ROCKEFELLER ON TOP (Feb. 24): The New York Times publishes a list of the world's richest people. Topping it is John D. Rockefeller, whose worth is estimated at $300 million.

SCOUTING OUT AN IDEA (July 29): Sir Robert Baden-Powell, a celebrated British general, recruits 22 boys for a field test of his essay "Boy Scouts -- A Suggestion." The aim of the two-week excursion into the woods of Brownsea Island off England's coast is to instill a sense of community service, chivalry and physical fitness "to help in making the rising generation, of whatever class or creed, into good citizens at home or in the colonies." Baden-Powell would later meet with Chicago publisher William D. Boyce, who will incorporate the Boy Scouts of America in 1910.

	SS Lusitania

MAJOR MAIDEN VOYAGE (Sept. 13): The Cunard liner SS Lusitania arrives in New York on its maiden voyage, setting a record of five days, 54 minutes, for the trans-Atlantic crossing from Queenstown, Ireland. The 31,500-ton Lusitania is 790 feet long, with four screws; it can carry 2,000 passengers and a crew of 600 and is by far the largest liner yet built.

A 5-RINGLING CIRCUS (Oct. 21): The five Ringling brothers -- Alf, Al, Charles, Otto and John -- from Baraboo, Wis., buy out their main competitor, the Barnum & Bailey circus, for $410,000. The deal, sealed in London, gives the Ringlings a virtual monopoly on the circus business in the United States.

OK IS IN (Nov. 16): Oklahoma becomes the 46th state.

KIPLING'S NOBEL (Dec. 10): Rudyard Kipling, author of "The Jungle Book," is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.