Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-22

A NDREW w. MELLON, who mas
~ been Secretary Of the Treasury
"A under three PreSidentS-Hard-
4 \ ing, Coolidge and Hoover-cele-
brates another birthday next
Tuesday and thus goes quietly on to-
ward q record OF longevity, both as q
member of the cabinet and along the
highway Of life.
With one exception, and history casts
1 the shadow Of q doubt on the exact
length of this previous cabinet officers
service, Mr. Mellon has served longer as
| other man in American history.
Strangely enough, the one exception,
Albert Gallatin, like Mr.. Mellon, came
| from Pennsylvania, too. AT the turn
of the last century he served for q
period Of IL years, but during two OF
those years he was abroad on diplo.
matte mission, and Congress declared
his cabinet Office vacant during his
absence. don't know what the cir
cumstances were, but 1t does seem that,
even so far back as a hundred or more
years ago Congress was in the habit OF
taking q wallop at the Secretary OF the
Treasury.
Time Touches Him Lightly.
The first impression one has Of Mr..
Mellon, after rejecting on the span of
more than 10 years he has spent in
washington, is how lightly time has
| touched him. Yet on the oath of this
month he will pass another milestone
1 his seventy-sixth, to be exact.
But there is about him . quality
! that seems ageless. Unlike so many
men. he defies classification in any
precise age brackets. If you didn't
know him, and you passed him on the
street, you could not automatically
register him In your mind as man In
| the SOS, or the COS or even the T0s.
It would be most difficult to identify
him with any or 10 year segment Of
a mans life; instead, one would have
to jump the years to somewhere near
a round number like 20-then guess
that the quiet, unobtrusive stranger
YOU Just passed might be anywhere
from so to 20 years old. Second thought
might incline one to guess the early
Sos, but even then you'd be in doubt.
Perhaps in Mr.. MELONS case It's
his air of detachment and composure
that gives him that ageless quality.
| Perhaps it's even his serenity. for he Is
serene. If he Is growing old by the
calendar-and that's about the Only
visible sign--he Is doing it most grace
fully.
MIR. MELONS, Background.
The Mellon background Is in the
American tradition. His paternal
grandparents came from the north Of
Ireland to settle in the United States.
They were country people-faTmers.
They landed IN Baltimore, went over
land to Pittsburgh. which was then
/ little more than rough frontier settle
ment. but the imprint Of their name
| and the personality of the family has
! been on that community from that day
TO this. Mr.. Melons father studied
| law and became q judge. Later he
founded q banking house, 7. Mellon
| & Sons, and it was with this bank that
| the present Secretary Of the Treasury
received his education In the world Of
| business and finance. He was presi-
| dent OF 1.-THE Mellon National Bank
1 was its name then, and that's its name
today-when, after mitch persuasion
/ and with real reluctance, he accepted
President Harding's invitation to enter
| his cabinet.
So far as the general public was
concerned, Mr.. Mellon. at the time he
was named for the cabinet. was almost
an unknown. In the world Of finance
/ and business, however, he was far more
/ than "just Pittsburgh banker"
| Pittsburgh and the territory i'm
mediately around 1t has Graded more
| great industries than perhaps any
/ other spot on earth. And, as some
4 OIlC UdS 6dlus I1AC 14C4OAo AONhCA bAAI
cradles" and saw the infants grow
strong and lusty. They sponored new
industries, provided capital for them,
/ in some instances took them over
entirely, and, in short, played more
| than an active part In the industrial
development Of the United States.
| Steel. oil, coal, aluminium are only q
| few Of the industries in which they
have been interested and, as a family,
| still are interested in.
When Mr.. Mellon entered the Gov
eminent he resigned as president OF
| the bank, and severed all other cor
poration connections. He left the cloi-