Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1881-02-26
Men Of Millions,
IEIsID.AN.

The richest man in America, and
nearly the richest man in the world, is
William II. Vanderbilt His fortune is
set at about 5000 100000 Next to him
comes JAY Gould, who is reaching to-
ward 500 OoO.OOO The immense estate
of the Astors is worth much over $50
NM0OO. Fortunes ranging from Sl0,-
OlN.OhU to So 100000 are almost common
SO frequent, indeed, that the term
millions" has almost lost its immensitv
AZ figure OF speech. and is employed
now where that OF thousands used to be
Our fathers spoke of man worth his
hundreds of thousands, and we. the
children, heard them with the same awe
as that Mith which We listened 10 the
aecription of the fnblcd treasures of a
tairy tale. Our children TODAY do not
cali man rich until he has passed the
GOAL their grandsircs only considered in
such names as the Eothschilds, who
were regarded rs types of II wealth no
man would ever peer. Even David
Jones, the brewer who died last week,
worth Sl0,00O,OO0. did not rcceiv. "A half
column obituary notice in any morning
paper.
The man who wanted to make a
census Of the milionarcs OF New York
for the year 1881 would almost need IA
whole newspaper to do it. Their name
is literally legion. There are scores of
them whose wealth can not be known.
because it is invested in such a Xay that
it is not required t. pay taxes, and
leaves no annual record Of itself that can
be arrived at. Dennis kearney called
these men blOatcd bondhOldcrs. and
they are, in SO far az the latter clause is
concerned. They are men who invest
their vast accumulatiOns in government
bonds, draw the interest regularly, and
add it to the principal, and so go on
heaping up Il mon&trous capital with no
labor on their part, and no expenditure
except the original one But they are
lavish with their wealth in spite of all
that may be said to the contrary, and
that lavishness has made the name of
New York a synonym for the open
handed bcneiiccnce which marks it in
charity, science, arts and commerce the
metropolis Of the western hemisphere.
Apart from the fiuctuating fortunes of
the speculative rich men, the Jim
kcenes and his like, which may be mil
lions to-day or thousands tomorrow,
there are merchant princes and quiet
men of fortune who, when they die, will
leave wills to run into the seven figures,
and make people wonder why they
never heard of such rich men before.
Nor are thr-c colossal CAPITALS restrict
ed to the metropolis. Cincinnati has
several well-to-do people, although forty
years ago she had but three who count
ed their fortunes by millions These
were Nicholas Longworth, who died in
1862, leaving about $l0,O00,000, and
Jacob Burnett and James Ferguson,
who died in 1853, each leaving about
$2,000,000. OF the opulent people now
residents of Cincinnati, David Sinton is
said to be worth $l0,0O0OO0; G. H.
Shoenberg, S5,0N000; A. ID. Breed, S5,-
OOOO 600; estate of James w. Gotf, $1,000
600; estate of Oliver Perrin, $4,000, 900 {;
H. Il. Springer, 5000, 600; Joseph Long
worth, S5000,O00 estate Of S. n. Pike,
$4,000 900; Emery Brothers, S3.000,0O0
A. ID. Bullock, Charles and John Kill
gmr, w. p. Hulhut. Samuel Eosdick,