Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-03-16
OUR RESOURCES IN MEN.

Billings, of the New York Public ILL.,
brary, who died last night reminds us
again OF the great amount OF fine and
useful work done by men Of whom the
world scarcely hears, says the New
York Post. They are more numerous
tfan is commonly believed. In scicn'
stiaG pursuits, in education, in unob'
trlsive public labors OF many kinds
they are to be found. They take mp
their tasks with intelligence and en-.
orgy and zeal. but without clamor, and
PASS their ives without wide rccogni-
ton. And often it is not until they
are dead that wc pause 20 reflect how
much VIC owe to men of this kind. In
fact, We could scarcely get on with
out them. Not notoricty seekers, they
pour their lives into their work, think
Ing always of the thing to be done ano
not of the glory to be got from it; and
it Is largely by their persistence, their
fidelity, their %alertness, their fresh.
ness Of mind, their ardor In attacking
old problems in news ways, that civil.
ization holds its own and makes new
%conquests. They constitute what may
be called the permanent force in the
ongoing Of the commonwealth. And
as the City Club has just stopped to
honor the men, mostly unknown, who
keep tho majority of IL city gov
eminent in working order, SO there
might we'll be a summons to the thot-
full now and then to consider our in.
d%ebtedness to men Of the type OF DR..
Billings. At least, when they pass
from us, the sort of work they 40
should be %signalized.
DR.. Billings was a man of varied &C
tivities. They need not be recounted
here in detail. A summary OF his
achievements will be found elsewhere.
His greatest service was doubtless
done in the office of the surgeon.gen'
eral Of the army, and in the collecting
of vital statistics for the census. The
publication which he undertook and
carried through OF the medical records
of the Civil War was a monument OF
industry, as Of lucid arrangement II
classification, and brought DR.. Billings
his nearest approach to fame. But III
many other spheres he displayed his
quality of vigor and military precls-
ion. He went deep into questions OF
sanitation, and his book of twenty
years ago an heating and ventilation
Of buildings marked a real and adj
yanced thought at that time. lie had
much to do with planning the John
Hopkins Hospital, and his success in
that brought him even foreign recog-
milton.
When DR.. Billings came to New
York, to be first at the Aston library,
and then with the new public library,
he entered upon a work that was, Of
course. not entirely new to him, but
one which made a new trial of his
powers. We suppose that it could not
be said that he made himself a great
librarian, in the strictest sense OF the
words. His name did not become as
ISOLATED with such initiative and fer
tility in library administration as 9th
ers that might be mentioned have dis
closed. Eut force and order charac-
ter:zed him in this as in all else. He
had a good directing talent; and the
s1noothness and celebrity which, under
his command, marked the feat OF
transferring the books from the Astor
library to the new building at Forty
second street seemed to argue a kind
of military capacity in the guiding
mind. 1t was certainly a remarkable
and successful mobilizing Of books.
It is the vitality and versatile ener-
gy of such men as DR.. Billings that
most impress those who observe their
lifework. Here was no question or
one being a jack Of all trades. In ev-
erything that DR.. Billings attempted,
the need Of training and special CONF
petence was admitted by him. HIS
was not the case Of a man trying one
employment after another, and sue.