Wichita eagle., 1889-04-09
WOMEN OF WEALTH.
What a New York Lady Has to
Say About Them.
The Incredible Enterprises They Could
Garry Out If They Should Decide to
Combine-A Gigantic Aggrega-
ton of w ealth and Enterprises

There has recently been printed a list Of
American women whose combined fort
unes aggregate the magnificent sum OF
s37l GOO 600, writes New York correspond
ent of the Chicago Tribune. Sixty-two
women control this vast amount of money,
divided as follows:
Thirty-eight widows. worth 80. 80. $40 DOC, 900
Fourteen spinsters, worth......... l24ooO,0O0
| Ten married women, worth. 100000
Total, slXIy-tWo-- 80. . COZ l,CoV,ovO
sMany millions of this vast sum of money
is locked UP in diamonds" said a prominent
New York lady to the writer in discussing
these wealthy women, sand the thought Oc-
ours to me that these women might revolu-
| tionize the commerce of the country by a
consolidation of their wealth into one gigan-
tic company What might they not accom-
/ plish with such an enormous power working
in one direction2"
! The lady grew quite enthusiastic over the
big scheme, and met every intlmation that
such a stupendous project would hardly be
| feasible. ''Of these siXty-two women" said
she, II believe there are at least fifty who
would readily go into such an enterprise.
Of course they would not invest all their
wealth, but enough of it to make it the
greatest financial organization on earth I
know many of these women personally, and
I am sure they would much prefer to have
their money actively employed than locked
up in diamonds, fine residences and unpro-
ductiye securities. Talk about the OPP
pressed SEX These sixty-two women could
ameliorate the whole female population"
The lady went on to explain that this
gigantic aggregation OF wealth meant
sum much greater than the combined
wealth of the Vanderbilts. 1 find by ref
erence to the latest estimate on the Wander
bilt estates that in this she is right. The
best information on the value of the Van
derbilt wealth is as follows:
Cornelius Vanderbilt. ............S 81 TO- 000, 900
William h Vanderbilt. .............. s., 000, 900
Frederick w. Vanderbilt. ........... 100000
George w. Vanderbilt. .............. 1900 900
Mrs. Elliott F. Shephard......... II coo
Mrs. VIII am D. Sloane ............. L, COO, 900
Mrs. Hamilton Mex. Twombly...... 100000
Mrs. w. Steward Webb. 12 100000
Total. s274, oOo, 900
From these figures 1t will be seen that
this proposed Woman's Trust, or whatever
it is to be called, overshadows the great
Vanderbilt fortunes to the extent of $751;
100000. "The most that fnanciers can
figure out of Jay Gould's holdings," said
the lady, "are SIS 000, 900; so if the Wander
bits and Mr.. Gould were to combine their
forces the women would still be ahead of
them so 100000. The enterprise that might
be carried out with this combination of
capital stagger5 the imagination. odd
Hutch who made such a Juror and so
much money by cornering the Chicago
wheat market, is worth but 5000, 600. Not
half of his fortune was used in this specu-
lation, and yet he made $1,000, OcO out of it.
mi he had yvith
1871, 100000 1t would buy the Western
Union Telegraph Company, at it's actual
value, eighteen times; it would buy the en-
tire oil regions of Pennsylvania; it is more
money than has been made from the KIM
berry diamond fields of South Africa, and
vastly more than has been produced from
the great Comstock lode, the princely fort
unes of Mackay, Fair, Flood, O'Brien, and
the rest of the golden Califc rnians."
| asked this woman of vast figures if she
had outlined any plan upon which such a
Woman's Trust might be operated She
had not got that far along with the novel
but her opinion was that wom-
an like Hetty Green, herself worth $40, 00O,-
900, should be at the head of it. ''There are
a dozen women managing fortunes that
would be useful in the executive depart
ment of such combination. She named
Miss Mary Garrett, of Baltimore, with her
20,O00,000 Mrs. Nicholson, chief owner of
the New Orleans PIcayune; Mrs. Frank
Leslie, and other ladies Of minds and means.
She believed that such combination would
great deal Of good in the
world by "knocking out'' those who op-
posed the poor. "If these women should
90 into Wall street or the Chicago wheat
market with their money they could clean
,ut the whole army of spectators and pile |
lp more money than ever came from the
mines of Golconda."
But might they not get scooped9" 1
asked.
She thought not, but the suggestion set
Ter thinking.