Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-12
History of a Young Man Deter.
mined to Succeed.
PREDICTION is FULFILLED
Story Behind the Promotion o.
Robert G. Valentine.
SOUGHT JOB THREE YEARS AGO
Through Perseverance and Applica.
ton Has Become Assistant Com
missioner Of Indian Affairs.

1t was on November 80 last that Robert
G. Valentine was appointed assistant
commissioner Of Indian affairs. in place OF
Maj. Larabee. resigned.
The news was given the usual space ir
the newspapers. a brief mention, but back
of that appointment there is an interest
ing story-a bit of human history thai
shows two things. one. what bright anc
Woodworking young man can do In short
time and the other. that prophecies some
times come true.
There appeared in The Star in Deem
Der. 1905. a story headed Young Mans
Success There were no names in the
story. but the young man was Robert G.
Valentine, and the government oficia
mentioned was Commissioner L-eupp OF the
bureau of Indian affairs. A New York
banker was mentioned, and he was j.
Pierpont Morgan.
A Timely Story.
The story is timely. 1t follows:
THAT young man has made good. all
right" remarked a well known Washing
ton correspondent to a Star reporter few
evenings ago. He referred to the caller
who had just left the correspondents Of
flee.
Don't YOU remember him?' he contin-
ued. why, he was my assistant last
winter. MY paper doesn't provide an as
sistant but he was volunteer. NOW ne
is private secretary to one of the promi'
nent bureau chiefs in an executive depart
ment. His story is rather an interesting
one. I'll tell 1t to you. and when you've
heard it 1 think you'll agree with me that
any young man that wants to knuckle
down and work can make good.
About two winters ago he struck Wash
ington and brought letter OF introduction
to me from an old friend in Boston.
had a pleasant call from him. and subse-
ouently met him two or three times in a
casual way. One day about noon he
dropped into my ONCE. and. In the IAN
guage of the street, Struck me for a
job
"WelI, it didn't take me long to give
him to understand that my paper required
me to do all the Washington work by my
self. and it was all I could DO to get an
allowance of Office rent. but / told him
that would gladly give him letter of
Introduction or even of recommendation
If he wanted it,
Then. In very polite way and with
pleasant smile. he said, 4 don't think you
understand me. exactly. / didn't ask you
for salary. I only asked for some work.
+ would like to learn something about
teach me-
And then he went on to say: Soon after
I graduated from college / was given a
position as an instructor in the Boston
Institution of Technology. and was plug
ging along at that when, one day, I met
Mr.. Of New York. You know he's
the president Of one Of the big banks in
the metropolis and is heavily interested In
railroads and mining schemes and lots OF
big ventures. He was an old friend of
my fathers.
"'He asked me if wouldn't like to go
into business and suggested that If I
would come with him he would give me
better training than l was getting:
'I jumped at the chance. and in a
few weeks l was at work In the - Bank
in New York
Takes Pains to Inform Himself.
Il worked pretty hard. and In a
reasonably short time / had got pretty
well informed In practical way OF the
banking business. for 1 took a course in
every one of the departments of the
bank.
".Then Mr.. asked me if l didn't
want to take a turn at railroading, and
I did He sent me out west and l went
into the freight department of one of his
roads and then into the passenger de-
partment. and then my health broke down
and the doctors sent me south. l had to
take long rest cure, and now I'm in
fairly good shape.
I'm not as strong as I was. but I'm
not an invalid. My physicians say. how
ever, that l must not come any further
north than Washington ] like this town
first rate and as have to stay here, I
don't want to be idle any longer. Now
let me take hold and do something for
you and good deal for myself
i,,c< n mo ork cd
the correspondent. that I ought to have
some help. Anyhow l thought l would
take him at his word. l had just been
reading q paragraph in one of the papers
letin on the horse Clipping the item, |
handed 1t to him and said: Take that as
a pointer and see what you can get out
Of it.
'He thanked me and left. That evening
he turned in story-a good long story
and a mighty we'll written story. He had
been to the department, had interviewed
Chief Salmon and several other officials
and got some interesting information that
hadn't been given out yet. I mailed 1t
without changing a word and 1t was
printed without an alteration. That was
the beginning, but he kept right along. al
ways doing good work and the boys on
the row often spoke Of him. I told them
he was good. but pretty high-priced.
Gets Another Chance.
well, one evening last winter Mr.. -,
chief of the - bureau, who lives in our
town, dropped into the ONCE and told me
with great glee that he was going to have
a private secretary. A congressional COM
mittee had investigated him pretty thor
oughly that day. he said. and had asked
some pretty hard questions. He told them
that he couldn't carry all the details of a
big Office in his mind. and that he would
have 10 hunt through the records and
would be able to give the information in
about a week.
why a week. asked a member of the
lot mi.