The idea of preparing _Who's Who in America_[39] was suggested by the success of the English book, Who's Who? now in its fifty-second year, and the work has been prepared on similar lines. Its purpose is to supply information concerning living American men and women who have achieved distinction, who hold recognized public positions, and who have contributed so as to have it talked about to the growth, development, knowledge, and civilization of the country. Eight thousand six hundred and two such persons are represented in this book, including, _ex-officio_, all members of the Fifty-sixth Congress, Governors of States and Territories now in office, United States, State, and territorial judges of courts of high jurisdiction, persons of other prominent official classification, national academicians, members of the National Academy of Sciences, heads of the larger universities and colleges, and a few others chosen on similar arbitrary lines. Special effort has been made to include all living American authors of books of more than ephemeral value. The data for the book have been obtained from first hands, except in a very few cases, where the modesty of the subjects made it necessary to supply the material from other sources, when the articles were submitted to the subjects for revision. [Footnote 39: Who's Who in America. A Biographical Dictionary of Living Men and Women in the United States, 1899-1900. Edited by John W. Leonard. Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Co. Pp. 822.]