Lyman J. Gage
| Lyman Judson Gage | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 42nd United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
|
In office March 6, 1897 – January 31, 1902 |
|
| President |
William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | John G. Carlisle |
| Succeeded by | Leslie M. Shaw |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 28, 1836 DeRuyter, New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 26, 1927 (aged 90) San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Political party |
Republican (1880–84; 1896–02) Democratic (1884–96) |
| Profession | Banker |
| Religion | Esoteric Christianity |
Lyman Judson Gage (June 28, 1836 – January 26, 1927) was an American financier and Presidential Cabinet officer.
He was born at DeRuyter, New York, educated at an academy at Rome, and at the age of 17 he became a bank clerk. In 1853 he removed to Chicago, served for three years as bookkeeper, and in 1858 entered the Merchants Loan and Trust Company, where he was cashier in 1861-1868. Afterwards be became successively assistant cashier, vice-president and president of the First National Bank of Chicago, one of the strongest financial institutions in the Middle West.
He was chosen in 1890 to be president of the board of directors of the World's Columbian Exposition. Following the exposition, he became president of the newly formed Chicago Civic Federation, which sought to reform city governance. In politics he was originally a Republican, and was a delegate to the national convention of the party in 1880, and chairman of its finance committee.
In 1884, however, he supported Grover Cleveland for the presidency, and came to be looked upon as a Democrat. In 1892 President Cleveland, after his second election, offered Gage the post of secretary of the treasury, but Gage declined the offer. In the free-silver campaign of 1896, Gage labored effectively for the election of Republican candidate William McKinley, and from March 1897 until January 1902 he served as Secretary of the Treasury in the cabinets successively of Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
As Secretary of the Treasury, Gage was influential in securing passage of the Gold Standard Act of March 14, 1900, which reestablished a currency backed solely by gold. Since this limited the amount of currency in circulation, it initiated a period, continuing until 1912, in which the Secretary of Treasury was obliged to interact in the money market by introducing into circulation the Treasury surplus. The inability of the Treasury to respond to the needs of the market and the perceived need for a currency which would expand and contract with the needs of the nation, led to the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 to regulate the money market.
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