Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-11
BY JAMES WALDO FAwCETT.

A NDREW w. MELLON. Secretary
~ OF the Treasury, sailed for Eng
~ land yesterday. He was on
n board the Cunard liner Maure
tania when she poked her way
out from Pier 81, New York, and at
sunset was we'll out to sea. To the
average reader this fact will mean
nothing, except that he is absent from
the United States. To his friends and
associates in the department of the
Government over which he presides it
means that for the first time in many
months Mr.. Mellon is resting To them
the opportunity he will have to relax
for few days is of prime Importance.
Mr.. Mellon IS nearly II years of age.
Had he remained in private life. he
would very probably have been retired
from business to enjoy the leisure that
retirement brings. In the public service,
to which he came fairly late in life, he
has no leisure of any kind, except on
such rare occasions as the present
when. perforCe, he must cross the
ATLANTIC.
Working on Ship.
But even this week he will not be
entirely free. IT is an open secret that
he carried away with him a weighty
pile Of papers, over which he will work
as the Mauritania plows along Late
Tuesday night a special messenger made
the trip from Washington to New York
with a final sheaf of papers for the
Secretarys attention. His vacation
will be nominal in this respect-he took
with him work enough TO last the
voyage.
Furthermore. he will never be out of
reach of the radio system OF communi-
cation From hour to hour he will be
in touch with Washington all the way
across. He never eXemptS himself from
the demands OF public duty.
When the ship reaches Plymouth
heavy bag of letters will start back TO
America-his production en- route
Mr.. Mellon left washington on Satur-
day For weeks before his departure
he was working overtime in his little
Office on the third floor Of the Treasury
Building. Each evening the light
burned until 80 or 8 o'clock in the
windows of that portion of the south
west corner of the fine old ediflCe which
he occupies. Strangers in the street
below, pilgrims to the Nations Capital.
stood looking up at those oblongs OF
yellow in the darkening wall. They had
been told by their guides that the Secre-
tary was there.
Long Hours Commonplace.
To native. all-the year-aroundW wash
ingtonianS the Secretary's late hours OF
labor are commonplace. They know
that when the thousands Of men and
women who call him chief go home TO
their suppers Mr., Mellon himself IS just
settling into another program OF effort.
The hall about his door Is frequently
crowded at the time when most Offices
are closing. Mr.. Melons business day
far exceeds the standard eight or nine
hours. He rises early, labors late. Dur
ing the past few weeks he has been pre-
pairing for his vacation" by laboring
later than usual. He has earned his
rest" in the truest meaning OF the
word. The difficulty OF 1t all is that
he will not really get II. In the very
nature of things he cannot.
French Strother found the Washing
ton pace so strenuous that he has felt
obliged TO retire TO the backwoods, but
Mr. Strother came to this decision after
only brief experience in the turmoil
MI Mellon has been Secretary OF the
Treasury since 1921 He has had more
than 10 years OF the most devastating