Stephen Butler Leacock

LEACOCK, STEPHEN BUTLER ), Canadian author and economist, was born at Swanmoor, Hants., on Dec. 3o, 1869 and went to Canada at the age of six. He graduated at the University of Toronto, Upper Canada College (1891-99) and, after an interval of teaching, graduated Ph.D. at Chicago. In 1903 he was appointed to the staff of McGill University, Montreal, becoming professor of political economy in 1908, and subsequently head of his department. In 1907-8 he made a tour of the British Empire, lecturing on imperial organization under the auspices of the Cecil Rhodes Trust. His serious work includes biographies of R. Baldwin and La Fontaine in the "Makers of Canada" series; Elements of Political Science (1906) ; and The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice (1920). It was as the author of a number of delightful short stories, parodies and skits, however, that Leacock became most widely known to the general public. His humorous works include: Literary Lapses (1910) ; Nonsense Novels 0910 ; Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912) ; Be hind the Beyond (1913) ; Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (1914) ; Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy (1915) ; Further Foolishness (1916) ; Frenzied Fiction (1918) ; Winsome Winnie (1920); My Discovery of England (1922); The Garden of Folly (1924); and Winnowed Wisdom (1926).

See Peter McArthur, Stephen Leacock (Toronto, 1923) ; C. K. Allen, Oh, Mr. Leacock (1925), and Patrick Baybrooke, Peeps at the Mighty (Phila., 1927).

LEAD

(pronounced Leed), a city of Lawrence county, S.D., U.S.A., in the Black Hills, at an altitude of 5,300 ft., 15 m. from the western boundary of the State. It is on Federal highway 85, and is served by the Burlington and the Chicago and North Western railways. The population, 1935, was Lead is the centre of the operations of the Homestake Min ing company. Gold production of the Homestake Mine prior to 1929 averaged about $6,000,000 per year. It ranged from $8, 000,00o to $12,000,000 per year from 1929 to 1932. In 1933 to 1935 it ranged from $12,000,000 to $19,000.000. The Home stake lode was discovered in April, 1876 and the total output to January I, 1936 was $301,018,492.04, and total dividends $88,020, There are large ore bodies averaging about oz. per ton in gold. The ores are treated at Lead and Deadwood in amalgamating and cyaniding plants with a total capacity of 4,000 tons per day.

The first settlement was made by prospectors in 1876. The city was chartered in 1890. Population reached 8,392 in 1910, fell to 5,013 in 1920, and increased 36% in the next five years.