WORLD’S GREATEST MAN.

Shannon News, 18 March 1924, Page 3

WORLD’S GREATEST MAN.

WHO IS HE. If tlie world knows nothing of its greatest men it is not for want of canvassing the merit of many candidates (says the London Daily Telegraph). The other day Mr. Kellaway nominated Signor Marconi. Now Miss Sybil Thorndyke puts up Abraham Lincoln; while Professor A. M. Low says unhesitatingly that “Darwin was the greatest man of any age.” It is not for us to decide such disputes, but we should be glad to hear the cases argued. Mr.' Kellaway’s statement of claim is that the great alleviation of suffering and preservation of life whih have been effected by wireless telegraphy put Signor Marconi ahead. It is a great and noble title to fame, and, as the years go by, must be confirmed. But Mr. Kellaway might have added that to extend the power of man is also an achievement worthy of honour. Who knows what miracles of communication wireless may work for our children? Signor Marconi has been one of the most beneficent of all the men of science who have worked for humanity But he would be the first to bid us remember that there are others. How are we to compare the theorist and the investigator with the man of applied science? The science of the laboratory has hidden many a worker by whose labours we are vastly happier. Again, what common measure is there for Signor Marconi and Professor Low’s candidate, Darwin? The immensity of the impulse which Darwin gave to science no one disputes;'no one denies to him the credit of much of the progress of . the last 50 years. But his sphere was pure knowledge. Only indirectly did he touch the lives of men. How are we to compare him with Lincoln? No one ever suspected Lincoln of deep knowledge of anything but human nature. His life was given to everything but the advancement of learning. Yet certainly he had a potent influence on many millions of people, perhaps on the whole future of the world. But there are others besides statesmen and men of science who have their places of right among our companions of honour. If St Francis of Assisi were proclaimed the greatest of the sons of men, someone might answer with the name of St. Paul. We do not make rivals of the saints; we only suggest their services to humanity,. And nothing has been said of the poets, nothing of the conquerors who limeade and remade the world. Shall we measure Shakespeare against Caesar, or Plato against Alexander? The truth is, the quest has no end.