The Cordova daily times., 1922-10-09
SEC. MELLON
 UNIQUE MAN IN
 PUBLIC LIFE

ton, at the close of Government bus mess for the day, the frail figure of an old man, nearing seventy, emerg- ing from the Treasury Department and beginning long trudge home ward-twenty long blocks away.
 Sometimes the flappers and the young clerks that volley out of the great Government departments at quitting time almost tramp1e him underfoot in their haste to grab seats in street cars and buses.
 If you looked carefully at this frail old gentleman you would notice that he was neatly, but certainly not ex- pensively dressed. You would notice the face somewhat thin and a little peaked-as of one who has wilted a bit in the crucible of the worlds grind. The thought might strike you that there was typical cog in the great wheel of Government-an aged and bent clerk who has given the best years of his life to an unapprec- iative Government.
 You would be wrong. The man is Andrew w. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, with one-third of the worlds wealth in his keeping. He is worth himself some $200,000000 or $500, 100000, perhaps $500,000,000. He doesn't know exactly how much he is worth It probably would take corps of accountants a full year to find out for him. Sufficient it is to say that statisticians dispute about who is the wealthiest man in the United States and consequently in the world-Rockefeller or Mellon.
 He has limousines at his call. Also stables of horses. He seldom uses either, unless he is in a great hurry, which is seldom. His quiet trudge homeward after work is his principal recreation and his principal public appearance.
 Andrew W. Mellon is by long odds the strangest Cabinet figure Wash ington has seen in many years. He Is quiet to the point of being absolutely taciturn; he is shy to the point of seldom appearing in public. Gold has no attraction for him; politics he adhors; cards he never plays; he is no raconteur-and he doesn't like Washington.
 What does he do? He works, trudges homeward in the evening, tends strictly to his own business and escapes from Washington at every opportunity. He is devoted to his daughter and seldom does a weekend find them apart.
 The Secretary of the Treasury has few if any intimates in the cap ital. He goes to Cabinet meetings at the White House by slipping across the narrow little street that is called East Executive avenue, which di-
 
 House. He goes through the long passage from the mansion to the Executive Offices, where the sessions are held. He doesn't like newspaper reporters. They bother him with questions.
 He takes little part in political discussion-talk as to how this pol icy or that policy will affect the fortunes of the party in power. In the first place, he doesn't know; in the second place, he isn't interested.
 Periodically there are reports that he is going to resign. So far they have been just reports. He has run his department as he saw fit. There are more Democrats in the Treasury Department today than in any other department of Westinghouse fact which has led to several political as- saults upon him.
 How influential MT. Mellon is may be judged from the fact that he is credited with beating the bo- nus single handed; that is, con- vincing a Republican President that he should veto a bill passed by a Republican House by 5 to 1 and by a Republican Senate 2 to 1-all in the midst of campaign in which the Republicans cheerfully admit they are going to need every vote