Show A CHAT WITH JAMES A GARY washington D C april aith 1897 F all president mckin leys advisers the man least known to the public lic is the postmaster general still he is one of the ablest of the cabinet ministers and he has for years stood high among the business men ot of the united states through his wonderful business ability he has made I 1 am told a fortune b of f between five and six million do dollars he has cotton factories near baltimore in which he employs over 1500 hands and the oceans and rivers of the world are spotted with the snowwhite snow white sails m made ade from the cloth turned out in his mills general gary has other large interests and he has been made the trustee and manager of other matters seven even greater than his own he is connected with banking institutions and other corporations he is the executor of the enoch pratt estate and as such has a large part in cont controlling contro roiling iline the millions which chrt philanthropist left to the veople people of baltimore his duties of this kind in fact have in late years so increased that he has practically retired from the conduct of his private business giving ving it over to his son SOD a young man of thirty seven who is his junior partner and who shows it is said quite as much business ability as his father postmaster general gary has always been a republican I 1 have seen it stated that he said not long ago that he had given on the average of a year for the ast thirty years vears toward the support of the republican party in maryland he has never been an office seeker but he has always been one of the counselors of the party and has for years been a strong friend ot of president mckinley when mckinley offered him the place in the cabinet he took it as he thought he would be able to do something there as postmaster general I 1 am told at the t department that he has already the business bess ol of the office well in hand and from the talk which I 1 had with him last night I 1 judge juc that he will accomplish some abino before he be is through I 1 met postmaster general gary in his rooms at the portland flats and for two hours we chatted together about himself business questions and his plans as to the department general gary is a man of ideas he has convictions and is not afraid to say what he thinks he is a good talker using good language and now and then illustrating a point by a story he is well read and I 1 could see that he keeps abreast with the times he heis is not at all snobbish and he be looks more like a practical business man than a statesman he has himself well in hand and although he is now sixty three ye years ol of age there are but few wrinkles in his face his skin is as fair as that of a girls his bis eyes are a bright blue and the oni v sign of his threescore years is is his hair and beard of frosted silver heis he is well dressed and well groomed his suit is a business one with the vest cut low showing a large V of white in which there are white studs and above which there is a white necktie which fits close up under his white turnover collar our conversation covered a wide range some of the most interesting parts of it were those which related to his business matters and especially that in which the paymaster general told me how his lather father made him a good business man I 1 had asked general gary as to his bis business education when he replied my father had curious ideas regarding i the education of boys at the time I 1 was born he was already well to do he was in fact what was then considered rich I 1 was his only son and he was anxious that I 1 should not be spoiled so he made me spend a part of each year in the factory I 1 began my school life at eight going to an academy near by and remained there until I 1 was thirteen after that time I 1 was sent to school only six months of each year being kept out the remaining six months to work what did you do in the factory general gary I 1 asked 1 I did every everything thin replied the postmaster general Y went in at the bottom and worked my way up through the various grades of labor until I 1 got to the top father paid me just abe same wages as the other boys at first I 1 re only 5 a month I 1 had bad to work as hard as the others and at times it seemed to me as though my lines had bad not been cast in pleasant places I 1 remember one day when I 1 was about fifteen it is funny how you remember some things I 1 remember coming home that night very tired As I 1 entered the house father asked me how I 1 felt throwing his arms about me as he did so I 1 replied father I 1 am dead tired I 1 really feel too tired to eat 4 upon this fathers eyes filled with tears he sat down and pulled me down upon his knee avd said my boy I 1 am sorry for you but I 1 am doing what I 1 believe to be right it would be a good deal easier for me to let you do as you please to give you w what at money you need and to keep you from work but the chances are that you would in that case turn out to be a blank fool ane work you are now doing will be ot of immense value to you later on it t will make a man of you and I 1 know that the day will come when you will bless me for these hard times 1 I can see my father now in in my minds eye concluded general gary as he looked when he said that inow I 1 now realize that he was tight right and I 1 have many times blessed him tor training me as he be did As the result of that work I 1 know as much today about any branch of my business as any of my employed emp loyes my men have learned that they cannot fool me and they know that it there is anything out of the way I 1 am sure to notice it as soon as I 1 come into the factory successful business and especially successful manufacturing is largely the result of the careful watching of details of the little things in order to do this you must understand all parts of the business the chief thing that I 1 learned however was how to work and what work meant I 1 learned the value of a dollar I 1 learned how to sympathize with my men and today I 1 have some of the best men in in my employ that you can find in the world my working people are contented nearly every family has its own well furnished home and we have never had a strike did you get your whole business education in your fathers factories I 1 asked I 1 no replied general gary for nearly a year I 1 was in the employ of tom wilson who was a baltimore importer and merchant he died leaving several millions of dollars and was during his life noted for lis his shrewd 1 business sense father arranged with mr wilson that I 1 should work tor for a time in his counting house when I 1 went there the old man told me that father had given me to him for a year that he might teach me business I 1 replied that I 1 was anxious to learn all I 1 could well I 1 got my first business lesson the secona second day I 1 was set to copying letters at that time mr wilson did a big business with south america and other countries shipping his cargoes in in sailing vessels 1 in our cr correspondence we always sent seat a number of duplicate letters by different dine reat ships to avoid the danger of loss my first work was the copying ot of such let at the close ot of the day I 1 found that I 1 had made several mistakes in my copy so when I 1 came back the next morning I 1 brought a steel ink eraser with me to scratch them out this eraser was on my desk when mr wilson came in he asked me what it was for I 1 told him whereupon he took it up tv and put it away saying that there them should be no mistakes to scratch out fout that taught me one lesson 1 I remember another lesson which the millionaire gave me a few days litter later continued the postmaster general in addition to other things we did a large discounting business enose boose were the tee days of high interest rates bigat ten tea and twelve per cent were not uncommon and mr wilson sometimes dis di counted from to of paper in a day he would get a discount of two per cent or more and by in dorsing the notes could turn them into the banks and at six per cent get all the money be wanted upon the day referred to an old broker came into the office with a large bundle ot notes which lie he wanted discounted at that time however he wever mr wilson did not have the money and a he had bad to refuse As the man cabie came in he called me to him and asked me to sit down and listen while he talked he then chatted to the man about a number of things outside of the business in hand band showing an interest in him anahis affairs and though he did not take um the brokers notes I 1 could see thattie that the man departed hap happy y though it must have been a great Ts disappointment appointment to him to have failed in making the sale As soon as the man left mr wilson said my boy I 1 suppose tse it surprised you that I 1 called you here to listen to what must have seemed trifling talk I 1 did so to show you that there is more than one way ray ot saying no if you are careful you can do so without losing your tri friends ends and that is what I 1 have done dobe with that man today do you believe in boys being sent to college as a preparatory training for business general gary I 1 asked no I 1 think it takes too much time replied general gary and that a great deal of waste is made in acquiring use less knowlt knowledge dge I 1 dont donst think thick a business men man needs greek or latin if he be has bas a good english education and it in addition a little french and german he be is far better off if a boy is to be a P professional fess ional man it is different he should then have the best of college educations the thing is to study your boy and to train him for what he be is to do but does not business change in methods from year to year I 1 asked yes replied the postmaster genera the business of today is not what it was twenty years ago I 1 dont think the chances of the average man areas are as gcoy as they have been I 1 doubt whether we will again have the wages and the opportunities of fortune making which we have had during the past thirty years the vi orld is continually growing smaller the telegraph has annihilated time and the railroad and the steamboat have almost conquered space look at the changes when I 1 was young the lordon merchant sent his bis ship to ildia for its cargo when he did so he be knew that it would be six months in going and six months in returning by the way ot of the cape oi of gcoy hope and le he waited a year for the result the merchant of today takes a notion at 40 clock p m that he wants a hundred thousand bushels of indian wheat he writes a cablegram and sends ends it to the office c and goes b home ome to his wife and family when he returns to his business the next day he be finds a reply stating that the wheat has teen purchased and is row cow being loaded twenty eight t days later it is at the london chock having baving steamed there via suez canal such things as this have changed the relations of the per peaple pie of the die world they have sharpened acm ped petition tion and oconer or later they must to some acme extent result in the levelis leveling g c cf f conditions dit ions ious today the labor of the whole world is practically on call or if it is not so now it soon will be there are millions in china and india who will sill work for five cents q a day and the result guthat is that they can farm and manufacture more ore cheaply than we can they will more snore and more every year work for the world and I 1 eo co not see how with such em competition petition vi wages ages here can materially rise they will rise in the poorer countries of the he world as the foreign demand increases they are doubling in japan and india now while here wages are dmn it the tie situations situation is rather a serious one is it not our people cannot live on asiatic wages what is going to become of usta us believe we will be able to bold our own by our mechanical skill s said the Post postmaster mater general 1 I think we e have a little bit better brains than the asiatic peoples and that by our use of machinery and our yankee ingenuity we will always beat pure muscle the fact that the competition exists however is apparent we will have to fight for all we get in the future how about the times general gary dodou do you see any signs of improvement 4 yes I 1 do 11 replied the postmaster general Ge lice we have in the mails the best of business thermometers last manth me nth the post office receipts were four per cent below the average this month we are two per cent above it the mail of all the large cities has materially An increased creased and there is evidence of a business revival this revival has come to stay it will steadily increase think and after the tariff bill has passed there will be an improvement in every quarter by october an area of good times will begin and it will be an era which will last for some years to come then you are in favor of protective tariff general gary 1 I am indeed 0 was the reply what we need is to make our own goods at home we ought to do our own work and not pay other nations to do it As it is now we import more than worth of goods a year to make make those ghods here would require from to men this in crease of the laboring class would have to come from the farms it would take a great amount to feed the new workmen farm products would rise and business would mould be good the whole country over how about reciprocity with south america general the reciprocity treaties were good ones I 1 hope isope the policy will bere be reen re en acted 0 how do you vou like your work in the post office department Depan ment general genera and do you see any room for improvement there 1 J am just beginning to get my hands on the work of the department replied the postmaster general it is a big establishment and I 1 find that a great account of time has tobe to be taken up in in receiving callers why I 1 talk personally with fram two i to three hundred men every day and in addition to this have our whole mail system to master As to improvements a business man can always see things which might be bettered it seems to me that uncle sam does much of his business in an extravagant way though the size of the machine makes this to some extent a necessity will the post office department ever pay its own expenses general it now runs several millions behind every year yes I 1 know it runs behind was the reply and I 1 doubt whether it will ever pay what it casts As the receipts increase the people demand lower rates of postage and better mail lac faculties facil ties tes which will keep the average where it is now we are however putting in some improvements which will materially add to our income these are the pneumatic tubes which we are introducing into the larger cities we will have one from street in new york to the post office building with branches reaching to all parts of the city As it is now it takes about an hour and a halt ball to get letters irom from street to the general post office by the pneumatic tubes we will put them there in seven minutes an enormous increase of mail will be the result and also an increase of income I 1 have you anything that you are especially ally anxious to add to the postal service general gary yes replied the postmaster general 1 I would like to see postal sav ings banks established a all 11 over the country and I 1 hoke hope to be able to get legislation through congress to that effect such banks might be founded in connection with a 2 per cent bond issued by the government and might result in these bonds being held by the people in in ever every part of the country the they y would give gave a foundation for the establishing of national banks everywhere and they would bind our people together every man that held a bond would be a patriot there would be no more borrowing money from england and there would be millions who would save who are not |