COSGROVE, HON. JAMES, was born at Charleston, S. C., Aug. 28, 1861. His father, a native of Bally Connell, County Cavan, Ireland, settled in Charleston in February, 1839; became a prosperous merchant; was one of the aldermen of the city for two terms and one of the Representatives from Charleston County in the General Assembly of South Carolina in 1874–’75. His mother was Catherine Daily. The family have been Charlestonians for over seventy years and during this period father and son have been closely identified with the commercial and political life of the community. Mr. Cosgrove attended first a private school, then the parochial school attached to St. Finbar’s Cathedral and later the high school of Charleston, where he was graduated at the age of sixteen years. He then went into his father’s office and later established himself in the real estate and general insurance business, which he still successfully conducts. About twenty years ago he became interested in the experiments conducted by Sir Patrick Manson, an Irishman, Leveran, a Frenchman, and the Italians Celli, Golgi and Bignam, concerning the inoculation of the human body with the virus of malaria fever by the bite of a species of the mosquito known as the “Anopheles.” He followed the investigations closely and as a result of what was proven commenced agitation for the drainage of wet and low lands of the United States, to remove breeding places of this species of insect. At that time there was a “death line” around the coastal section of the Southern States and many other sections of the United States, within which line it was thought to be dangerous to live in the summer for fear of malarial fever. At first his efforts met with poor success, and in 1898 he determined to become a candidate for the State Legislature to have enacted legislation necessary for the proper and systematic drainage of the wet lands of South Carolina. He was re-elected in 1900, but such was the opposition to the new movement that not until 1902 did he succeed in having created for Charleston County “The Sanitary and Drainage Commission.” Indeed, it required a man of the most untiring industry and indomitable will to have successfully carried his purpose during these four years of antagonism. The work of sanitary drainage in Charleston County was commenced under the direction of this commission, but it was soon found that it absolutely required some one to take the direction of the work who would be willing to sacrifice his self-interest for the good of the public. The commissioners, comprising some of the best citizens of the city, with one accord turned to Mr. Cosgrove and requested him to take entire direction. He did so, and has since remained in charge. The result is that thousands of acres of fertile lands have been made habitable, affording dwelling places, and