Varied Business Training the Foundation of a Long Political Career.
THOMAS COLLIER PLATT has succeeded in business and in politics in a
phenomenal manner. The reason is, he has had the native sagacity,
energy and working ability of two ordinary men, and has fairly earned
his place as a senator of the United States, as one of the political
leaders of the nation, and as president of the United States Express
Company.
Last summer, as I sat on the porch of the Oriental Hotel at Manhattan
Beach, for Mr. Platt’s return from his office, he came up the steps two
at a time, with the elasticity of a man of forty. As I waited for him
in the Fifth Avenue Hotel the other day, he came into the lobby looking
very much jaded. He said: “I am very tired, after a week’s session of
the senate at Washington. I have had a very busy day in New York. Come
up to my room.”
Members of the legislature, local politicians, statesmen of national
renown, sent their cards to the senator’s room before we were fairly
seated. Wearied amid this great press, Mr. Platt took time to say
some things about himself, and to indicate some of the elements of
his success as an encouragement and inspiration to young men in the
struggle of life.
“Where were you born?”
“In Owego, Tioga County, New York.
“My ancestors were Americans. They were Yankees that came from
Connecticut and Massachusetts to New York state.”
“Do you believe in hereditary tendencies?”
“I do, most certainly. Blood tells. There is nothing so absolutely true
as that blood tells in cattle, horses and men. My father was a devoted,
consistent Presbyterian. The preachers almost counted my father’s house
a home when I was a boy. My father was my ideal of a man every way.
He was one of the few men I ever saw whose everyday life completely
harmonized with the Christian profession.”
“In your Puritan home, you had to toe the mark, did you not?”
“Yes, my parents were strict; but very tender. They never used the rod,
because we were such exceptionally good children. We did not need it. I
never saw father or mother raise their hand against a child. My father
was a lawyer. He afterward became interested in real estate, taking
charge of extensive timber and farm lands in the northwest, owned by a
gentleman in Philadelphia.”