Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-24

CONTINUED From First Page.)
fifth year of his life. wait" he said
until 1 live to be 100, and then come
around and viii give you a real story. 81
The Secretary was reminded that, &C
cording to mortality statistics compiled
by life insurance companies, he should
live seven year longer than his father
Judge Thomas Mellon, who died when
he was 95 years old. The Secretary
mother lived until she was "a.
WELL said Mr.. Mellon, ''it's too bad
they did not start that mortality system
about 200 or 800 years ago.
With quiet unobtruSiveness in keeping
with his character, Secretary Mellon
whom his friends call the greatest Sec
rotary of the Treasury since Hamilton
today observed the seventy-fifth ami
versary of his birth.
The cares of guiding the financial
destinies of the worlds richest nation
were left behind in Washington, and
the 1.-THE, slender little man, whose
vigor seems undiminished by the years
returned to Pittsburgh, the city that
for lifetime has been his home, for
the celebration.
He looked back upon life crowded
with activity, first in the field Of f.
nance and then in that of government
which has brought him worldwide
renown and made him for nine years
the center of one of Americas never
ceasing political controversaries.
Lives Quietly in Capital.
Entering public life at an age when
most men count their days Of activity
as past and settle down to an innocu-
Gus old age of golf and a quiet corner
in q quiet club, Mr.. Mellon became q
member Of President Harding'S cabinet
in the trying postwar days, served I'M
der President Coolidge and now under
President Hoover, giving him the dis
tinction Of being the only man In his
tory to hold the Treasury portfolio un-
der three Chief Executives.
In Washington he has lived quietly
He walks back and forth each day be-
tween the Treasury and his apartment
near Dupont Circle, enters but slightly
into the social life Of the Capital and
spends eight or ten hours a day al
work. He shuns publicity and makes
but few speeches.
Dry and Wet Attacks.
For his frequent conferences with
President Hoover he uses a side en-
trance to the White House and thus
avoids the main lobby of the executive
men that gather there.
The storm of dispute that has ragged
about his head since he first took over
the cabinet post has been to him a
source of little worry.
First he was asSailed as unqualified
for the Treasury post because of his
industrial connections. Discussions OF
war debt settlements, the soldier bonus
farm relief and tax refunds have found
criticism after criticism leveled at him
But the prohibition question has been
the source of most of the attacks upon
him. He has been assailed by the drys
and vets alike for the enforcement
policies carried out by the prohibition
unit OF which, as Secretary of the
Treasury, he was the directing head.
Aside from his governmental and n.
nancial activities, Mr.. Mellon has
achieved much fame as an art collector
Dinner to be Given Mellon.
A birthday dinner tonight was the
only engagement to draw Secretary
Mellon from the quitude of his Wood
land road residence. The dinner /;
to be given by Howard Heinz, A. l.
Humphrey, H C. McEldowney, Arthur
". Davis and James Lockhart at the
Pittsburgh Golf Club.