The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-10-24

A List Of Seventy Names Representing Neari,
Three Thousand Millions of Money.

Three Thousand Millions of Money.
In spite of the rapid increase in the num-
Der of millionaires in the United States In
recent years. the popular notion Is that
wealth is yet very much more evenly dis
tributed in this country than in England.
Mr.. Thomas q. Sherman, the ~well-known
New York statistician. has been engaged
for some time in collecting facts to show as
precisely as possible the proportion of the
wealth of the country held by a few rich
men and families. and he finds a greater
concentration Of wealth here than in any
other country. The results of his lnvesti-
CATION will appear in the Forum for Novem-
Der. from advance sheets of which the fol-
lowing facts are taken. MIR. Sherman
makes the following enumeration of owners
OF more than so. 600, 900 each:
$780, 600, 600: j. j. Astor. Trinity Church.
500. 00O, O00: G. Vanderbilt, w. X. VAN
derbit, Jay Gould, Leland Stanford, j. ID.
Rockefeller.
s.0.oOO.oo 0 Estate of A. Packer.
100000 John l. Blair, estate of Chas.
Croker.
$50. COOS 600: William Astor, ". w. Aston.
Russell Sage, +. A. Stevens. estate of Moses
Taylor, estate of Brown & Ives.
$40. 1000: z. ID. Armour. L. l.. Ames.
William Rockefeller. IL. NJ. Flagler, Powers
~ Weightman, estate of p. Goelet.
SS5, 10000 c. z. Huntington. %. Mills.
estates of 7. A. Scott. J. w. Garrett.
S30.OO0.O00: G.. Ii. Roberts. Charles Pratt,
Ross Winans. f. -. Coke. Claus Spreckels,
A. Belmont. X. j. Livingston, Fred Wey-
erhauser, Mrs. Mark HOPKINS. Mrs Hetty
Green. estates of s. V. Hardness, X. W.
Coleman, /. NJ. Singer.
SOS. 600. 900: A. J. Drexel. J.. S. Morgan. J.
p. Morgan, Marshall Field. David Bows, J.
q. Fair, T.. L. Gerry, estates of Governor
Fairbanks, A. I. Stewart, A. Schermerhorn.
Drexel. /. V. Williamson, w. +. Weld.
S2O:OO0.OO0: f.. w. Vanderbilt, Theo.
Havemeyer, H. o. Havemeyer. w. G. War
den. W. T; Thompson. Mrs. Schenley. J. 3.
Sloane, E.S. Higgins. G. Tower. VIM. Thaw.
DIR. Hostetter. Wm. Sharon. Peter Donohue.
These seventy names represent an aggTe-
gate wealth of s2, 1OO,O00.oOO. an average of
Sherman, in making this estimate. did not
look for less than twenty ~millionaires, he
discovered incidentally fifty others worth
more than $1,000 900 each; and he says that
O list of ten persons can be made whose
wealth averag es 500. 600. 900 each, and an
other list of one hundred persons whose
wealth averages So, 000, 600. No such lists
can be made up in any other country. The
richest dukes of England he says. 'fall
below the average wealth of a dozen Amer
lean citizens; while the greatest bankers,
merchants and railway magnates of Eng
land cannot compare IN wealth with many
Americans. The average annual income
of the richest hundred Engiishmen is about
$4,000, but ~theaverage annual income of
the richest hundred Americans cannot be
less than g, 200 600, and probably exceeds
Sl.500,O00. The richest of the ROthschilds,
and the w-orld-renowned banker. Baron
Overstone, each left about 81. 100000. Earl
Dudley, the owner of one of the
richest iron mines, left $4,000, O00.
The Duke of Buccleuch tand the
Duke of Buccleuch carries half
of Scotland in his pocket) left about $50
10000 The Marquis of Butte was worth,
in 1872, about S2S.0 900, 600 in land; and he
may now be worth $40, 600. 600 in all. The
Duke of Norfolk may be worth S4O.O O0, 600,
o.J <1a nr1a &c U.,~.- ,o,b-,.
$500 COO"
Mr.. Shearman's conclusion is that 5000
persons own one-half the wealth of tho
United States; and that the whole wealth
of the country is practically owned by $50
600 persons. or one in sixty of the adult
male population: and he predicts. from the
rapid recent concentration of wealth. that
under present conditions $4,000 persons will
practically own all the wealth of the coun-
try in thirty years-or less than one in 500
of the adult male population.