The Hon. George William Ross, Premier of the Province of Ontario, was born near London, Ontario, in 1841. His father was a Scotchman, who, after migrating to Canada, became a prosperous farmer. Mr. Ross began his active life as a country school teacher. The government of the Province of Ontario established in 1871 a system of school inspectors, and he was appointed to one of these places. In the general election of the following year, Mr. Ross was chosen to represent the Conservative party in the western division of his native county, and was elected to the Dominion House of Commons. It was particularly his ability as an orator that brought him this honor. He was a member at the time of the Sons of Temperance, and it was at the meetings of this society that he seized his first opportunities to develop and display his gifts as a public speaker. He has said since that this experience in talking on his feet was invaluable to him, and he advises all young men who desire to acquire the gift of public speaking to join a debating society or other organization whose members are willing to listen to budding eloquence.

Mr. Ross was made Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario in 1883, and in 1887 succeeded in having passed a law for the federation of the denominational colleges of Toronto into a single unit, The University of Toronto. He inaugurated other educational reforms, and materially raised the standard of public education in the Province. Mr. Ross relinquished his work in this special field in 1900 to become Premier of Ontario. He has been prominently identified with movements in the cause of temperance, and holds honorary degrees in five Canadian universities. One of his distinguishing qualities is versatility. He is interested in astronomy, and has a marked literary bent, having written biographical sketches and some poetry.

Lord Mount Stephen.

In spite of the fact that Lord Mount Stephen has not resided in Canada for a number of years, he must be included in any group of important workers in the Dominion. He played a leading part in the upbuilding of the Canadian commonwealth. The vital importance of his work for the Canadian Pacific Railway cannot be overlooked. Lord Mount Stephen and Lord Strathcona were the two great personalities which carried the project of the transcontinental line through a dark period of financial storm and stress. Lord Mount Stephen reorganized or built several other railroads in Canada, and was very closely identified with many of the Dominion’s most important commercial movements.

Like so many other men who have achieved remarkable success in Canada, Lord Mount Stephen is a Scotchman, having been born in that country in 1829. In his childhood he was a herdboy on the Highlands, and served as an apprentice in Aberdeen. He afterward obtained employment in London, and in 1850 migrated to Canada, where his uncle, William Stephen, was engaged in the woolen business. The young man was taken into partnership, and upon his uncle’s death bought his interest in the firm, which steadily grew in importance in the manufacture of woolen goods. Lord Mount Stephen’s financial standing at this time is indicated by the fact that he became a director in Canada’s leading banking institution, the Bank of Montreal, of which he was afterward vice-president. It was owing to this financial eminence, as well as to his great ability, that he was able to build a magnificent structure of success out of what appeared at that time to be the wreck of the project for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In recognition of his services for her domain across the ocean, Queen Victoria knighted him in 1886, and a few years afterwards raised him to the peerage with the title of Lord Mount Stephen, a title suggested by the peak in the Rockies called Mount Stephen, which itself had been named after the able Scotchman. Lord Mount Stephen retired from the presidency of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1888, and has spent most of his time since then in England. He has, however, retained some of his interests in Canada, and has remembered numerous hospitals and other institutions with generous contributions.

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.[A]

Page
Abbey, Edwin Austin[311]
Abbott, Lyman[714]
Acheson, E. G[620]
Adams, Maude[681]
Ade, George[693]
Alden, Cynthia May Westover[683]
Alden, Henry Mills[660]
Aldrich, Nelson Wilmarth[641]
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey[697]
Allen, James Lane[702]
Allen, T. S[691]
Allen, Viola[682]
Allison, William Boyd[617]
Andrews, Elisha Benjamin[656]
Angell, George Thorndike[708]
Anthony, Susan Brownell[708]
Armour, Philip D.[511]
Astor, William Waldorf[638]
Atherton, Gertrude Franklin[704]
Baer, George F.[629]
Baldwin, Evelyn Briggs[652]
Bangs, John Kendrick[693]
Barr, Amelia Edith[705]
Barrymore, Ethel[682]
Barton, Clara[684]
Bell, Alexander Graham[633]
Belmont, August[629]
Beveridge, Albert J.[668]
Bispham, David Scull[674]
Black, Frank Swett[644]
Blair, Andrew G.[470]
Bok, Edward William[660]
Bonsal, Stephen[695]
Booth-Tucker, F. St. George de L.[709]
Borden, Robert Laird[447]
Brush, Charles Francis[633]
Bryan, William Jennings[641]
Buckley, James Monroe[661]
Burnett, Frances Hodgson[705]
Burroughs, John[402]
Bush, Charles G.[691]
Butler, Nicholas Murray[656]
Cable, George Washington[702]
Calvé, Emma[674]
Carman, Bliss[698]
Carnegie, Andrew[51]
Carter, Leslie (Mrs.)[682]
Cassatt, Alexander Johnston[630]
Chaffee, Adna Romanza[648]
Chisholm, Hugh[624]
Choate, Joseph H.[196]
Churchill, Winston[703]
Clark, Champ[668]
Clark, Francis Edward[684]
Clemens, Samuel Langhorn[693]
Cleveland, Grover[617]
Clews, Henry[638]
Clowry, Robert C.[144]
Cockran, William Bourke[668]
Collyer, Robert[441]
Comstock, Anthony[709]
Conwell, Russell H.[426]
Cook, Frederick Albert[652]
Cooper, Edward[636]
Coudert, Frederick René[644]
Cox, George A.[717]
Crafts, Wilbur Fiske[709]
Craigie, Pearl M. Theresa[705]
Cramp, Charles Henry[621]
Crane, William H.[677]
Crawford, Francis Marion[703]
Cuyler, Theodore Ledyard[714]
Dalrymple, Louis[691]
Damrosch, Walter Johannes[670]
Daniels, George Henry[630]
Daniels, John Warwick[669]
Davenport, Homer[334]
Davis, Richard Harding[695]
De Koven, Henry L. Reginald[671]
De Lussan, Zelie[674]
Depew, Chauncey M.[207]
De Reszke, Edouard[674]
De Reszke, Jean[675]
De Thulstrup, Thure[690]
De Vinne, Theodore Lowe[625]
Dewey, George[648]
Dickinson, Mary Lowe[685]
Dill, James Brooks[645]
Dixon, Thomas, Jr.[685]
Dodge, William de Leftwich[690]
Dolliver, Jonathan P. (Senator)[219]
Doubleday, Frank Nelson[663]
Douglas, William Louis[625]
Drew, John[678]
Drummond, Sir George A.[702]
Dumont, Santos[634]
Dunne, Finley Peter[694]
Duse, Eleanora[682]
Eames, Emma[675]
Eastman, Charles[626]
Eaton, Timothy[718]
Edison, Thomas Alva[17]
Eliot, Charles William[657]
Evans, Robley Dunglison[649]
Faunce, William H. P.[657]
Field, Marshall[80]
Fielding, William S.[721]
Fitzpatrick, Charles[721]
Flint, Charles Ranlett[621]
Folk, Joseph Wingate[643]
Ford, Simeon[694]
Freeman, Mary E. (Wilkins-Freeman)[706]
Frye, William Pierce[618]
Fuller, Melville Weston[645]
Funk, Isaac Kauffman[664]
Funston, Fred[649]
Gage, Lyman Judson[131]
Garland, Hamlin[696]
George, William Reuben[710]
Gerry, Elbridge Thomas[710]
Gibson, Charles Dana[342]
Gilder, Richard Watson[661]
Gillette, William Hooker[678]
Gilmer, Elizabeth Meriwether[694]
Gompers, Samuel[164]
Goodwin, Nathaniel C.[679]
Gorman, Arthur Pue[642]
Gould, George Jay[631]
Gould, Helen Miller[413]
Grau, Maurice[671]
Green, Hetty (Mrs.)[639]
Greene, Anna Katherine[706]
Griffin, Sydney B.[692]
Griggs, John William[646]
Griscom, Clement Acton[631]
Gunsaulus, Frank W.[432]
Hackett, James Keteltas[679]
Hadley, Arthur Twining[658]
Hale, Edward Everett[715]
Hanna, Marcus Alonzo[642]
Harned, Virginia[683]
Harris, William Torrey[659]
Harrison, Burton (Mrs.)[305]
Harrison, Carter Henry, Jr.[643]
Harrison, Constance Cary[707]
Harvey, George B. McClellan[661]
Hay, John[618]
Hays, Charles Melville[622]
Hearst, Phœbe Appersin (Mrs.)[712]
Hearst, William Randolph[664]
Hedin, Sven Anders[653]
Herbert, Victor[672]
Herreshoff, John B.[528], [622]
Hewitt, Peter Cooper[634]
Higgins, Edward Everett[665]
Hill, James J.[631]
Hoar, George Frisbie[619]
Hobart, George V.[694]
Hobson, Richmond Pearson[650]
Holland, John P.[634]
Holmes, E. Burton[653]
Holmes, Oliver Wendell[646]
Howells, William Dean[283]
Hungerford, Herbert[686]
Ingalls, Melville Ezra[632]
Irving, Sir Henry Brodribb[680]
Irwin, May[682]
Jackson, Leonora[672]
Jefferson, Joseph[680]
Jerome, William Travers[646]
Jewett, Sarah Orne[707]
Johnson, Tom L.[234]
Jones, Samuel[498]
Keller, Helen[391]
Kipling, Rudyard[703]
Klopsch, Louis[665]
Kneisel, Franz[672]
Landon, Melvin De Lancy[695]
Landor, A. H. Savage[654]
Langtry, Lillie (Mrs.)[683]
Laurier, Sir Wilfrid[687]
Le Gallienne, Richard[698]
Lipton, Sir Thomas[108]
Lodge, Henry Cabot[619]
Lorimer, George Howard[662]
Loudon, James[479]
McClure, Samuel Sidney[666]
McCracken, Henry Mitchell[659]
McKenna, Joseph[647]
Mackay, Robert[698]
Major, Charles[704]
Mansfield, Richard[379]
Marconi, William[635]
Markham, Edwin[263]
Marlowe, Julia[683]
Maxim, Hiram Stevens[35]
Mente, Charles[690]
Miles, Nelson A. (Gen.)[188]
Miller, Cincinnatus Heine (Joaquin)[699]
Mills, Benjamin Fay[715]
Mills, Darius Ogden[117]
Mitchell, John[686]
Morgan, John Pierpont[639]
Mount Stephen, Lord[723]
Munsey, Frank Andrew[666]
Nansen, Fridtjof[654]
Nixon, Lewis[623]
Nordica, Lillian[541], [676]
Ogden, Robert Curtis[636]
Olney, Richard[620]
Opper, Frederick Burr[353]
Osler, Dr. William[700]
Outcault, R. F.[692]
Page, Thomas Nelson[704]
Parent, S. N.[460]
Parker, Alton Brooks[647]
Parkhurst, Charles Henry[710]
Patterson, John H.[624]
Patti, Adelina[676]
Pearsons, Daniel Kimball[712]
Peary, Robert Edwin[655]
Peterson, William[716]
Phillips, David G.[696]
Pingree, Hazen S.[71]
Platt, Thomas Collyer[225]
Pope, Albert August[626]
Post, C. W.[627]
Potter, Henry Codman (Mrs.)[712]
Potter, Henry Codman (Rev.)[715]
Powell, Maud[673]
Pulitzer, Joseph[667]
Reid, Whitelaw[662]
Remington, Frederic[327]
Riley, James Whitcomb[252]
Roberts, Chas. George Douglas[696]
Rockefeller, John Davison[640]
Roosevelt, Theodore[173]
Roosevelt, Theodore (Mrs.)[713]
Root, Elihu[620]
Ross, George William[722]
Ruckstuhl, F. Wellington[358]
Sage, Russell[125]
Sage, Russell (Mrs.)[713]
Schley, Winfield Scott[650]
Schultze, Carl E.[692]
Schurman, Jacob Gould[243]
Schurz, Carl[669]
Sembrich, Marcella Stengel[677]
Seton, Ernest (Thompson-Seton)[687]
Shafter, William Rufus[651]
Shaughnessy, Sir Thomas G.[720]
Shaw, Albert[663]
Shrady, Henry Merwin[366]
Siegel, Henry[637]
Smith, Goldwin[454]
Sothern, Edward H.[681]
Sousa, John Philip[384]
Stanford, Leland (Mrs.)[713]
Stanley, Henry Morton[655]
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady[711]
Stead, William Thomas[696]
Stephens, Alice Barber[321]
Stokes, Anson Phelps[713]
Strathcona, Lord[688]
Strauss, Nathan[420]
Taylor, William[716]
Thomas, Theodore[673]
Thompson-Seton, Ernest[687]
Thompson, Vance[696]
Vanderbilt, Cornelius[138]
Van Dyke, Henry[700]
Van Horne, Sir William C.[485]
Vincent, John Heyl[716]
Vreeland, Herbert H.[152]
Walker, John Brisben[667]
Wallace, Lew (Gen.)[296]
Wanamaker, John[92]
Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps[707]
Watterson, Henry[663]
Wellman, Walter[655]
Westinghouse, George[635]
Wheeler, John Wilson[628]
Wheeler, Joseph[651]
White, Stewart Edward[697]
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler[272]
Wilder, Marshall P.[371]
Wilkins-Freeman, M. Eleanor[706]
Wilson, Woodrow[659]
Wister, Owen[697]
Woolworth, Frank W.[637]
Yerkes, Charles Tyson[640]
Zimmerman, Eugene[693]