Milestones, Oct. 26, 1931

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Died. Milo Merrick Belding, 66, one-time (1912-25) president, and son of one of the founders of Belding Bros. & Co., largest silk thread manufacturer and distributor in the U. S. before it was merged in 1925 with Heminway Silk Co.; of heart disease after an attack of bronchitis; in Manhattan.

Died. Ernest R. Ackerman, 68, U. S. (Republican) Representative since 1919 of the 5th New Jersey District, onetime president of the New Jersey State Senate, member of the House Appropriations Committee; of heart disease; in Plainfield, N. J. An ardent philatelist, he owned $1,000,000 worth of postage stamps, had swapped with King George V and King Victor Emmanuel III.

Died. Dr. Samuel Wesley Stratton, 70, chairman of the corporation and one-time (1923-30) president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, originator and one time (1901-23) director of the U. S. Bureau of Standards; of coronary occlusion (constriction of the heart ar-tery), immediately after dictating a tribute to his old friend Thomas Alva Edison (see below); in Boston. With Judge Robert Grant and President Abbott Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University, he was appointed by Governor Alvin T. Fuller of Massachusetts to review the evidence of the Sacco-Vanzetti case in 1927. Three months ago he said he hoped to live 100 years.

Died. Samuel Mather, 80, shipping, mining and steel tycoon (Pickands, Mather & Co.), first citizen of Cleveland; of heart disease; in Cleveland. Son of Samuel Livingston Mather who founded Cleveland Iron Mining Co. and the family fortune, he was a famed philanthropist, a director of U. S. Steel and many another great corporation. Holder of 60,000 shares of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., he battled Cyrus Stephen Eaton over a proposed merger with Bethlehem Steel Corp., won last week when the project was finally dropped. Steelman Mather's 15-year-old grandson took his own life (hanging) last month (TIME, Sept. 28).

Died. Thomas Alva Edison, 84; of uremic poisoning, Bright's disease, diabetes and stomach ulcers; in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, N. J. (see p. 52).