Arizona republican., 1903-09-15
CURRENT COMMENT
Still Room for Nature Men.

When Prince Henry OF Prussia was
here u few months ago, he sat at din
ner in New York with a body of men
such as probably were never before
gathered together. \ committee of
twelve prominent men in New York
selected with great care list OF 100
names of men who may be regarded as
-eminently responsible for the mar
velous industrial development of the
United States, and whom they were
pleased to designate as captains of in
dustry. But no list of 100, or 1000, or
10000 names would cover the captains
of industry in this wonderful land of
ours.
The day before that dinner (Febru-
airy %. 1902 the editor of the New York
Sun made up 4 list of ninety-nine eli
gible men whom he deemed worthy Of
a place at that board; and he gave the
reason for the faith that was in him,
specifying what each had done to merit
this, distinction. No lists made up by
different parties would cover exactly
the same men; there would be differ
ences of opinion, as there are in the
matter of selection of names for the
hall of fame at Columbia university.
| The New York Sun named in list only
thirty of the ninety-two captains of in
dustry who sat a dinner. Sixty-nine
whom that careful journal deemed
worthy of a place there were overlook
ed in the final selection.
There is published in this country
book entitled Who's Who in America,
and in that book are given the names of
11,551 men and women who are sup
posed to have climbed considerably
l,t@@ I,,r
two who sat at dinner. thirty of them
were not named in Who's Who And
of the thirty whose names do not ap-
pear IN Who's Who" twenty-five of
them are not mentioned in the National
Cyclopedia of American Biography, al
though that publication with its sup
Elemental volumes is supposed to be
up to date.
1t is interesting to note that of the
| sixty-two men whose record is in
Who's Who" forty of them were
graduates of colleges or institutions OF
higher learning. which of course in
| cluieS technical schools, and twenty
| two were not. This is surprisingly
| large proportion, when we consider that
| these men have been out of college on
an average about thirty-five years. and
| a college education was not so COM
mon thirty-five years ago as it is to-
| day. Harvard in 1867 had only 9S1 stu
dents, while she now has 5,i24. Yale
in 1869 had only 123 students, while she
now has ZIP. Columbia in 1868 had
only 144 students. while she now has
| 1882. The Massachusetts, Institute OF
Technology was only opened for stu
dents in 1865. and in 1900-1901 she had
| 1,2I students, while cur Worcester
| polytechnic institute had not yet been
opened.
| We hear much today about the pres
ent being the age of the young man;
and in the ministry we hear about the
dead line of So: and I thought when
following out this little investigation
| it would he interesting to know how old
these captains Of industry were.
| Oh the twelve men who made up the
| list of names of those who were to be
invited to this uinner to be given to
Prince Henry, five We're college grad
yates and seven We're not. The two
youngest on this list were 50 years old :
| and the average age of the twelve was
SO. OF the forty college men named in
| who's Who" whose record, was easily
| abtainable, the average age was SIS
wears. The average age Of the twenty
| two men who had not been educated in
| the higher institutions of learning was
! 81 years. So it would seem that there