, 1888-08-07
LARGE CITY ESTATES.
PROPERTIES TIED UP IN THE HANDS
OF TRUSTEES.

"in Trust"
The early part of the century, from
1912 down to 1S4S, was the era when
many of the later millionaires were either
young men just beginning at the lower
rounds of fortunes ladder. or had ascend
ed the first most difficult steps of the
same, and began to see the prospect of in
dependence within satisfactory reach.
Some were Of Boston origin, but many of
these men had started out of homes of
large families on some New England hill
side, or in the small towns where progress
was Just beginning to change the PRINT
i've order of things to more modern methods
and conditions. Sturdy and rugged, in
ured to hard labor, and early taught
economy in the school of actual expert
ence with a fair amount of schooling,
such as it was-and it was good and
thorough as far as it went-and "a light
heart and scanty wardrobe, these boys
went out in the world to seek their fort
une. Many of them found it in Boston,
where from the humblest capacities they
rose to be heads of mercantile, manu-
featuring and other enterprises of a char
acter and extent that wero simply sur
prising. They became simply active
Instruments in the development of the
business and Of the country
when the railway system began to make
available their wonderful extent and
riches.
To this class of adventurous, industri-
GUS and successful men of affairs came
riches and possessions of various kinds,
among them being real estate in the best
business and residential sections of the
growing city. Some, more clear headed
than others, went more largely into the
acquisition of real estate, Judging that,
with the inevitable large increase in pop
~ulation, land must become very valuable.
Events justified their judgment. Some
of these men returned to their early
homes for wives, but the majority of
them obtained helpmeets from among the
families of their new homes. Children
were born to them, for in those days it
had not become questionable to have fam
lilies, and in cases large ones at that.
These children had to be educated in q
way superior to that of tl2sir- parents,
and in the course of this process acquired
new tastes and habits. The sons, espe-
cially, must have a college course, with
all that that often means to the sons of
rich men who have large expectations.
Of course 1t was not alone the sons of
men who had come to Boston to seek a
fortune that filed the colleges. The
early Bostonians were also thrifty and
money making, and raised large families,
and left extensive estates. Many of their
sons, as well as those of the former, in
herited enough of the p~aternal energy
and ambition to impel them to go into
their fathers counting rooms and be-
come, In turn, great merchants or man
ufacturers; and 1t is to the credit of
some of these families that even up to
the present day their representatives are
to be found in conspicuous positions
either in trade or in the learned profess
sions.
hi it often happened that where the
sons of wealthy parents settled down to
trade the grandsons did not, and in time
we find old familiar names fading out from
the activities of our city, to be replaced
by new ones. 1t is, perhaps. a fact that
the majority of the sons of our wealthy
people are little heard of after college
graduation. Many of them nave a dis
taste for trade; many choose PROFESSIONS
where they only loiter among workers,
having no real incentive, lacking ambi-
ton, to work; while others become mere
educated nobodies, with a strong tendency
to live extravagantly, and spend all the
money they can command. The fathers of
these drones, noting their unwilling
ness or incapacity for business affairs,
will not leave them the control of
property which they do not know how to
manage, and, therefore, in their wills,
leave their property in the trust of men
or corporate bodies in whom they have
confidence, for the benefit of these heirs,
with, perhaps, reversion to their children.
The incomes derived support these men,
and, If they marry, their families, in good
style. In some cases these legatees, hav-
ing scholarly or artistic tastes, go abroad,
live and bring up families of un-American
children In England or on the continent of
of Europe. Gases of this kind are not in
frequent.
Then there is the matter of sex in
descent, and as daughters constitute
about one-half the total of the children of
rich people, their provision Is quite an
important factor In the creation of
trust properties. daughters of rich men
are much sought after by dashing but ad-
venturous wife hunters. Experience has
shown that to dover a wife in her own
control ON marriage Is to practically give
her fortune to her husband, How to
guard this property for her own benefit,
and for that of her children, is the con.
sideration Of the prudent father. In hin
will, therefore, he leaves the daughters
share of his property In trust for her BEN
eft, or for that of her children, with the
right of reversion to the latter in the event
of her death, the husband to have no con-
troll of the anne II the income to be
paid directly to her or to her children I'M
DER reVerSlOhs but even TINS careful
method was found defective. Where the
husband was INSCRIPTIONS and avaricious,
and the reversion to minor children en-
abled him to obtain control of the prop
erty as their natural guardiani in the event
of his wife's death, cases occurred where
death vas fastened by cruelty and i'll
usage on his part. To offset this, a con-
siderable proportion of the property was
in some cases left so that the wife could
dispose by will of the same, though not
otherwise dispose of 1t during her life.
There have been cases of trust and con-
idence in sons-in-law, where the latter
have nobly carried out the wishes of the
testator; but the temptation for a husband
to administer the property of his wife for
his own benefit Is often SO great as to be
apparently irresistible. He can appropri.
ate the income to his own uses, perhaps
~squander 1t, and when the time for the
return of his account to the probate
court arrives he can obtain the necessary
vouchers from his wife, though he may
not have given her o per cent. of the In
come. If she objects, he will say to her
that he has lost the money in speculation,
and II she does not sign the will he will
be a ruined man, and forever disgraced In
the eyes of the world. To save him from
disgrace, therefore. she yields and lives