September 2i, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



413 



We can not tell that, but it is quite possible that 

 there may be life on many of them. 



And after pondering for some time, the poli- 

 tician rose and said: It does not matter after all 

 whether Taf t or Bryan gets in. 



Happy were the times, -when it could be 

 said with truth that the strife of polities 

 counted as nothing before the silent display 

 of the heavens. Mightier issues are at 

 stake to-day: in the struggle which con- 

 vulses the world, all intellectual pursuits 

 are vitally affected, and science gladly gives 

 all the power .she wields to the service of 

 the state. Sorrowfully she covers her face 

 because that power, accumulated through 

 the peaceful efforts of the sons of all na- 

 tions, was never meant for death and de- 

 struction ; gladly she helps, because a war 

 wantonly provoked threatens civilization, 

 and only through victory shall we achieve 

 a peace in which once more science can hold 

 up her head, proud of her strength to pre- 

 serve the intellectual freedom which is 

 worth more than material prosperity, to 

 defeat the spirit of evil that destroyed the 

 sense of brotherhood among nations, and 

 to spread the love of truth. 



Arthur Schuster 



TEE MIGBATIONS OF VISTINGUISHBD 

 AMERICANS 



Where do great men go ? Do they go any- 

 where? Are the recognized leaders of activity 

 and thought in the class of " rank outsiders " 

 or have they been bom and brought up in the 

 same spot which now marks the field of their 

 labors ? 



These questions can not be answered finally 

 for two reasons. In the first place, because 

 there is no perfectly authentic record from 

 which the names of all leaders may be gleaned, 

 and second, because the available records are 

 in many cases faulty. Nevertheless, the 

 eighteen thousand names listed by " Who's 

 Who in America " contains a large proportion 

 of the leading men of the country, and even 

 though the list does contain the names of 



many who are not recognized leaders, it is, on 

 the whole, an excellent weathervane for Amer- 

 ica's great and near-great in the mass. 



Among other suggestive facts, " Who's 

 Who " ^ tells for each person whose biography 

 appears, the place of birth and the present ad- 

 . dress. By comparing the two, for a large num- 

 ber of cases, the facts regarding the move- 

 ments of great men may be ascertained. 



A study of " Who's Who " shows two dis- 

 tinct movements, one from the east and south 

 to the north and west; the other from the 

 country district and the small town to the 

 great city. The great men born in the east 

 and south have gone west in large numbers. 

 At the same time, many of the leaders in city 

 life came from outside the city. 



The movement of great men from the east, 

 to the west is strikingly apparent. Among: 

 16,449 distinguished persons whose names ap- 

 pear in " Who's Who," over nine-tenths (91.6^ 

 per cent.) were born in the New England, 

 Middle Atlantic states, the East North Cen- 

 tral, South Atlantic and East South Central 

 states. This division includes roughly the 

 territory east of the Mississippi River. Al- 

 though only one twelfth of the distinguished 

 persons were born west of this division line, at 

 the present time, one sixth (16.8 per cent.) re- 

 sides there. The migrations from the Eastern 

 states have been felt most heavily in New Eng- 

 land and in the East North Central states. 

 Among the persons listed in " Who's Who," 

 3,764 (22.9 per cent.) were born in New Eng- 

 land — 2,921 (16.2 per cent.) now live there; 

 3,609 (22.0 per cent.) were born in the East 

 North Central states— 2,919 (16.2 per cent.) 



1 ' ' Who 's Who ' ' is published in Chicago. The 

 editor, Albert Nelson Marquis, was born in Ohio. 

 "The standards of admission to 'Who's Who in 

 America' divide the eligibles into two classes: (1) 

 Those who are selected on account of special promi- 

 nence in creditable lines of effort, making them 

 the subjects of extensive interest, inquiry or dis- 

 cussion in this country; and (2) those who are 

 arbitrarily included on account of official posi- 

 tion — civil, military, naval, religious or educational 

 — or their connection with the most exclusive 

 learned or other societies." Prom a statement 

 following the preface, 1912-13 edition. 



