Dr. George Biedenkapp in a recent article on “The Social Im¬ 
portance of the Biographies of Inventors and Discoverers/’ said, 
among other things: 
“If we were to take into consideration the biographies of in¬ 
ventors and discoverers regardless of country, a long list of illus¬ 
trations might be mentioned. For powerful industries and num¬ 
berless objects of usefulness and luxury we are indebted to men 
who have lived in the poorest circumstances for many years. 
This fact cannot be impressed too strongly upon the youth of 
two classes of society represented in the public schools—the rich 
and those who are in power. No one should be placed in au¬ 
thority by the government unless he is well versed in these mat¬ 
ters. Knowledge is not identical with action and feeling, but 
it forms the starting-point. 
“The biographies of inventors and discoverers, however, 
teach more than the mere fact of the quantity of valuable in¬ 
tellectual power of the extent of fundamental treasures of the 
mind that may be present waiting to be elevated. The question 
is one of the blessing of private initiative as compared with the 
idleness of the official or organized world. 
“Organization reigns supreme today, and quite correctly so. 
But organizations also have their disadvantages. Their united 
strength is often used to suppress what is new and full of promise. 
The scientific organizations present innumerable illustrations. It 
was with great difficulty that the mathematical and scientific 
branches gained a place in Universities besides the theologists 
and philologists. It required much effort to gain equal recogni¬ 
tion for the study of Sanscrit and the Germanic subjects beside 
the older University branches. 
“Had it depended on the organization of hammer-smiths in 
Glasgow, James Watt, one of the most powerful inventors, could 
not even have located there a tradesman; the organization work¬ 
ed in opposition to the man who was of greater value than all of 
the organizations taken together. 
“When Riquet built the famous canal from the Mediterranean 
Sea to the Atlantic during the reign of Louis XIV of France, 
all the official engineers were antagonistic towards him, which 
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