PREFA СЕ. To Americans-and perhaps to many more than Americans-among the events of the year 1901 the death of President McKinley was at once the most significant and sorrowful. The present volume contains a sketch of his wonderful career from his boyhood to the sudden termination of his presidency. It also contains a sketch of the life of his successor in the chief magistracy, together with a full-page portrait. Other events of importance and interest to Americans are duly recorded in the articles "Congress," "United States," "Philippine Islands," "Hawaii," "Porto Rico," and those on the various States of the Union. The most gigantic transaction that ever took place in the financial and industrial world is that of the formation of the great Steel Corporation, the story of which is told in the "Financial Review of 1901." Two industries, perhaps developed to a greater extent in our country than in any other, are described and illustrated under the titles "Printing" and "Wire-Making"; while nearly all the industries of this Western World were abundantly set forth in the "Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo," of which the reader will here find a good description, beautifully illustrated. While the typical American is thus accumulating money more rapidly than any other man on earth, he is also showing that he knows how to dispose of it so as to benefit his fellow mortals as well as himself. For proof of this, let the reader turn to the article "Gifts and Bequests," where he will find an itemized account of more than a hundred million dollars given to philanthropic and educational causes in our country in the year that is here recorded. The cause of popular education as it progresses year by year may be studied under the head of Education in the several articles on the States, and in such other articles as those of "Libraries" and the "Fine Arts." Court decisions that affect the constitutionality or interpretation of statutes are recorded under the head of Supreme Court in the article "United States," and also under Decisions in the State articles. The financial condition of the States and the nation may also be seen by reference to the articles just mentioned. The subject of irrigation, now most important in giving fertility to arid lands and increasing the food-crops of the world, as it progresses year by year, may be studied by looking at the articles on the Western States. Governmental, insurrectionary, and industrial movements in the various countries of the world are recorded in the articles on those countries, some of which are of special interest as a part of the history of the first year of our century. The change of sovereign in Great Britain, the continued war in South Africa, the beginning of peaceable settlement in China, and the federation of the Australian provinces are among the most notable of these. The volume contains, as usual, an article on each of the great religious denominations, together with articles on such of the smaller ones as have recorded and pub iii 186 2 lished statistics; and from these the growth of religious life and missionary enterprise may be studied to advantage. 66 In the articles" Archeology," "Astronomy," "Chemistry," "Metallurgy," and Physiology " these sciences are recorded in their latest developments; but perhaps the most wonderful result of science this year is to be found under the head of "Medicine," where the experiments proving that malaria and yellow fever are communicated to human beings through mosquitoes are fully set forth. Among the special articles are one on the comparatively new industry of "Automobiles," illustrated, with their latest developments; one on artistic" Bookbinding," also illustrated; one on the new enterprise of "Rural Free Mail Delivery"; and one on the recent events in "Yachting." The death roll of the year is unusually long, and contains many names familiar to our readers. Among the authors we have lost are William E. Channing, Joseph Cook, Ignatius Donnelly, John Fiske, Edward H. House, John G. Nicolay, Charles Nordhoff, Mary A. Townsend, Walter Besant, Robert Buchanan, Mandell Creighton, Félix Gras, Hugh R. Haweis, John Cordy Jeaffreson, Cosmo Monkhouse, Frederic W. H. Myers, Paul Silvestre, and Charlotte M. Yonge; among the actors, Louis Aldrich, James A. Herne, Fanny Morant, Roland Reed, James B. Roberts, Edmond Got, James H. Mapleson, Harry Monkhouse, and Osmond Tearle; among the artists, Jane H. Hammond, James M. Hart, Adolf R. Kraus, Edward Moran, Julian Scott, James E. Taylor, Edward Ford, and Kate Greenaway; among the clergymen, Maltbie D. Babcock, Frederic Denison, John Jacob Esher, Justin D. Fulton, John Jasper, Thomas N. Lenihan, Abram N. Littlejohn, William McDonald, and Henry B. Whipple; among the educators, Herbert B. Adams, John Thomas Duffield, Robert Graham, Richmond Mayo-Smith, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Truman H. Safford, and Joseph Henry Thayer; among the explorers, Edouard Foa and Adolf Nordenskiöld; among the inventors, William F. Coston, Elisha Gray, David S. Holman, Thaddeus Hyatt, George Kellogg, and Lorenzo W. Kimball; among the legislators, Charles A. Boutelle, James W. Bradbury, James A. Kyle, Cornelius R. Parsons, Hiram R. Revels, and William J. Sewell; among the philanthropists, Elizabeth D. Gillespie, Margaret E. Crocker, Mrs. Egbert Guernsey, Tom Mosby, Henry V. A. Parsell, William A. Passavant, and Elizabeth Hanbury; among the publishers, G. W. Carleton, Patrick Donahoe, Alexander C. McClurg, and Lewis A. Roberts; among the scientists, Clarence King, Joseph Le Conte, Henry A. Rowland, Charles A. Schott, William J. Youmans, George M. Dawson, Rudolf Koenig, and Eleanor Ormerod ; among the statesmen, William M. Evarts, Benjamin Harrison, the Duke de Broglie, Francesco Crispi, Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Marthinas Pretorius, and LiHung-Chang; among the soldiers, Daniel Butterfield, George W. Getty, John P. Hatch, James S. Negley, Robert Nugent, Fitz John Porter, Benjamin M. Prentiss, and Joseph Gurko; among the naval officers, Francis M. Bunce, John Irwin, Richard P. Leary, Thomas S. Phelps, and Francis A. Roe; among the composers and dramatists, Edmond Audran, Paul Barbier, Pierre Benoit, and Giuseppe Verdi. The celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of Yale University is recorded, with a full-page portrait of the new president of that institution, Arthur Twining Hadley. There is also a full-page portrait of Li-Hung-Chang, the famous Chinese statesman, and full-page illustrations of the Pan-American Exposition, the New York subway, and the yacht races. The volume closes with a complete index. NEW YORK, February 11, 1902. |