The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-06-02
DEAD MILLIONAIRE.

Moses Taylor who was born IN Ne"
York City 76 years ago, and has re-
sided there, merchant and banker, ever
since died at his residence in Fifth
Avenue last week, leaving an estate OF
$4,000, 900 to two sons and three
daughters. The virile share Of each
heir at law, supposing him to have
died intestate, being thus $Io,ooo,ooo.
Such partition breaks up moderately
this vast inheritance. The absence OF
primogeniture relieves society, by
means of such distribution, of some
part of the rapidity with which wealth
is rolling into few hands. Here are,
of the Taylor heirs, five milllonalres
worth SIC, 1000, 900 each. At atyune
given at Delmonico's, in New York,
about 3 years ago, to old Peter Cooper,
there were present $50 guests OF whom
100 were worth over $40, ooo,o 900. each.
There were probably many New York
millionaires who were not present at
Peter Cooper's breakfast. We have
no assessment tables, or other statis-
tics, at hand to enable us to approx
mate the probable sum of estates of
that magnitude in that city, where 2oo,-
900 people of all ages 60 every day
without food enough to satisfy hunger,
while seven-tenths of the deaths are
caused by the slow ravages of want
and misery. Nor is it necessary. The
readers mind is sufficiently provided
with conception of the enormous So
cial monstrosity which renders so differ.
ent in condition those who are equals
as men or members of society. In
this brief recital there is enough to
awaken the conviction that this gov
eminent and people have yet done
nothing to mitigate the great evils of
the world, which are naturally social
evils and only Arbitrarily political. Legls-
lation which should have been applied
to preserving the perfect equality
which the law of the country ostenta-
tiously proclaims, has been scarcely
less a cause in this than in other lands
of the great inequality of condition
that prevails. We mean especially in
equalities in the circumstances that
govern physical condition. Physical
wants, hunger, cold, exposure, desti-
tuition, madden men, make them Grim
inals, lunatics, inebriates, with them
people our asylums, our state prisons,
supply murderers for our scaffolds, are
the chief cause of all the sufferlngs and
error that afflct mankind. Yet the
law that p-oclaims the equality of men
permits the fruits of toll which alone
creates wealth, to flow into the hands
of class more or less numerous who
having no needs adequate to their
Jssessions cannot possibly derive any
benefits from them, while one-ffth of
the population are suffering from phys
ical want, and seven-tenths of its NOR
tally are caused by it.
Unless the people have the intelli-
gence and the frmness to check and
prevent the accumulation of wealth to
such an excess in individual hands
constituting a class of monied auto
Gratis. it is easy to see what sort of
mockery our boasted freeinstituhons will
turn out to be. If legislation, which
to-day is the privilege of the poor
man is not used by him to secure him
from the slavery Of social dependence,
he will see how promptly, when the
occasion is ripe, it will be used by his
master to bind him to his will and dec
crate him with the badge of servitude