Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-07-11
American MillionaireS.
WIN They Are And the Causes That
u.ra Enabled such Accumulat0ins.
ga. This World Only Intended For
A Few!

rAs American press Is just a. present
lin, much attention 70 the annual
,ination of that portion of the
e.rs,re returns from which, says the Lon
s,n standard, By process of calculations
80 ON the statements handed in for
-. rnrnose of direct taxation, the &c
taoslsdged income of the various trans
1,is,tie millionaires can be computed.
Nv far such returns maybe accepted as
accnrate is an open question. Il is
l.abtfnI whether the state can ever take
-titbaof the taxable wealth of the mag
uo,ss whose investments, spread over half
he world. are only small extent in
,argible property. On the other hand,
tbsTe IL gossip to the effect that, to in
las their consequence and the credit
rbich follows, aspiring bachelors and
,psbipg men of business sometimes re-
tprn their means as higher than they
really are, and find their profit IN paying
an the fctitions amount. Jay Gould we
are told. is worth e6O,000,000, a figure
mat Il probably enormously exaggerated,
a. are also the G50,0OO,OOO set down for
N.vada mine owner, who, it is added, WAS
gheeling barrow in Virginia City some
twenty-five years ago. These are fol
lowed at some distance by the head of
the New York AstUrs, who is credited
with e25,OOO,O00 the Vanderbilts with
G25O0O,00Q, and variety of less familiar
psrsonaxes. NJ. De Varigny, who has
been examining these and similar figures,
considers that the richest Euglishman is
the duke of Westminster, whose property
Is estimated at e16,0OO,0Oo, and that no
continental landowner or merchant
comes within many millions of this
amount.
The new world millionaires, however,
differ in certain respects from those
on this side of the globe. On the one
baud their riches are all their own, IN
hgmpered with entails or other ooliga-
tiUus incident to property inherited or
acquired on this side Of Atlantic, but on
the other, very little of it is real wealth.
Most of the American millions are rep
resented by shares in all sorts of speo1I
alive enterprises-in mines which may
ormay not run clear of ore, or in railways
the stock of which is often at the mercy
of one or two stockholders and may
IN q few hours be made worthless. In
California there are, perhaps, more mil
hOnaires than in any other state of the
union, the rich mines and the endless OPP
pOrtunitIes for enterprise offered by that
region having operated to the benefit of
lts sharper citz9ns. One of these is
SAID 10 be a university graduate, and
seven are lawyers. The rest were in their
youth of the uneducated, barefooted
order, their early struggles being unaid-
ed by friends or relatives. Forty zone
are American by birth, Is are Irish, are
Hebrews, . are German, are English,
and / is of French extraction. Yet it is
striking commentary on public life in
America that of these eighty-tive milliok-
aires, representing a total of about $780,,
100000, only seven have aspired to any
political position.
The millionaire in America dates, gen
orally speaking, from the time of the
civil war, and We are accustomed to speak
of his wealth. as putting implicitly in
the shade that of the ancents, But we
are Inclined TO think that in the palmy
day. of Rome, when all the world was
piliaged to Zurich il, there were men,
rela yely speaking, qui'e as rich As any
of these days. Ciusus POSSESSED j. land
ed property nearly e2,000,000, besides
slaves, furniture, and money to more
than an equal amount. Seneca could
afford 70 be philosophic with fortune of
t3 100000 TIberiOus left at his death
over E23,000,00 which Caligule spen. in
less than a year. Julius Caesar, before he
obtained any office "nursed the cousfitu-
ency' 80 adroitly that he owed nearly SO,
100000 In al he squandered nearly
El47 100000 of the public money. Ap-
Plus wasted in debauchery 100000, aud
poisoned himself rather than face the
g
Esopn-, the comedian, would spend $50
900 on a single dish. BY the time the
Roman empire fell Europe had been
pretty well skinned, though as the medi-
e7Al bankers were concentrated for the
most part Of Italy, great deal of plum
def IA the peninsula does no. seem TO
have crossed the APPS.
In the middle ages there were rich men,
OF course, for in such state of general
lmpecunlosity it wa easy for capitalists
TO heap up wealth. Bo Jousson Grip, a
eTede, died in 1886, leaving, in a iditlon
% enormous estates, mines, and sums of
coined money, $1,000 ounces of silver. SO
we'll provided was he with the sinews Of
war that he eoulG declare hostiiities
against the Hanseatic league ana dictate
t-.ns 70 Lubec and Dantzig. Tue Fug-
gers ana other merchants also manaG ed
70 monopOlize a vast amount of money
Yet when Edward III. failed in 1886 to
l"b5,OOO golden crowns which be had Dor
rowed of the Peruzzi o. Florence, some
iains like a panic ran through the e1
changes of the continent.
With the discovery of America wealth
once gained began to grow rapidly, but
not even then did anything like modern
fortunes become common. Within the
IA't nifty years manufactures, mines, and
various industrial enterprises have rev
oIuloulzed our conception on the sub
!ee' When the elder Dumas reveled in
oriental conceptions be created Monte
ltlsto as his ideal millionaire. Yet,
lluSed by modern standards, this i'm
Sslnary being would have been rather
poor and would scarcely have found a
pace m the annual list which appears
~ New York
Few Of these American potocrats can
p sand TO enjoy their money. Most OF
.arm begin 70 get it at tine o. life
".-u they are too old to begin so learn
.l-F tbs art of living. They have never
--es anything but form combinations
400 rake IN money. Public life they de-