"Remembering" Alton B. Parker

He was the Democratic nominee in 1904, the only Democratic nominee in 16 years who was not William Jennings Bryan.  Wiki reminds us that he lost to Theodore Roosevelt.  Wiki calls it a "landslide," but in terms of electoral votes, it was only 336-140. which to Alf Landon and George McGovern would appear almost a squeaker.    I remember him only because I tend to remember things like "the most forgettable president in the 20th Century."    But can he truly hold his ground against Dukakis?  Can't say for sure, but Alton B. Parker never let Willie Horton out of jail, and never pretended to drive a tank.

How Many Do You Recognize?

They are all winners of The Economist's annual innovation awards, though how anyone could match this record of achievement every 12 months is beyond me.  I deliberately left of Jeff Bezos as too obvious; also Steve Jobs who gets a (posthumous) 10-year award. Hard to say who is the most visible among the remainder; perhaps Paul Buchheit, Google's "Employee #23," who has his fingerprints on both AdSense and Gmail.  For raw improvement of the human condition, I'd have to give top marks to Koska, whose non-reusable syringe is credited, per the E, with saving 5 million lives since 2001.  I can hear Saint Peter now: I don't se anything interesting on your resume.  Oh, wait...

Who Said It (Economic Man)?

The answer is Frank H. Knight, capo di tutti capi among freshwater economists--and in so many ways a far more subtle thinker than so many of his successors.   It's the opening paragraph of The Economic Organization (1933), famous in folklore as the default alternative to the textbook he never wrote.  Folklore has it that Knight's sketch formed the framework for early editions of Paul Samuelson's textbook.  For a discussion, go here.

Foreigners Resident in China: Who's #2?

The answer is "the United States."  

Even as America’s allure is fading, China is becoming a destination of choice for many young workers. According to Chinese statistics, last year Shanghai had 143,000 foreigners with residents’ visas. That does not count the many thousands of Westerners believed to be there on tourism visas, or the illegals from elsewhere in Asia. South Koreans (121,000) top the list of expatriates resident in China, followed by Americans (71,000) and Japanese (66,000). Teaching English is the commonest job for Westerners, but there are also many, usually young, entrepreneurs opening shops, bars and restaurants. 

 Link.  Original post here.

The Envelope, Please!--Second Richest Man

Stiles says that the answer to my question is: Alexander Turney Stewart.

Who?   The magic words are "dry goods."  A well-sourced Wiki summarizes:

He was a business genius, and by 1848 he had built a large marble-fronted store on Broadway between Chambers Street and Reade Street, which was devoted to the wholesale branch of his business, and the largest retail store in the world at that time. Stewart also had branches of his company in different parts of the world and owned several mills and factories. Stewart had an estimated annual income of $1,000,000 in 1869.

Stewart created "The Marble Palace" at 280  Broadway  in Manhattan, by some accounts the first department store.   The building is still there, a National Historical Landmark.  Stewart had other interests, though hardly the globe-girdling monopoly that you might expect to associate  with such wealth.  Oddly, it seems there were three other department store chains bearing the name of "Stewart," none of those Stewarts related to Alexander.  Oh, and he had a grandmother named "Martha Stewart."

Stiles doesn't press his point about Stewart; other sources say the plaudit belongs to an "Astor," but again there may be a surprise here.  John Jacob Astor, the founder of the Astor dynasty, had died in 1848; the incumbent dynast in 1870 was a son, William Backhouse Astor.  Here's a listing that puts Astor and Stewart in a tie

Background on the Elocution Lesson

The sentence is from Elizabeth Von Arnim, The Enchanted April, originally published in the early 20s, lately revived by NYRB Paperbacks (but note that there is a free version on Kindle).  It's a period piece, its lyricism saved by an undercurrent of merry waspishness (Mrs. Buce reports that the film version is a good deal more anodyne).  I've been reading it aloud and I find it hard to catch her rhythm--can't make up her mind how much of it is my distance from the Edwardians, how much stylistic quirks of the author.  A few sentences--this one--strike me as downrighrt Proustian (though certainly not as elegant as Proust) in that they seem difficult to disentangle but which, once disentangled, yield up their meaning with perfect clarity.

Who Said All That Stuff About McCain and Obama?

The Trumpster.  Go here.