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Show 'ernmental missions to the I'nl'cd" L'nltod States und Europe. His day beelns at 6, which is his hour for rising, business starts Immediately Im-mediately after btcakfast. when ho and his secretary seat themselves In an automoMlo for the Invariable visit to C'apultepcc park. Thence he proceeds pro-ceeds to his office and remains there until 1. Returning ut 3 he applies himself to routine matters and receives re-ceives callers until well past the hour when the American man of affairs has regaled himself with dinner and is trending theaterward or seeking the ( bridge table. This routine seldom varle-. If there Is a man In Mexico who works harder aDd puts In longer hours than the minister of finance It I-: President Diaz. One cannot but believe that the strain has told on him. although one detect!? no hint of It in his physical bearing, or the Veen, rapier-like quality quali-ty of his mentality. At T,7 his hair, mustache and lde whiskers are wholly whol-ly white, but he has the slender, lltlie. frrcct and easy-moving 11 c u re of youth. His English Is admirable. Tobacco and alcoholics are taboo with him. Mr. Llmantour shares his passion for gardening with an absorbing and technical love of music. Above the keyboard of a piano at his house I snw spread out the bewildering conglomeration conglomer-ation of musical characters which prcs to make up the score of one of Wagner's operas. He ends his days with music. Nightly for an hour before retiring he sla at the plnno and submerges sub-merges the braln-wearlnc routine of the financier in the melodies of ckissl cal composers. Occasionally he Itnpro V If 08. "Ami then to bed," said he. ' T take the mutic io bed with me and leave all the rest. One can stand a great deal of finance If he Marts In the day with the flowers nnd ends It wlih music. mu-sic. It helps me to sleep soundly, too." -OO FROM ROSES TO FINANCE. Story of Llmantour,. the Many-Sldcd Man, Who Directs Fiscal Operations Opera-tions ,'n Mexico. (New York Evening Post) Jose Yves Llmantour was in his garden gar-den mourning over frost-slain roes. It was ray first meeting with the Mexican Mexi-can minister of finance. With cloaked shoulders for tho rarefied air of tho high plateau upon which tho Vulloy of Mexico sits, cupped within bare and austere mountains, was shrewd, In spite of the brilliancy of the afternoon after-noon sun he moved slowly from bush to bush, marking the blasted flowers. He spoke of his gardening enthusiastically enthu-siastically and with tho preclon that comes of assured knowledge, while he walked along the primly ordered paths of his estute. which lies In Mlxcoac, a suburb of tho city. Later he Indicated Indi-cated In his library a shelf crowded with authoritative works on landscape gardening, from the peua of American, Ameri-can, English, French and Italian experts. ex-perts. "Let mo tell you a curious thing," said he. "That It, it may seem curl ous that such duties come within the official scope of the work of the minis ter of finance. "They have placed me in charge of the park at Chapultepec. That Is a part of my work, to look after the trees and the flowers and to plan tho improvements. Roally, It isn t work, for I regard It as a part of my relaxation, relaxa-tion, my pleasure I go there every morning on my way to my office When I leave my house I am the minister min-ister of finance, for my secretary rides with me and reads my mall, but when I arrive at the park I become a ger-dener ger-dener lor au hour. It is delightful there early In the morning. The superintendent su-perintendent tells me that a tree is sick. Wp examine It and prescribe for it. We plan flower beds and the planting of shrubbery- The hour goes too quickly, for when I euter my automobile auto-mobile ugaln thero Is tho Becretary with the letters, and once more I am a minister of finance." He has been In charge of the Mexican Mexi-can exchequer since 1893. He has accepted ac-cepted as his life work the rehabilitation rehabilita-tion of the finances of the republic. No one could have performed the tnsK better, and few could have managed so well. With him a dominant talent for finance has attained to tho dignity and power of genius. Contrasting the hopeless muJdle of Mexico's finances two decades ago and the firm economic eco-nomic basis upon which they now rest, one marvels at the almost nocromatlc quality of his accomplishments Like a financial David he freed Mexico from the apparent hopeless thralldom in which It was held by a giant deficit. In budgets of tho past the deficit was regarded as Inevitable in the yearly casting up of the nation's accounts. Mr. Llmantour met the deficiency, und within two years fter he clutched the purse strings he had it In retreat It has never returned. Now, when Mexico goes Into the world's money marts she poecs a no cringing bup-pllant, bup-pllant, hat in hand, and ready to accept ac-cept gratefully the most meager pop that the bankers choose to toss. She 1 rich. She pays her debts dollar for dollar. Accordingly he Is respected and deferred to. If the wants to borrow bor-row she makes her own terms, ami the banker may take them or leave them as they choose. The nppetlte for work of tho minister minis-ter of finance is avid and int.atlublo. He Is in his office until 8 o'clock in the evening, and not infrequently it Is later wlu-u he leaves. Klgbt was the hour he named In his first appointment appoint-ment with m. Tht was exceptional. I thought, and wondered at it. Hut as one studied the m;n and hU methods one ceaed to consider It extraordinary. extraordi-nary. His vacation are taken once In four years, If ho feels he Is able to respite himself without login momentum mo-mentum in hls work. Usually these vacation trips are combined wlih gov- |