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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1906)
4a 7 - TTHFipJ 38 3 tW' K&1 Cr:"-'S'w . 7 ' CCO-i. :; BY DEXTER MARSHALL. M ANT of the most interesting and forceful Americans now living are men -who failed to "find them- eelves" until middle life had overtaken them and whose most important achieve ments have all been made after 40. Nor is this true only of the men now upon the stage. Middle-life successes, in fact, have been noteworthy in this country since the beginning of its history. Hon. "Leslie M. Sha,w. Secretary of the Treasury and Presidential aspirant, now 68, was utterly unheard of in politics or outside of his own state, Iowa, in any other line, until ten years ago, when, at 48, he undertook to answer Bryan's free silver arguments, and was credited with saving his state for his party. Levi P. Morton, now S2, and near the end of a long life in which he has filled many Important positions, failed in busi ness when on the verge of 40, but reha bilitated himself and later paid 100 cents Cn the dollar. His entire public career was carved out after he was 52. "Grover Cleveland, -'the only living ex-' President, now only a year less than 70, , began his public career as Mayor of Buf falo In 18S2, when only five years less than 60. During the succeeding 12 years he was one of the greatest personal forces, if not the greatest, in the whole Republic. Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, best known to the public through the productions of his pen, despite his comparatively early success in medicine, did not really begin his inter-' estlng career as ,a literary writer until tie was 54. The late Russell Sage, whe sefms to have lived the later years of his life solely to hoard more'inonpy, and yet more money, did not begin his Wall-street career till 1S61. when he was 45, and had already lived through, two of the four distinct parts into which his life was divided. During the first two sections, which cov ered almost exactly hnlf of ins life, he was as much unlike the Russell Sage of later years as can well be imagined. General U. S. Grant failed to count for much until he was 39. Then in the face of determined opposition he was appoint ed a Captain the Northern Army.. . How he rose from post to post and finally fought to- a successful issue the greatest American war. Is part, of history. He was just under 40 when he captured Fort Donelson, the first really convincing deed lrr his military career. Abraham LInooln. got to Congress at 38, but was not re-elected and did not become la any sense a National figure till 1858, "When at 60, as a candidate for the United States Senate, he engaged in his memor able joint debates with Stephen A. Doug Tns. Lincoln was 52 when elected Presi dent. Nathaniel Hawthorne was 45 when he wrote "The Scarlet Letter," and though some of his earlier tales became famous later, he did most of his Important work i .ofter finishing that romance. r..-S. F. B. Morse, then known as a painter of pictures, got his first Idea- of the tele- !: grraph at 40, while on the ocean voyaging - between the old world and the new but rt iie didn't even take out a caveat, pre ' Jlminary to a patent, until he was 46. - General W. T. Sherman was past 60 when the Civil War broke out and Gen- , eral R. E. Lee past 60. yet both did great service the first for the North, the sec ond for the South, during that contest. .- - Charles A. Dana was only one year less than 4S when he became editor of the - New York Sun; it is true that he had Tjeen' Assistant Secretary of War before --then, but that post was not given to him by Stanton till he was 44. The Four Divisions of Sage's Life. Every man's life is divided Into more or - less well defined periods; the cleavage be- - tween the four district sections in Rus sell Sage's life was more than usually ""clean cut. ' Leaving out his childhood. which . stopped sharply at 12. the first period, Jasting till he was 29, was given up ""wholly to the most Intense activity, his "' main object being to establish himself in 'life. To that end, soon after he began 'working In his brother's grocery at Troy, 'he hired a private teacher out of his "slender wages to teach him o'nights and ; lost much sleep through nocturnal study. Yet at that time and "for years after "ward he had higher aspirations than those of the money getter. He was am bitious to be a man of some note in the ivorld. He wanted power. So, ttj 1S46, while still a year under 30. he went into . politics with the apparent intention of ". giving up much of his future to the pub ' lie service. His first office was that of .Alderman in Troy. His career during the second well de '". fined period of his life as a member of ,'the House of Representatives almost .wholly forgotten by his fellow citizens "until they were reminded of it by the tilograjkhlcai sketches fubllUed tho iaj, 05 r a after his death, began In 1852. During the ! two terms of his service he rave every ! evidence that the love of money for Its j own sake was not then a predominating element in . his character, his whole course being that of an earnest, patriotic citizen., . ' Though not at all financially interested In the project, he championed vigorously the scheme to build a Pacific" railroad. He almost begged Congress not to put off extending the country's railroad sys tem across the mountains and the plains to the Western Coast, but without avail. He wanted the Nation to purchase Mount Vernon, President Washington's home, and workefl for the paseage of the bill to authorize it. He was beaten, but there Is no doubt that his fight did more than anything else In bringing about the formation of the Mount Vernon As sociation, which has preserved the es tate intact. He Was always a stanch friend of West Point, and his logical clean-cut sueech' In favor of adopting the postage stamp had a good d?al to do with that great forward step In the United States mail service. Sage would probably have continued in public life had the general prosperity of the Nation gone at that time. Certainly the panic of. 1857,. which came the year after the close of his second term, exer cised a profound influence upon his ac tions. . He .was just beginning to get rich, and he realized ' that he couldn't attend to hie own and the public busi ness at the same time. He had made such large investments in the La Crosse Railroad, now the Chi cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, then In process of construction, that his entire fortune of $75,000 or $100,000 would be jeoparded by disaster to the road through the panicky conditions. In order to protect the loans he had already made he became the owner of practically all the stock In the system. It .was because of his railroad complications that. In 1861, he began to operate In Wall street. The third period of his life as a con structive financier was now well under way. This period, and the last In his 'life, during which he was a money lender, pure and simple, the most extensive in the world, probably, and devoted wholly to the hoarding of interest, were less sharply divided than the others. But during all the years that he was ap parently nothing but an accumulator he maintained his interest in his horses. This was never shown more Interest ingly than one day a few years ago, when Wall street was fairly boiling un der the pressure of unusually high rates for money. A writer of "specials" de tailed to "do -a human Interest story on Uncle Russell" went to his office, but finding the anteroom crowded with re porters watting to get his views on the situation "backed out" discouraged. In the corridor he met a man named Law son, an oid friend of Sage's, locally fam ous for his ability to drive four-and six-in-hand teams. The writer told Lawson his trouble. "Go and tell Sage's clerk you have my ringbone cure," said Lawson. "He'll see you. He's been trying to get It for 30 years." Lawson then wrote out a formula, the writer did as suggested, and the scheme worked. Sage let him Into his office, and, having copied the formula, got to talk ing about the horses he had owned. The talk lasted hours, the writer got his "story." and Sage did not start for his Long Island Summer home till two trains later than usual. Meanwhile the news reporters cooled their heels in the ante room and finally had to return to their city editors empty-handed. More than that, several men who called upon- the financier that afternoon to talk, about loans were turned away that Sage might talk about his horses. Lievi P. Morton's Middle Age. The life of Levi P. Morton, now 82, ex-Representative in Congress, ex UBlomjLt, ex-Vice-President and, x- 1 i1 - Wfrtt gift,; AWrtftB Mff - &9. J. JiGZTZS&r&XL Governor, has been almost as sharply divided as was that of Russell Sage. But Mr. Morton took pains to get rich before he went into public life. Sage's first impulses were to serve the public; his Inordinate love of money came rather late in life; Morton ap pears not to have thought about poli tics at all until after he had packed away a fortune. , Morton's father, a New England Congregational minister, planned to send him to college, and did send the boy's elder brothers. Levi saw how It would pinch the family" were he to take a college course, and declined. He worked in a country general store, went to night school and became agent for one Esterbrook in the conduct of a store at Hanover, N. H., the seat of Dartmouth College. He went there with two trunks, which contained the stock in trade of the store, as well as his wardrobe. He built up a business of $100,000 a year before he .left Hanover. At the beginning he entered Into all sorts of small enterprises. One year he furnished the graduating class with suits of black clothes on contract, f Meanwhile Esterbrook, who had sev eral enterprises besides the store at Hanover, failed, and one of the credit ors, named Beebe, set Morton up in business for himself. After a while Morton, went to Boston and went In business with Beebe, the firm name being Beebe. Morgan & Co. The Mor gan in the concern was Junius S.. father of J. Pierpont, who is not alto gether out of the running at- the pres ent day. Then, in 1854. after he had taken his first Job as a "clerk" in a country general store at Enfield, Mass., Levi P. Morton removed to New .York and established the dry goods firm of Morton, Grinnell & Co. This was In 1854, when he was only 30. One of the first things he did after establishing his New York dry goods store was to order all the salesmen to cut off their mustaches, certain cus tomers from the .country not . liking Xh then new-XaoEled. custom of wear- SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND. SEPTEMBER '.b.ri.'.Ji.'k'FH ' An. " . V-' 4 toSkA Ing hair on the upper lip. Morton was Joked a good deal about this order, but there came days soon afterward that ad mitted of little joking. They "were the panic days of '57, the same that drove all thoughts of further public life out of Sage's mind, and they were followed by beav; repudiation of. Southern orders in ftV- - JfZaw :v " tJ' V-:: .:;:y. .V -:,',:: :: ' :." y; . ' $ , - n,f j - - 1906. -v mm m cident to the breaking out of the Civil War. The resulting squeeze was so severe that Morton. Grinnell ft Co. had to sus pend after settlement with their creditors for 50 cents on the dollar. Meanwhile Morton had started the banking-house of Morton, Bliss & Co. (Morton Rosa & Co. Of - f - T . J SAT LSJZ In London), and in this enterprise was making money "hand over fist." One evening In 1863, in the darker days of the Civil War. he asked all his old creditors to dine with him. As the guests seated themselves, each found beside his plate a check for the exact amount, with in terest, that was due him morally, though not legally, from Morton, Grinnell & Co. This classic incident In American busi ness annals Is essentially pertinent here, since Morton was on the eve of middle age, being 39. when the dinner was given. For 13 years after that he gave strict attention to the banking business, amass ing a .fortune which has since become very large. In 1868 he wa a me'niber of the famous syndicate that helped the Gov ernment to resume specie payments and- fund the public debt. J. P. Morgan. Jay Cooke, the Rothschilds and other famous bankers here and a,broad were among the other members of the syndicate, which. It is estimated, saved $70,000,000 to the Gov ernment. " This made Mr. Morton famous, but he didn't get into public life. In which he was best known tor .years, till 1876. when he was 52. Then he ran for Congress, but was defeated. This nettled him. although the district he ran In was normally and heavily Democratic. In 18M he ran again and was elected by a majority larger than his opponent's eutlre vote. The way he did it was about as follows: -He made one Captain McDonald his manager. McDonald took Morton all through the East Side district which he wished to represent and '.'put him next" to all sorts and conditions of voters.. East FMde voters are made ud of classes the like of which Morton had never known. but he "stood up to. the rack like a Ma jor," according to the Captain, spent his money freely, slapped longshoremen, butchers and whoever came along on the back with perfect food-fellowship, and made votes steadily. The result of the election has already been Indicated. Colonel Ben Willis, his opponent, who had previously beaten Mor ton, was fairly daffy with chagrin over the result, since none but a Democrat had ever been elected from that district, Willis was particularly sore over his defeat because Morton was "a society man." Some time later, when William Waldorf Astor wanted to go to Congress from the same district, he, too, hired McDonald as his political manager. But Astor was too standoffish for the East Side. He spent his money freely as Mor ton had. but the voters would have none of him as a Congressman, though they had sent him to the Legislature two or three times. In 1880 Morton was one of the 306 who stood by Grant in the fight for the Pres idential nomination to the last. Being of fered the Vice-Presidency; he declined It and Arthur took It, to be made President by the pistol of Guiteau when the latter shot Garfield. Garfield offered Morton the Ministry to France, or a place In the Cabinet at the head of the Navy Depart ment. Morton chose the former, as Paris remembers very well, for he spent money lavishly while there, establishing a new record for an American Minister in France. In ISSo and 18S7 ha tried lor the United 0 A J. States Senate and failed. In 18S8 he was Harrison's running mate, serving with him as Vice-President. In 1892 Morton was discarded for Whltelaw Reld and the ticket was defeated. Morton, however, was elecfd Governor of New York. This was his last public office. Mr. Morton still gives attention to his banking business, and is often seen on the streets of New York, where he de votes much time and money to charitable undertakings. His beautiful estate up the Hudson. Ellerslie. near Rhineellff. has long been famous for its beauty and Its blooded cows, each known by a name that begins "vith a we," as Sam Weller would say. Cleveland. Sliaw, Mitchell. Grover Cleveland, who has been Presi dent, and Leslie M. Shaw, who wishes to be one, were both well over the middle age line when they began In public life. Neither seems to have had in mind the achievement of the highest honors when he began, yet Cleveland reached the high est level! and Shaw has done the next best thing, since a Cabinet Minister Is a bigger man than either a Senator or a Vice-President. Cleveland, a country minister's son and a lawyer of fair repute, was Sheriff In Buffalo at 34. but his election as Mayor didn't come till he was 45. At 4" he was made President,' at 51 defeated for re election, and at 55 elected for the second time. He was made an official In the man agement of insurance companies at 69. Shaw's career is almost as well known as Cleveland's, and you are sure to hear much more about him In the next two years, whether he wins "his fight for the Presidential nomination or - not. He is now 58. and he was 48 when he decided to answer Bryan in 1896. and did it so well as to save the state for McKinley. This macle him Governor a few years later. On Gage's resignation as Secre tary of the Treasury, Shaw took the place. Dr. S. Weir Mitchell waited till middle life overtook him to begin in literature, because Oliver Wendell Holmes told him he couldn't win In medicine and literature at the same time, and advised him not to attempt a cereer in letters until he Dad become eminent as a physician. Dr. Mitchell was 53 when. In 18S3, he took up literature seriously. Since then he Is now 76 he has become one of the best known and most widely read novelists in the English tongue. It would be difficult to find a more pic turesque man among the world's writers than Dr. Mitchell, or one who has led a more interesting life. Though his father and his grandfather before him were phy sicians, as a youngster he did not take kindly to the healing art, and It is doubt ful whether he ever would have buckled down seriously to medicine but for the advice given to him by Dr. Holmes. Once Mitchell had decided In favor of medicine, however, he pursued it with rare single ness of purpose. Now best known professionally as the greatest living expert in nervous disor ders, he was at one time accorded the first place as an authority on gunshot wounds. .Concluded, on Face 4X) i