PUBLISHERS' PREFACE
Good biography is entertaining literature. The personal element in it insures for it interest and influence. Standard collections of brief biographies are indispensable as books of reference and are most stimulating reading for young people in the public library and in the home.
The opening of new fields of activity with the broadening of our national life has increased the number of men whose names are brought prominently before the American public. New collections of biography are needed at comparatively brief intervals.
"Men of Mark in America" is a series of volumes, national in its scope, and marked by certain new features which the publishers believe give to it exceptional value. In collecting the material for these biographies the publishers have secured an autobiographical element which gives vital and personal interest to the work. Expecting to make these volumes a source of inspiration and encouragement to readers who love and believe in our American ideals, and especially to the young, we have requested the subject of each biography to describe briefly his surroundings in childhood and youth; to mention any difficulties which he was obliged to overcome; to indicate the influences which awakened his ambition and strengthened his power of achievement; to tell his readers by what methods of study and work he has been enabled to reach his present position of usefulness and honor. But no man has been asked or allowed to write his own biography. We have also asked for brief suggestions to young readers regarding principles to be adopted and plans to be followed by the young if they would make their lives effective. Our editorial writers by incorporating these facts, counsels and suggestions into
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