Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1880-10-21

AMERICAN INCoMEs.-There is no table of
the average duration of fortunes ); but the STA
tistics of business failures in the country since
1866 show that the average yeGrty failures
ranged from | In 1853 In the year 1871, to in
rs in 1876. How many business men in a
thousand fail, once or more, during their bus-
ness lifetime, ] cannot learn. The proportion
used to be estimated, for New England, at 81
per cent. That is probably too high a figure
for the business of to-day, conducted as it is
upon much shorter credits than formerly. But
the proportion of traders who fail is probably
not lower than 70 per cent. OF the whole num-
Der. .t.'..t ,....~...-gr,- III, ~.
How many of our people live upon their in
vested lneanss In 1866 our income tax re-
turns showed III 200 incomes of $500 per
year and over, and six million incomes of less
than $500. But these were not incomes from
capital they were mostly earnings or wages
Probably not one 10 q hundred of these small
err incomes, and not over 10 per cent. of the
incomes over $500, represented the interest
upon investments. In France, ten years
later, the census returned no less than two
millions OF people, renters, who lived entirely
upon their invested means. In 1877 seven
and half millions of the people-one-fifth of
the population were enrolled as rentes-hold-
ers or savings banks adepositers; butit must
be added that the savings banks do not often
fail in France, and that sooner Or later they
are apt to fail with US. Most of these depos-
its are small ones. But no less than two mil
lions OF the French can, say with aPetrarch,
PcrUa sed dptG naisi; sIt is little enough, but
twill do for me. . =
Thus, in spite of the resources of the coun-
try, IN spite of the almost universal search for
wealth, and in spite of the fact that we. have a
great many rich men at any given time, we
still do not have d large class Of permanently
rich men we do not even have, like the
French, large class of persons who have a
permanent though small competence. The
rich American wealth is extremely volatile;
in nine cases out of ten it is "fairy gold -
The old landowners form the chief exception
to the rule; especially inI our large cities,
where the increase of values has been great
But if our class of permanently wealthy
people is small, so also ,is our class of desti-
ltate people. We are fortunate in having 60
such immense and harmful inequality of for
tunes as we see ia modern England. Our i'll
fortune is this, that our class of moderate com
petences is also small, that so few of us, IN
spite OF ouS opportunities and our, labors, have
seized the good of even small assured CON-
petenee. The land is full of people who have
not. on the other hand, and who are not likely
to have, any assured competence, however
moderate, but who have nothing to.expect but
labor to the end. That is, indeed, the APP
pointed human Alot for the majority in any
community but need it be- in country OF
resources like this, so nearly the universal
LOTT Might not many of US avoid it by great
Fer care for a moderate competence, q lessened
ambition for fortunes 1T. MI! CoAN, in H0r.
pesse 1Naqassse for Nooenadsr. s9As ~ AZ. ~