Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-01-18
MAN WHO DOES THINGS.
Secretary MeAdoo the Live Wire OF
the Cabinet.


world at war. Including our loans 70
the Allies. the treasury will have 10
provide some eighteen or twenty Dill
lions OF dollars between April. 1871
and June, 1915.
This is nearly onc-tcnth OF our Ma
tional wealth. 1t is about five times
all the actual money in the country.
Early last summer two billions OF
/ Liberty bonds. bearing interest at l.
per cent, were sold to more than -four
million persons. over three billions
were subscribed for. Before the sale
was undertaken and while II was in
progress there were many who said II
would be n failure.
II was alleged that the amount was
too large. that the rate was too low
that no bankers commission was pro-
vidrd for. and that Wall Street hadn't
been consulted. The Offering was
nevertheless Il great success. and the
Now the country is being asked 10
buy from three TO five billion more
bonds. OF course they will he taken.
But this is only the commencement.
II the war goes on. there will be bond
issue after bond issue. for the mobili-
Zation of our financial resources Is
rr-cSScntial to the mobilization oi
our man power. This is an economic
struggle and money has become more
than ever the sincws of war.
II is not surprising, therefore, that
the world should want TO know some
thing of the financial field marshal
under whose leadership the wealth of
the richest country In the world Is be-
ng enlisted for the defense OF dcmoc-
racy. Organize ii as you will. war
cannot hc made an impers0nal affair.
Justly or unjustly. victory or defeat
will become associated with some one
man.
The issue OF the struggle will depend
largely. ii not entirely, upon his ability
to inspire and retain confidence. for
upon him dcvolvcs the responsibility
for the decisions and policies that
make for success or failure. In the
case of Il minister OF finance, OF Sec
rotary of the Treasury, as such a
minister is called in our country, this
factor Of confidence is especially i'm
portan,. for nc is directly responsible
TO the president only, and cannot be
removed or forced TO resign by the
people or the national Legislature, as
in England. where a majority in par
Lament may vote Il want Of confi-
dcncc" and force Il general election
and Il change of ministry.
There have been many such changes
in the French ministry during the war,
and the British cabinet has been COM
plctcly reconstructed more than once
since August, 1914; but in the United
States out OF ten department heads
there have been only three designations
since 1913. \ secretary OF state and
secretary of war gave up their port
folios for reasons OF their own, and -
attorney general relinquished his Of
flee because he had been promoted to
the supreme court. The secretary Of the
the treasury that Mr.. Wilson appointed
in 1913, and there is every prospect
that he will continue to be the chief
financial officer of the nation until the
war shall end. Upon him there rests
and will rest the responsibility OF rails
ing and diSburSinS an inconceivaDly
large sum of money. Under his direc-
tion our fixed assets must be convert
cd into liquid credit, and taxes that
are heavier than any before imposed
must br promptly gathered into the
than nine billion in the world, he must
almost be endowed with the power
that was attributed to the alchemists
OF old. for. with only three billion dol
lars Of gold in the county and less
than nine billion in the world, he must
find Il way to meet expenses that Will
probably aggregate forty billions. by
June 80. 1919. if the war shall last till
then. To do this and maintain and
protect the credit and commerce OF
the nation withal will require an ex-
traordinary man. The people must
first OF all believe in him, and their be-
lief must be justified. He must be
both courageous and honest. His
courage must be reinforced By sound
judgment. and his honesty must be OF
the sort that makes him true to him.
self, and thereby renders 1t impoS-
shle for him TO be false to any other
man. Above all. he must have vision
and a faith in the nations future that
will enable him TO see and to make his
countrymen see the glorious picture
of America, triumphant and at peace,
that we have all glimpsed. but some
times lack the Imagination to discern
vividly on the darkened screen OF war.
a hn
sent secretary of the treasury, such
Il man?
In an effort 10 answer this question,
the following study of his career has
been prepared. We can only infer the
future from the past. This Is true both
of men and of history but as gen.
cralization it is a safer guide In the
case OF men than Of history. What,
then. is the story of McAdoo's career?
First Of all. let ii he said that he Is
not Il rich man. The fact that he once
had an office in Wall Street and raised
some seventy million dollars TO build
the tunnels under the Hudson river
that are still called the McAdoo tun-
ncls had led many people TO think nc
must have made a fortune. Such is
not the case. When he became sec
rctary Of the treasury four years ago,
those who know anything Of official life
in Washington will realize that cab
met officers salary barely suffices to
pay his necessary expenses.
Mr.. McAdoo was born near Marietta,
Georgia, in the foothills of the Appa-
lachian mountains. on October 81. 1858.
He is therefore nearly fifty-four years
OF age. His forebears on his fathers
side were Scotch -Irishmen who set
tied in North Carolina some two hum
dred years ago. and many Of his rela-
tives fought in the American Revolu-
ton and the War of 1872. His mother
was Mary Faith Floyd, whose people
had teme from Virginia to Georgia
early in the nineteenth century.
His father, William Gibbs McAdoo'
had served as a lieutenant of volun-
teers through the Mexican war. and
twice attorney general for the Knox
willie circuit Of Tennessee. He fought
in the southern army during the Civil
War, and at the close Of hostilitles
found himself stranded with his fam.
lily at Milledgeville. Georgia. General
Sherman in his march TO the sea had
devastated all this part Of the country
and the McAdoos found themselves re-
duced from affluence to extreme pow
erty.
The first fourteen wears Of the life OF