Smyrna times., 1882-03-29
Some Rich Americans.


wealth OF u few rich men as follows: w.
IL. Vanderbilt, $2O0,OOO,OO0; Jay Gould.
$lOO,OOO,000; Mackey, S50,OOO.OOO: Crock
er, $5O,000,O00; John Rockefeller. Of the
Standard Oil Company, $4O,OOO,OOO; ex-
Gov. Stanford $40, 100000; Senator Fair.
S3O,OOO,OO0; c. p. Huntington, $40, 900 900:
d. 0. Mills, $20,OO0,OOO; Russell Sage.
$l3,00O,000; j. r. Keene, 100000: S.
}. Tilden, Sl5,0OO,OOO; E. D. Morgan, $1O,-
100000; Samuel Sloan, $1OOOO,OOO; Com
modore Garrison, $lO,OOO,O0O; Cyrus w.
Field, SlO,0O0,OO0 Hugh J. levitt, S.
oOo'OO0; Sidney Dillon, $1,000 900; David
Dews, s. 100000; J. F. Nevarro, So, 900 900;
}. W. Garrett, $5,0O0,OO0. The Star adds:
Tn" real estate of Crnsus. the Lvdian
king, the richest man of antiquity was
/ worth $500, ,000-about two-thirds the
value of Vanderbilt his house cost
S4OO,O0O, while that of Vanderbilt cost So.
| OO0,0O0.
lhere are inaccuracies in this statement
yet II Is sufficiently accurate to warrant
| the conclusion which we wish to dravv
from it. All these fortunes are new: thew
have had their origin within the past
quarter of a century. They are ola rapid.
fungus growth. They all spring from one
common seurce-legislative grants and
governmental favors. The same causes
which created them are still at work
They are already large beyond precedent.
ana they are growing with increased
rapidity.
lhey are bringing us face to face with
the perplexing question which must arise
from unequal and unjust distribution OF
property. The mass of men will not rest
quietly in system which subjects them
10 life OF severe toll and rigid economy
IN the accumulation of small fortune.
while favored few are so fostered bv
Government that they acquire gigantic
wealth with a rush. They subject the
Government to very severe strain in re-
siSting the power which is inherent in such
vast accunulations Capital is naturally
selhsh; 1t has its wants like all forces its
tendency is to growth 1t is blind to
everything else save itself. No govern
ment has as yet been strong enough to re-
slst the undermining, the approach and
the assaults Of such vast wealth. 1t will
send its retainers and attorneys into
caucuses, and its voice will be potent in
nomination conventions. 1t will fill the
lobbies of the Legislature; its outcries
will frighten the timid, and it's bribes will
reach the corrupt. 1t is we'll nigh impos-
slble to so organize human courts as to
place them beyond the reach of 5000. .OOO.-
600, guided by single bold, unconscion-
able operator.
The vast amount of property invested
in slaves was sufficient, for many years. to
give currency to the most monstrous doc
trines. Even the Supreme Court of the
United Stetes, cur highest tribunal, held
that negroes had no rights which white
men were bound to respect. Human
rights and personal liberty were held to
be dependent upon the accidents of birth
and the color of the skin. Large property
Investments was thus able to stifle the
public conscience, and for long time, to
subvert all the human tendencies of our
civilization. So now, the large profits
made from the perversion and misuse OF
railroad grants and charters are being used
to secure tolerance for the most gigantic
abuses, The whole system has degen-
Grated into buccanneering. Fictitious
stocks and bonds, legislative corruptiOns
and grabbings, of every shade and variety,
are the methods by which the many are
plundered for the benefit of g few,
No government can exist and tolerate
such abuses. Corruptions always work
their own cure. Tolerated too long thev
lead to general and terrible disaster. He
roic, intelligent treatment Of this railroad
question would now save us from the dis
asterS of revolution; but history, if it tells
anything, teaches that wrongs tolerated
too long, lead to terrible and bloody
PonkerS Statesman.