Youth

Before Secretary Mellon sailed for Europe recently he announced that Seymour Parker Gilbert, Jr., Under Secretary of the Treasury, who had tendered his resignation, consented to remain in office, and assume the duties of Acting Secretary of the Treasury until his superior returned from abroad. This invited attention to a " boy wonder "; for Mr. Gilbert is only 30. Eleven years ago he began to dangle his Rutgers Phi Beta Kappa key. Three years later he took his law degree at Harvard cum laude. Even in 1918 he was only a minor official in the Treasury Department at Washington.

Since then Mr. Gilbert's career has been a succession of steps into bigger and better boots--into the boots of his superiors, into boots manufactured for his own comfort and use.

After leaving college Mr. Gilbert entered the law offices of Cravath and Henderson of Manhattan. Russell C. Leffingwell was then a member of that firm. Soon Mr. Leffingwell was called to Washington, given the post of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in charge of fiscal affairs, and took on the business of floating the Liberty Loans. Mr. Gilbert followed him to Washington, and soon gave evidence of marked ability as a subordinate. In June, 1920, Mr. Leffingwell resigned his post and Mr. Gilbert, only 27, was chosen to fill it.

There he continued until the Harding Administration came into office. At that time it was understood that he wished to resign. Secretary Mellon persuaded him to remain, however, and as a special inducement had Congress create a new post, that of Under Secretary of the Treasury with a salary of $10,000 a year. (The salary of an Assistant Secretary is $5,000; of a full Secretary $12,000.) In this position, next to the highest post in the Treasury Department, he worked out with Mr. Mellon the details of refinancing the Victory Loan and short-term debts.

The next step in Mr. Gilbert's career was the retirement of Mr. Leffingwell from the firm of Cravatb and Henderson (now Cravath, Henderson and de Gersdorff) to become a partner in J. P. Morgan and Co. (TIME, July 9). Once more Mr. Gilbert follows in Mr. Leffingwell's footsteps. It has been announced that when he quits the Treasury (on Mr. Mellon's return from Europe in the Fall) he will take Mr. Leffingwell's place in the Manhattan law firm.

Meanwhile S. Parker Gilbert, only 30, carries on his shoulders the duties of a member of the Cabinet.