Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1895-05-10
C. NJ. DEPEW

Ut the globe come hero In search Of fame
and fortune. And of all the great men of
Gotham who now fill the public eye not
ono is born New Yorker.
I have interviewed 100 people during
the past fortnight with view Of asccr-
tanning If possible who is Now York 8
brainiest man. I selected the best judges
of human nature, men who should be able
to gauge pretty accurately the abilities of
their fellow men. They were newspaper
men, lawyers, politicians, bankers, brokers
and bonifaces. There was q great diversity
of opinion and the hundred talesmcn Sc
lccteu something like rs candidates. SEN
ator David B. Hill was not balloted for, rs
he is an up country man and not a resident
New Yorker Here arc tho nominations:
Chaunccy NJ. D"pcw, John A. Mccall,
Thomas C. Platt, Joseph H. Choate, Will
liam C. Whitney, Henry Clews, Robert G.
Ingersoll, James C. Carter, Dr. Charles II.
Parkhurst, Charles A. Dana, Joseph Pu-
ltzcr, Whitelaw Reid James Gordon Ben
nett, Frederic r. Cotdcrt, William r.
Grace, Picrpont Morgan, Leslie ". Rus
sell, William NJ. Evnrts, Ex-Governor
George II. Hondlry, DR.. Edward McGlynn,
Russell Sage, Dourku Cochran and Richard
Croker, cx- king Of T;lmnany Hall.
"A Brilliant Quartet.
Four candidates led all the rest by u do
cisive majority. Strange to say, each had
IL votcs--4S out of a possible 100. This
brilliant quartet were Chaunccy NJ. De-
pew, stat orator, wit, lawyer and
railroad m2Gnn'c; John A. Mccall, prcsi-
dent OF tho Now York Life Insurance COM
pany, litteratnur, financicr and great COR
porate organizer; Thomas G. Platt great
est Of living politicians and most success
full Of business men, and Henry Clows
keenest and most farsigl,ted of Wall street
bankers, author, politician lin tho best
sense Of the word) and public spirited citi-
zen. These four men camo the nearest,
in that they possessed tho "genius
which commands all tho faculties.' Rob-
ert G. IngcrSoll, who, with William c..
Whitney, ranked next to the "big four"
In voting strength Nhcy received nine and
eight ballots respectively, was designated
as tho greatest living orator. William q.
Whitney was pronounced Il man Of many
splendid qualities Of head and heart, but
what no lacked most wore tlrmncss and self
reliance. 1t was pointed out in tho ballots
how Grover Cleveland dominated Whitney
when tho latter was secretary OF the navy,
from 1885 to 1889, something he could not
do with Dcpew, Mccall, Clews or Platt.
They would "boss' him were they in his
cabinet. Choatc, Carter, Coudert, Evarts,
Russell and Nicoll wero voted astute law
yers, whose mental energies were all bent
in one direction. Charles A. Dana, White
law Reid, Joseph Pulitzer and James
Gordon Bennett were adjudged great cdi-
tors, whose avgrcssiveness, sterling honesty
and unbending will would prevent their
succeeding as politicians, diplomatists or
statesmen. DR.. Parlhurst and DR.. Nc
Glynn We're viewed as brainy, brave men,
with Il zeal like unto that of Potter tho
Hermit, the first crusader; Thomas Byrnes
was APPLY pictured as tho greatest detective
who ever lived, with all almost infalliblo
insight into human nature, and Croker,
Grace and Cochran as tho most discerning
Of politicians, who knew good thing
when they saw it. All Of these mems men-
tai energies, however, are bent in one d.
rection. They have not tho "all around"
ability Of the "brainy four" Tho "big
four" whom the pickedvoters by an equal
ballot proclaimed the braincst quartet in
Gotham, arc pretty well known through
out this broad domain. All of them, odd
~ enough, possess strong points in COM