The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-05-04

Washington, May "a round, elocu-
tionary eye, blue in color, and an ora
toricaI mouth, the human appraiser would
say, if there were such a specialist, as he
wrote the items down on the schedule
of assets To which he would add, as
he proceeded to inventorize features and
surface characteristics, Q good, tuneful
voice, ringing and robust in both the
higher and lower registers.
In like manner he would specify two
military shoulders, an energetic man.
ner, sky-colored necktie, a fiax-colored
mustache and a pair OF thick, mahogany
colored side-whiskers. Drawing q line at
the bottom of the column he would total
the whole into William Cox Redfield, the
new Secretary of Commerce and the
personal tariff counselor or President
Wilson.
But the list at that would be only
visible and cursory. A heart-searcher,
skilled at mis- trade, would discover q
temperament as unsentimental and ex-
act as a surgeons, a complacency as
sure as a preachers and an opiniative-
ness as imperious as q lawyers. There
is much more, however, in an accurate
and complete computation of William c.
Redfeld. For example, he is unafraid,
ambitious and ecclesiastical.
Also he is cheerful, helpful, and con-
fident. He believes "a new conscience"
is now drawing the people of the United
States into the moral and intellectual
regions long since surveyed and de-
scribed and even discovered by the
Mugwumps He would deny in heat.
however, that he was ever anything but
a Democrat.
A propensity for getting money and a
talent for putting his active and pro-
gressive thoughts into language have
removed Mr.. Redfield from the over
crowded ranks of mediocrity. Business
men, commonly, are economical with
their language. They are always afraid
of telling too much. But they think
out their plans as fully as anybody.
Internally they are verbose; externally
they are shrewdly conscise. The habit
of thinking in detail and at length makes
them ready of speech within themselves.
Why Some Men Talk Well.
After he became a politician and a
public man. Mark Hanna opened the
doors of his mind and the country was
astoniShed by his f1uency. Yet he was
only meditating out loud. When John
ID. Rockefeller turned his business over
to subordinates and partners he sudden
ly found his tongue at Sunday school
and prayer-meeting. Then he wrote a
book. John Wanamaker's Bible class
gave vent to his words and presently |
he could talk politics or anything else. |
Mr. Redfield was a teacher and the |
superintendent of a Brooklyn Sunday
school for twenty years. All he had to |
do in politics was to change his subject |
and. possibly, his coat and cravat, and |
then go ahead. Still ii must be admitted |
that he has the gift of speaking excep- |
tionally well.
Two years ago Mr.. Redfield came to the |
House of Representatives. 1t is a prin- |
ciple in business that nothing overtakes |
the sensitive man who looks and stands /
back The firing line of commerce has /
its own methods and point of view. Like !
wise its own casualties, which is an |
essay in itself Mr.. Redfield, besides was
filled with principles battling for utter
ance. He talked in Congress right off.
Better still, he was heard. He was a