cortelyou In few words laid
the entire framework of the pending
financial situation before the cabinet.
In an equally short time he told the
members what he had done to ease the
danger of panic. and he concluded his
remarks with this sentence:
THAT has been done, and it is all
that will be DONE"
Until the cabinet fully grasped the
comprehenslveness of Secretary Cortel-
you's own remedies the members sat
In open fmouthed establishment at his
audacity in bringing the discussion so
abruptly to close. 1t was plain from
the position he assumed that he would
not welcome any further talk on the
subject, and when the cabinet men,
bers realized that all had been done
that could be done anyway there was
really nothing more to be said.
1t u generally understood in Wash
ington that Secretary Cortelyou car
ries this same directness of method
with him when he goes Tito Wall
street to do business with the bankers
there. He has been making weekly
deposits of government money all sum-
mer without advance notice to any
body how much he will deposit or
where he will deposit it. The result
has been highly satisfactory and salu-
tary and has taken the treasury de-
pariment out of the hands of deposit
hunting politicians and out of the grasp
Of the speculative element always
ready to swoop down on ready money