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. The Puritan, Cavalier, Quaker, Scotch-Irish,
Huguenot, and Dutch pioneers were not ordinary folk in any sense of
the term. They were, in a measure, a race of heroes. Their sons and
grandsons inherited their vigor and their striving. It is not at all
singular that every President of the United States and every Chief
Justice of the Federal Supreme Court has come from this stock, nor
that the vast majority of Cabinet members, of distinguished Senators,
of Speakers of the House, and of men of note in the House of
Representatives trace back to it their lineage in whole or in part.