These,
however, represented achievement rather than ability, for they
included the Presidents of the United States and other political
personages. Of the total number selected for the distinction of a
small portrait, 1200 were "Americans" and 71 "immigrants." Of the 1200
"Americans," 856 were of English extraction, 129 Scotch-Irish, 57
Huguenot, 45 Scotch, 39 Dutch, 37 German, 15 Welsh, 13 Irish, 6
French, and one each of Scandinavian, Spanish, and Swiss. Of the
"immigrants" 15 were English, 14 German, 11 Irish, 8 Scotch-Irish, 7
Scotch, 6 Swiss, 4 French, 3 from Spanish Provinces, and 1 each from
Scandinavia, Belgium, and Poland. All the 58 whose full-page portraits
are presumed to be an index to unusual prominence were found to be
"Americans" and by race extraction they were distributed as follows:
English 41, Scotch-Irish 8, Scotch 4, Welsh 2, Dutch, Spanish, and
Irish 1 each.
Whatever may be said in objection to this index of ability (and
Senator Lodge effectively answered his critics in a note appended to
this study in his volume of _Historical and Political Essays_), it is
apparent that a large preponderance of leadership in American
politics, business, art, literature, and learning has been derived
from the American stock. This is a perfectly natural result. The
founders of the Republic themselves were in large degree the children
of the pick of Europe.
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