The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-07-29
TIE FIFTY GREATEST LIVING AMKRI-
CANs-A REPRESENTATIVE LIST.

Dear Aunt Jennie Two or three
months ago, the publishers of "Suc-
cess" the New York magazine, offered
q prize of $50 for the best and most
representative list of the fifty great
est living Americans. Please remem-
Der at the outset hat the list had to
be representative of the various in
d~uStries and classes of the country.
So while there are thousands of men
IT the country whom I admire more
than Mark Hanna, or Pierpont Nor
gan, or Booker Washington, these
men had to be included in my list to
make it a truly representative one.
With this foreword, I present to the
readers of the Social Chat the list that
I sent for the consideration of the
judges. 1t did not win the prize, but
I feel repaid for my effort by the in
terest I found in preparing it. Ny
list follows, over half these names be-
ing also in the prize-winning list sent
by Mr.. Mortex of New York City:
Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas A. Ed
ison, Andrew Carnegie, George Dew
ey, Grover Cleveland, J. Pierpont
Morgan, Alexander G. Bell, Melville
W. Fuller, William J. Bryan, John
Hay, Daniel @. Gilman, Clara Bar
ton Samuel 1. Clemens, Marcus A.
Hanna, James J. Hill, Edward E.
Hale, Nelson A. Miles, Charles M.
Schwab, Charles w. Eliot, John T.
Morgan, John Wanamaker, James
Whitcomb Riley. George Westing-
house, Edwin A. Abbey, Michael I. Pu-
pin, Booker Washington. Jacob A.
Riis, A. T. Hadley. Joel Chandler
Harris, r. J. Calling, Joseph Jeffer-
son, Leonard Wood. Samuel P. Lang
lev. Winfield S. Schley. Joseph II.
Choate, Elihu Thompson, Simon New
comb, Francis F. Clark, Liberty H.
Bailey, Francis J.. Sprague, Joseph
Wheeler, Richard W. Glider. Theodore
L. Cuyler, Helen NJ. Gould, John
Mitchell, Edwin Markham, Lyman
Abbott, John Burroughs. Augustus
St. Gaudens, Charles Henry Cramp.
Why 1 consider this list a repre-
sentative one can be best told by a
brief review of the work of these fifty
Americans and a glance at the many
spheres of action they represent.
Naturally, the name hat leads, all
the rest is that of Theodore Roose-
welt, strong. strenuous, straightfor-
ward. And in our list of statesmen,
we must also include ex-President
Grover Cleveland; John Hay, Secre-
tary of State; Bryan, twice standard
bearer of his party; Marcus a. Han
ma, the business man in politics, and
John T. Morgan, Senator and cham
pion of the Nicaragua Canal.
Next we name some Inventors and
Captains of Industry-Edison, of
whose work all the world knows; Pier
p2nt Morgan, Colossus of Finance
Carnegie, now better known as a
p~hiIanthropist; James J. Hill, leader
in developing the Great Northwest
Schwab, once poor, now the highest
5alaried American; Wanamaker, the
merchant prince; Bell, the inventor of
the telephone; Gatling, whose terrible
guns have promoted peace; Cramp,
the shipbuilder; Westinghouse, whose
aIr-brake "made modern r%ailrOading
D5ssible;" Sprague, the inventor of
he trolley car; and Thompson, ia
nous as an electrician.
Among Educators and Scientists
here are Presidents Gilman, of the
Carnegie Institution; Eliot of Har-
ard, and Hadley Of Yale; Bailey, ad-
72cate of scientific agriculture; Lang
.ey and Pupin, who have grappled sue
sassfully with some of the greatest
aroHems of science; and Newcomb,
ne renowned astronomer.
Speak of Soldiers and Warriors,
md we think of Dewey, the hero of
Manila; Wood and his services il
Cuba; Miles, the head of the army
Schley, whose work, with that of the
.amented Sampson, has added to the
H.estige of the American Navy; and
Wheeler, a living illustration of the
leath of sectionalism.
In Literature, we have Riley, per