With the death of Mr. Andrew Mellon, at the ripe age of 83 years, the United States loses an outstanding figure of post-war politics, one of the four richest men in the Ambassador to the Court of St. James, and Secretary of the Treasury under no less than three presidents, It was in the latter role that he rendered the greatest service to his country guiding the Treasury during that difficult period of financing when the war debt was being greatly reduced, and administering the affairs of the country in this respect in a manner which added greatly to his personal prestige. A shy and retiring man, Mr. Mellon entered the American Cabinet unschooled in politics, but his astuteness was such that he very soon mastered the intricacies of the political system and proved himself adept at such manipulations as that which persuaded the Pennsylvanian delegation to support Mr, Hoover in his nomination for the presidency. Accustomed to somewhat autocratic methods in his own business Mr. Mellon found it somewhat difficult to deal with the Senate when bent on investigation, and the abruptness of his treatment of that body made him enemies who repeatedly attacked him. He rarely deigned to reply, and, indeed paid little attention to them with the result that he was often at variance with Congress the cause of the disputes ranging from taxation and prohibition to charges that he was holding office in violation of a law prohibiting anyone engaged in trade from serving as Secretary of the Treasury. His tax reduction programme was not entirely popular and indeed met with much opposition on the ground that it favoured the rich at the expense of the poor, but, nevertheless he saw most of his plans ultimately adopted. He was not the type of man to capture the popular imagination, but there cannot be the slightest doubt that the services he rendered his country are such as will make him loom large in its history.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.