Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/451

Rh descendants in various male lines than any other American who has ever lived.

In Jameson's "Dictionary of United States History," and Lippincott's "Biographical Dictionary of the World" are included 13 Lees, 11 Adamses, 10 Lowells, 9 Dwights, 8 Trumbulls, 7 Livingstons, 7 Bayards, 6 Irvings, 6 Sewalls, 6 Prescotts, 5 Channings, 5 Edwardses, 5 Mathers, 5 Randolphs and 5 Winthrops, and over one hundred other families in which from two to four noted Americans can be found closely related to each other. This is without considering consanguinity through mothers and daughters.

When it comes to our greatest men, such, for instance, as are honored by tablets in the Hall of Fame upon the Hudson, more than half show eminent relationships on the above basis. Whether all names properly belonging in this most exclusive temple of the immortals have, or have not, been included, makes little difference in the present argument. No one can fail to pay homage to the names that are there. The 46 celebrities of the Hall of Fame have been selected only from those Americans who have been deceased at least ten years. They have been elected only after careful deliberation, the names of candidates being voted on by a committee of a hundred, made up of citizens well qualified to pass judgment on such matters. College presidents, historians, editors, financiers, scientists and chief justices form the committee. The next election will take place in 1915.

Now if the family history of these 46 preeminent Americans be carefully looked into, they show an extraordinary amount of blood relationships with other men not quite so celebrated it is true, but still men in every sense entitled to the term "eminent," and men whose lives and achievements have added to the luster of their country. Professor Jameson's "Dictionary of United States History" with Lippincott's "Biographical Dictionary of the World" together contain separate sketches for only about 3,500 Americans. There must have lived at least 35,000,000 adult persons from the first settlement of the country to the present generation.

It is very difficult to get any conception of vast numbers of people or of figures in the millions. A considerable stretch of the imagination is necessary. Think of a line of men 35,000,000 feet long. Such a line of 35,000,000 men and women, standing one behind the other in single file, would stretch from the Capitol at Washington to San Francisco, and then bend up to Alaska. In such a line of fame, George Washington, by common consent, as the Father of his Country, stands number one and Abraham Lincoln stands number two. All those within the "3,500 group" would be standing well within one mile of the dome of the Capitol, while the 46 elect of the Hall of Fame would be within the rotunda itself. This means that all those in the "3,500 group" are as one in 10,000 of the entire population.