The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1937-08-27
Chinese Are Sten,n,ing Japanese Onslaught
Former u. S. Secretary of
Treasury, Andrev Mellon,
Passes A,oay at Age OF 81

Andrew W. Mellon, former Sec
rotary of the Treasury and former
Ambassador to Great Britain, died
Hast evening of uremia and bron-
chial pneumonia, at the age of 33.
The end was peaceful.
Mellon came here to the home of
his daughter, Mrs David Bruce, in
July.
Funeral services will be held to-
morrow afternoon in the Pittsburgh
East Liberty Presbyterian Church,
al magnificent church which Mel
Ions brother. the late r. B. Mellon,
made possible by benefactions. The
body will be taken to Pittsburgh
late today.
In spite of his weakening health,
he remained at washington, D. c.,
throughout the winter and spring,
| to complete arrangements for his
last great undertaking, a National
Gallery of Art.
Eleven years as Secretary of the
Treasury, the second longest term
! in the history of that office and the
only one held under three success
| sive Presidents, made Andrew w.
4 Mellon an outstanding figure in
world finance.
He rounded out his public service
as Ambassador to the Court of st.
James, the highest diplomatic post
| in the gift OF the Government.
This public record crowned a
lengthy career as a banker in which
he built up one of the great fortunes
Eof the world. But 1t brought him
talso into the whirl of politics, made
nun q shining mark for opposition
critics. There was an abortive at
tempt to indict him in 1884 on
charges of evading income taxes
and. when this failed, he had to
answer before the Board of Tax APP
peals in Washington claim by the
Government for alleged shortages
in his 1881 returns, the claim in
Guiding allegations of fraud and
evasion.
But Mellon, shy, inperturable
little man. given to slow speech, was
fighter. and he hit back Justify.
Handles POST War Finances
Melons Treasury career was no.
- l,Io 60. ;fn napIIiau IF liffioltlt
postwar financial problems, includ-
ing refunding agreements with 10
debtor nations of Europe; tax re-
auctions, a cut of 20 per cent in the
American national debt and the
fact that under his guidance the
United States, of all the countries
engaged in the World War, was the
first to attain balanced budget
after that conflict.
He assumed the Secretaryship
when President Harding took office
March 4, 1921. and held it under
Presidents Coolidge and Hoover I'M
til February 5, 1882, when the Sen
due COlllliIiCo liz liOiiiildciOll 90
Ambassador to Great Britain.
Only one other head of the De-
partment exceeded the length of
this service, Albert Gallatin holding
the post under Presidents jefferson
and Madison from 1901 until the
spring of 1913. Another Secretary,
William Window, held office under
three Presidents, but there was a
lapse between his brief service ,un-
der Presidents Garfield and Arthur
in 1881 and his two years under
President Benjamin Harrison start
ing in 1889
Mellon stepped into the Treasury
when the Governments financial
affairs were in gloomy state, re-
sulting largely from depression
which followed the inflationary
boom during and Immediately after
the war. Tax rates were the high
est in history and the internal reve-
nue. laws. hurriedly drawn to bring
III wal luIlto, SOliotuiitiy WClC op-
jects of litigation The way he ham
died the task Of financial recon-
struction has been compared by nu-
merous admirers to the administra-
tions of Alexander Hamilton, first
Secretary of the Treasury, who was
confronted with similar grave prob
lens.
Needless of Political Critics
His tax reduction program, in
volving a decrease of about 80 per
cent in the maximum surcharges on
incomes, was assailed as favoring
the rich. and his insistence on set
Element of the war debts by foreign
nations was criticised at home and
abroad, but he saw most of his
plans adopted BY 1926 he had cut
the public debt a round $4,000, 900
900 from a total Of about $4,000
DOC, 900.
Unschooled in practical politics,
Mellon was the target for repeated