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PREFACE
IN THE history of a modern
state is chiefly the history of its prominent and progressive men. Ancient
history is starred with the names of monarchs, conquerors, great soldiers,
daring adventurers. Only a few great names in industry, commerce, and
professional life survive. There is some mention, perhaps, of the vastness
of the multitude that composed city or nation; but of those who really
leavened the lump there is little. The merchant princes, the captains of
industry, the practitioners of law, who contributed so largely to the
greatness and glory of olden communities, have vanished as completely from
the record as have their shops from the forum and their galleys from the
sea. The latter-day record is more just. Men of thought and men of action
win their places as surely and as securely as those who are born to theirs.
The truth of Emerson's saying is more and more becoming recognized, that
"the true test of civihzation is not the census, nor the crops; no, but the
kind of man the country turns out." It is quality, not merely quantity or
numbers, that counts. There are to-day plenty of men of political or other
distinction, or of vast wealth, known to the world for the reason of those
conditions. There is in this closing year of the nineteenth century being
taken in the United States a census which will impressively display the
aggregated greatness, in numbers and in wealth, of the nation. But "the kind
of man the nation turns out"— not the kind of President, or General, or
millionaire only, but the kind of average, every-day man in business,
commercial, industrial, or professional life — is to be shown through other
mediums than mere statistics. He is to be shown in the story of his life.
It is the aim of the present work, in this and the succeeding volumes, to
set forth the life-records of a considerable and representative number of
the prominent and progressive men of the Empire State of the American Union.
They are chosen from all honorable walks of life, public and private. They
represent all political parties, all departments of industry and trade, and
the various learned professions which fill so large a place in the social
economy of the modern community. Some of them are in affluent and some in
moderate financial circumstances. Some of them have finished or are
finishing their life-works, and some of them are, seemingly, only upon the
thresholds of their careers.
There is no intention nor attempt to choose or to compose a class, save as
native ability and achieved leadership in affairs may be the characteristics
of a class. There are names on the roll that will command instant
recognition; and there are others that may have in these pages their first
introduction to the general public. The one qualification required, which
will be found a characteristic of all, is that of such achievement as gives
fair title to prominence or to a repute for progress. A work of this kind is
of necessity much like a daily newspaper in at least one respect. It deals
with things as they are at the moment of publication, and as they have been
down to that time.
The next day may materially alter them. Before these pages are all read by
those who shall read them, new items may be added to many a record which
will be missing from the book. The biographer cannot forecast the future. He
can do nothing more than to make his story as complete as possible down to
the time when he lays down his pen, and as accurate as possible, with all
research and consultation with the subjects of his sketches.
Volume 1
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