| Show OUR NEW postmaster GENERAL BUFFALO march 27 ten weeks ago h he e 1 was vas only bissell of buffalo now he is bissell of the united states I 1 refer to our new postmaster general who has lived here for forty odd years his fat round cheeks blushing unseen in his profitable law office and his greatness going to waste in the desert air of the corporations whom he has counseled in a legal way to the tune of something like a year it is wonderful how events produce great men and how the elevation to power of one mortal pulls up the other about him benjamin harrison rison raised his wand and fairylike fairy lairy like he created national reputations for his old college friend john W noble of st louis for miller his law partner and a score af of others cleveland opened his I 1 lips S in 1884 and daniel manning and C endicott became national and now through his second q quantities u a n titi es cab cabinet i net utterance we are introduced to bissell hoke smith daniel lamont lament and other men whose names we yet hardly know how to pronounce BOSOM FRIEND BISSELL mr bissell and mr leveland cleveland have been friends and counsellors coun for years and grover cleveland has not in the world a man who stands closer to him than his new po postmaster st master general he was known in in the newspapers during the campaign of 1884 as bosom friend bissell and the two when they were practicing law together here were called the damon and pythias of the buffalo bar he has been associated with cleveland during his years of prominence and the fact that he has not been better known to the people has come from his queer t taste as te for keeping keepin 9 himself out of sight during my mv stay in buffalo I 1 have chatted with close friends of both men and I 1 find fid that mr bissell has in the past preferred to be one of the stage managers rather than a chief achiel actor in the e elevation le of cleveland to power it is not generally known that in the struggle 1 between cleveland and blaine in 18 1884 wilson S bissell was one of the chiel chief directors of the cleveland forces and that to his hig sagacity ity the democratic victory was war quite largely due he was mr Clev elands private and personal representative all through the campaign and it fell to his lot to nullify the scandalous stories sent out concerning his partners past life he had been among the foremost in securing mr Clev elands nomination for sheriff mayor and governor over nor and he had almost as much to do governor 0 with his first nomination for the presidency as daniel manning but he was not connected with the event in the chicago convention of last Jun junear Ju neMr elMr bissell was equal in command with william C whitney he did most of the planning and the ex secretary of the navy did most of the executing and got all the credit although he would have share shared d it gladly with the buffalo man if the latter had been willing mr bissells name was scarcely mentioned itt in the newspapers aers and very few persons knew then or know now the measure of his political power he is is now and has been for nearly a decade one of the great generals in the democratic party yet when it was announced that he had been chosen to succeed wanamaker many democratic captains asked who is wilson S bissell OUR NEW postmaster GENERAL the new postmaster general accord ing to the statements of those who know him here is one of the closest mouthed men in public life he has always kept himself in in the back 9 ground round and even in buffalo he has been rarely talked about he has not the widest of acquaintance ships but he is a companionable man broadminded witty and a good talker except where his own affairs are concerned mention these and he shuts up like a clam and either stops talking or changes the subject WANAMAKE RAND BISSILL I 1 I 1 in this s respect postmaster general bissell will be found far different from john wanamaker our last postmaster general was generally ready to talk about anything from his sunday school to great postal reforms and from his store to the chances of fortune making for young men mr wanamaker is is a man of ideas of much shrewd common sense and of a lively appreciation of the value of the newspaper man in the way of helping on himself and his party he had a first class newspaper man at a salary of footo a year which he paid out of his own pocket by the way in the person of marshall cushing and the correspondents and news gatherers were always welcome at his office through this his administration was better advertised and better presented to the people than that of any postmaster general of the past and I 1 understand that he considered his newspaper secretary one of his best washington investments if postmaster general bissell does not change the character he had here he will do differently he has never had much to do with the newspapers and has I 1 am told cut shy of them and has apparently rather feared them mr wanamaker was always accessible and I 1 have always been impressed by his honesty and his plain practical common sense he knew how to deal with men and he seldom talked with a person long without making him his friend he under 1 stood how to brush aside details and make the other men work tor for him the new postmaster general has had to deal with books and legal questions more than with the managing of men and he will not start out with the same advantages wanamakers Wana makers experience in his store gave him the two to postmasters general are the opposite in ap perance bissell weighs twice as much as wanamaker and he tips the beam at about pounds his massive skull could contain wana makers head and the brown hair of the great merchant would not touch the walls of bessels Bis sels cranium were it boxed up in its center mr bissells arms are as big around as mr wanamakers Wana makers calves and his thighs measure almost as much in circumference as does honest johns waist wanamaker is about five feet eight bissell is over six feet in his stockings both are smooth shaven both dress in black and a ae e simple i in their tastes CLEVELAND AND BISSELL here at buffalo I 1 hear many co comparisons pan 1 of cleveland and bissell and the new postmaster general seems to be in most ways the twin brother of the president their lives have run close together they squalled squal led in their cradles at about the same time away back in the forties both came of fairly well to do farlies fam lies bissells parents being perhaps the richer and sending him to school at yale both were bachelors till they were forty years old their wives are of about the same age and the two girls went to school together both families have one baby daughter and the little girls are about the same age I 1 chatted last night with an old lawyer friend of the two men said he mr cleveland and mr bissell have been almost inseparable ever since the latter was chief clerk in the office of lansing cleveland folsom in 1870 when mr cleveland was elected sheriff of erie county he wanted mr bissell biasell to become his deputy sheriff but the clerk thought he saw better things ahead in the law line and he declined A few months after he became the law partner artner of the hon lyman K bass any and three years later mr cleveland joined the firm the two men were seen together almost everywhere and called each other wilband wila and grove when mr cleveland married the daughter of another of his law partners oscar folsom wilson bissell was the best man and when the present postmaster general married louise fowler sturgis in february 1890 mr and mrs cleveland were the guests of honor these two men have never ceased to be wils and grove to each other and it is likely that no one in the cabinet will have more influence in the new administration than wilson S bissell THE BISSELL CLEVELAND LAW FIRM the old law firm in the weed block buffalo of which mr cleveland awa and mr bissell were members has probably sent out more public men than any other in the united states and mr bissell is not the only postmaster general among them the firm dates back to 1834 when the hon orasmus H marshall the most famous of western new york historians 0 opened ened his law office mr marshalls marchalls Mar T first two partners both left him to take public office his third partner was wag judge nathan K hall who had until then been millard Fill mores law partner when fillmore FiSl more became president he selected judge hall as his postmaster general afterward appointing him united states judge as successor to roscoe Con klings father nearly all subsequent members of the firms descending in direct line from 0 H marshall have held some important office from district attorney up one of them the hon bon lyman lydian K bass was not only a district attorney but a member of congress and his widow is now the wife of senator ed wolcott of colorado mr bass was bissells first partner and grover cleveland joined the firm in 1874 after his term of sheriff had expired bass withdrew on account of ill health in 1881 and left the firm name cleveland bissell the two men did a very large business as confidential advisers and counsel to corporations and in a year they were obliged to take in another partner mr cleveland remained a member of the firm throughout his term as mayor of buffalo but retired upon his election as governor of new york leaving mr bissell where he had been ever since at the head of the firm which is now styled bissell sicard brundage bissell A BIG LAWYER OUTSIDE THE COURTS I 1 am told here that notwithstanding the fact that the postmaster general has been making from to a year at the law he has never had a cabe in court in his life still he be has been a member of the bar for twenty two years and has made a fortune of something more than half a million dollars he has wonderful executive ability and has made his money as counsel in big corporation cases he is a great man on contracts and his quickness to form a sound judgement jud gement on important matters has caused his advice to be sought in many of the largest railroad transactions of recent years he has been president of two railroads and is still at the head of the buffalo and southwestern which he organized for which he obtained the right of way and for which he conducted the appraisal by which the road was leased to the erie and its stock brought up to par he organized the buffalo and geneva road now a branch of the reading system procured its charter and was its first ples president ident lie he also organized the new york corporation of the lehigh valley railroad his present connection with the reading system would be hard to discover but without exception his railroad management has been remarkably successful he has a faculty for getting quickly to the bottom of big matters and is a famous negotiator hence by tact and training he seems to be a far better man for postmaster general than most persons have supposed I 1 am told that the post office department was the portfolio he wanted and that he said to the president he would like either that or to be secretary of the interior though he care much which SOMETHING ABOUT HIS HABITS mr bissell with all his git greatness atness is a devotee ot of the cigarette he smokes incessantly and uses use s the russian and turkish varieties and with his big head as a background these little cigarettes grow smaller and smaller till it looks as though he was sucking the end of a taper rather than smoking he smokes while h he talks and he is a good conversationalist he is simple and unaffected in his manners and is I 1 find very popular with those who know him well he has been a club man for years he was president of the buff buffalo alo club the most important institution of the kind in buffalo for a longer term than any one else and they tell tellof of seeing him engaged in a three legged race up there with a buffalo bank president he never was wa s a member of the fast set however and now that he is married he is so devoted a husband that he is the subject of much good natured jesting A WORD ABOUT MRS BISSELL mrs bissell has been living in buffalo for only a few years but she has made herself very popular here and I 1 find that she has many admirers and friends she is both pretty and accomplished and she promises to be one of the leading social figures of this administration let me tell you how she looks mrs bissell is tall and well rounded her dark brown hair is worn combed straight back without a crimp or curl she has beautiful teeth and handsome blue eyes she has a good tailor but in dress she follows mrs Clev elands taste for sim city she carries her head high in the air and gives one the impression of strong self reliance and great energy determination and ambition A ROMANTIC MARRIAGE there is as much of a romance connected with the postmaster generals general s marriage as with that of president ell A cleveland mrs bissells maiden name was louise sturgis and she comes from an old family which is well known in different parts of the union one branch of it lives at mansfield ohio and one of mrs bissells relatives there has a big brick house in the most fashionable part of the town another branch moved from mansfield to new york city and stephen sturgis is one of the unknown well todo to do men of the metropolis he would be called rich outside of new york the branch to which mrs bissell belongs comes irom geneva NY and mrs bissell first came to buffalo to teach music in the buffalo seminary she had early shown a great taste for music and it was here that she had in part earned the money which took her to germany and france where her beautiful contralto voice had been trained by stockhausen and la grange since the time she and mrs cleveland had been schoolmates at wells college she had planned and worked and studied with the idea of becoming a professional singer when at last she was fitted to appear in public as a professional one of her first engagements was as a soloist at a buffalo orchestra concert while in that city she was the guest of mrs george sicard wife of one of the members of the bissell firm mr bissell met her there and it was a case of love at first sight on both sides and the arrows of cupid drove the goddess of music off the field and louise sturgis the music teacher became mrs wilson S bissell the wife of the rich buffalo lawyer and the future postmaster general THE BISSELL HOME AT BUFFALO mrs bissell of course gave up her teaching upon her marriage but at her home here she has always had a musical circle round her and at the capital she will form a feature of its musical as well as of its official society she has a fine voice and she has sung at a number of entertainments for charity her home here is a fine old fashioned brick residence of two stories and a mansard roof there is a tower in the middle of the front and this forms the entrance ground floor it is situated on delaware avenue surrounded by beautiful grounds and is the house in which jas N matthews the famous editor of the buffalo Ex express oress lived and died postmaster general bissell bought it a couple of years vears ago and he has furnished it in a solid substantial way which harmonizes with its big rooms and its old fashioned character since he has been in it he and mrs bissell have given many quiet little parties and a number of musicales musi cales and she has shown herself a most entertaining and accomplished hostess I 1 am told here in fact that mr bissell would never have been postmaster general had it not been for Ms his wife it is said that cleveland offered him a cabinet position eight years ago but he refused it this was before he had met his fate with his marriage his tastes ha have changed ed and he will do anything to oblige fis his wife she has hais naturally great social ambitions and when president cleveland gave her the chance to gratify these in making her husband a cabinet minister mr bissell accepted |
