The Iola register., 1889-08-09
UNCERTAINTY OF WEALTH.
In Wall Street a Man Ma be Rich To-day
and Poor TO.Morrow.

In Wall Street Man Ma be Rich To-day
and Poor To.Morrow.
Estimates Of wealth based on m amer
of living and habits Of personal expen-
diture are by the way, uncertain.
Some men spend every dollar they
make as fast as they make it. and never
have a dollar laid by. To infer there
fore, that because they live at the rate
of say $50. 900 year they are worth an
amount, which at 3 per cent. would
yield an income OF $4,000 would esi-
IDENTIFY be fallacious. On the other
hand. many thrifty and successful
money getters. from their thrift, spend
no more on themselves and families
after they have accumulated millions
than when they had next to nothing.
They have become fixed in the habits
they acquired in their less prosperous
days, and can not get out OF them.
Every year some man of this kind dies,
and astonishes his most intimate friends
by the immense estate he leaves behind
him. This is especially the case with
old men, who in their later years re.
tire from society. and are, as it were.
forgotten. While they are vegetating
in obscurity their money is rolling
over and over like a snow ball, in-
creasing in geometrical ratio. On this
point Mueller's weekly advertisements
of executors sales of stocks and bonds
and real estate are most suggestive
reading. The quantity Of stuff that
is poured out upon purchasers from
this source is something wonderful.
The executors of the late Joshua Jones.
for example, who was not supposed 10
be immensely rich. have just distributed
among his legatees, as the proceeds OF
a series of such sales, nearly $S,OOO,-
lets. who lived in a m Oldest way, sold
through the same auctiOneerS about
three years ago s.. 900. 600 worth of the
best kind Of securities.
For another reason, too. men Of
great fortunes, who do not Ostentatious-
ly display them, are much better pro.
,, tected against public knowledge of their
affairs than those who have small ones.
A man of moderate means has often
need to ask for credit, especially if he
is carrying on an active business. and,
therefore, must make statements of his
financial condition. These statements
are preserved and remembered, and
thus, in his particular circle, the
amount of his fortune is tolerably well
known. But a large capitalist. or even
small one, out of business, lends
money and does not borrow it, or, if he
borrows it, borrows upon collaterals.
which obviates the necessity of further
inquiry. and thus leads to no estimate
of his condition. do not see how the
fortune of man like Jupiter Morgan.
for instance. can be appraised. He has
certainly never told its amount to me,
nor to any one that know. doubt
| much whether he knows it himself
within several millions. When he
comes to die, to be sure, his executors
will find out, but that event, let us
hope, is yet far off. MIR. Jay Gould
few years ago did, indeed, make what
he declared was full and frank ex-
hibition of his stock investments. and
it was certified to by men OF unim-
peachable integrity. but, unfortunately.
| from the fact that it was made so
frankly. nobody accepted the statement
| as strictly correct. Mr.. Russell Sage
is reputed to be wealthy, and probably
is so, but whether he has one. five. ten
or twenty millions would not dare to
affirm. Besides, many great fortunes.
especially those which are hOurished
conspicuously before the eyes of the
public in well-trumpeted stock opera
tions, are as unsubstantial and evan
escent as soap bubbles. Ten years ago
Mr.. Cyrus Field was reputed to be
worth five millions of dollars. He got
to speculating in Manhattan Elevated
and went on until in single day he
was reduced to comparative poverty.
Mr.. Jay Gould. even, has repeatedly in
the course of his life been brought to
the verge of financial ruin The expe-
rience of Jas. r. Keene is still fresh in
the recollection of most frequenters of
Wall street know that he once ex-
hibited TO his lawyer New Years
statement showing a balance in his fa-
vor of $15,0OO,O00. The next New
Years the S15, 900. 900 had all been lost
and more, too. Even the late Governor
Z. ID. Morgan, who every body said was
worth $50, 900, 900. actually left at his
death only about So. 3.00O.0O0 and if he
had lived few years longer he would
probably not have left that. Hundreds
of such illustrations will occur to every
one who has been in financial circles
here for any length OF time. If a mon
ument were set up in Trinity church,
yard to every man who has made and
lost fortune in Wall street since 1860.
the gravestones there would be mighty
crowded. N. Y. Sun.
The First Chinese Railway