The Washington times., 1924-06-04
NJ AD00 LIKES
COMBAT: AND
ADVENTURE
Born Of Frontier Blood, He Is
One Of Most Loved, Hated.
and Feared of Leaders
Continued from First PageJ

Coolidge's people indeed much
poorer. They could not afford
candles. They used pine torches.
They lived in Milledgeville. Nc.
Adoo's first business adventure was
to import the Augusta Chronicle
into Milledgeville and sell copies of
1t at s cents, clearing q profit Of
2 cents on each copy. He was
then twelve. He acquired five GUS
toners and arrived at a profit of
10 cents a day.
As, a young. man he went to
Knoxville, Tenn. and scraped to-
gether enough money-and credit
to get control of the Knoxville
street railway company. He lost
the money. At the age Of twenty
nine he was again penniless.
He thereupon went to New York.
Penniless in New York. he decided
to build the tunnels under the
Hudson at a cost Of many millions
OF dollars.
He raised the money and built
the tunnels. The money went into
the tunnels. It went into operat-
ing the tunnels. Not much was
left over. McAdoo had performed
a feat but he was as far a. ever
from acquiring a fortune.
In the operating Of his tunnels
he decreed that women should get
equal pay with men for equal
work. This was a novelty.
Meeting with Wilson.
Later. az Director General Of
Railroads for the United States
Government during the war, he
decreed that negroes on railroads
should get equal pay with whites
on railroads for equal work. This
was also a novelty.
McAdoo adventures in his own
affairs and he adventures in insti-
tutions.
Before 1912 he became acquaint-
ed with the President Of Princeton
University, DIR. Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson was trying to put some
new institutions into Princeton.
McAdoo was for him and them.
Wilson, becoming President Of
the United States, made McAdoo
Secretary Of the Treasury. McAdoo,
having handled two great enter
prises, the Knoxville Street Rail-
road and the Hudson Tunnels. was
still and again poor.
This IL not said in criticism.
Alexander Hamilton. first and
greatest Of ell Secretaries Of the
Treasury, handled many large
private business adventures and re-
NAMED poor and died insolvent.
McAdoo, as Secretary OF the
Treasury, went adventurously and
confidently into making the new
Federal farm loan banks. He went
adventurously and confidently into
helping to make the new low tariff.
His life became a multiplicity OF
novelties.
Always Starting Something.
He was always starting some
thing new. Also he was, and Is,
belligerent.
HIS father fought as an officer
under General Scott at Cerro Gordo
in the Mexican war in the year
1874. Male ancestors Of his fought
in the Revolutionary War. in the
war OF 1912, and in numerous wars
against Indians in the swamps
near the Florida line.
McAdoo has to adventure and he
has to fight. AS Secretary OF the
Treasury, he found that numerous
banks were paying no interest on
deposits Of Government money. he
made them pay per cent. They
fought back McAdoo was happy.
All he seems to ask is chance
TO combine novelty with combat.
His people were adventures on the
frontier Of the American wilderness.
He is an adventurer on the frontier
Of American social changes.
He is now sixty years old. His
step Ii as light as the step Of an
Indian along a forest trail.
When the storm Of arrows of
criticism about his association with
e. L. Doheny's oil company burst
upon him last winter, he was as
erect and scornful as an Indian
at the stake.
Has Old Line Character.
He is a frontier character, find
ing trails and disdaining dangers.
His policies have won him hordes
Of enemies. His hordes Of friends
have been won only partly by his
policies. They have been won
largely by the glamor Of his ad-
righteousness and Of his personal
stamina and courage.
virtually everybody else who was
attacked and accused in the oil
Investigations broke and ran. Mo.
Adoo got angry and turned around
and bit.
To multitudes Of business men he
Is the devil, and he tops It off by
having the DEVILS own courage.
He then crowns that top of his
"devilish dangerousness" by having
a great and supple talent for politi.
cal arrangements and maneuvers.
Copyright. 1924. Current News
Features, Inc.)