The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-04-17
ACCCNULATING FORTUNES.
The Late Vanderbilt said Ten y: :iii'oos Is
Enough for Anybody.
New York Sun.

lue lOTtuue lell US tuc ItlIS D@'1N
Dows is estimated at twenty millions, |
and probably the guess is more nearly !
correct than is usually the case with |
such estimates. The amount IS the
some as that left by John Jacob Astor,
the founder of the great :Astor estate,
who died in ISIS.
Fortv-tWo years ago AL estate oi
twenty millions attracted attention
throughout the world because of its
magnitude, and Mr.. Astor died by far
the richest man in America. But the
! fortune of Mr.. Dows is now one among
many of equal size, and, instead of
ranking among the greatest, It does
not hold even secondary place. Big
as it is, it is not big enough to give
much of a stir to the popular magma
ton in these days. y fortune must be
at least five times as great to provoke
surprise at time when estates known
to the public are increasing at the rate
of ten millions annually. Mr.. Pier
Don Morgan, associated with Mr.. D0WS
in the vestry Of ST. Georges, is re-
prited to be worth more than twenty
millions; and there are more than a
dozen, if not score, of fortunes in
New York reasonably estimated to he
Of that amount. Probably the Astor
estate is ten times as much. Then
come the Vanderbilt estate, Mr.. Jay
Gould's, and Mr.. John D. Rockefeller's,
each of one hundred millions or more.
In the third rank are such fortunes as
those of the Moses Taylor family, Mr..
Russell Sage, the Goelets, Mr.. H. NJ.
Flagler, Mr.. D. O. Mills, Mr.. c. P.
Huntington, and others, estimated at
from thirty millions to fifty millions.
The twenty-million fortunes drop into
the fourth or fifth place only; and
there are many more Of them than
there were possessors of single mil
lion in the days when the thought Of
the first Astor's wealth took mems
breath away, or at any time before the
civil war. The mere millionaire, or
the owner of single million only, has
become so common that the term is
now made to apply to none except a
ten millionaire.
Ten millions is the amount fixed by
the late William II. Vanderbilt as a
reasonable competence for anybody
Ten millions is all a man needs, he
used to say. Yet, as we have said,
there are single estates in New York
which are accumulating at the rate of
ten millions year, and their posses
sors do not seem to be satisfied yet.
The Astor estate must be increasing at
something like that rate, and Mr. John
D. Rockefeller is reputed to be laying
by as much annually. The average
expenses of all the possessors of the
great fortunes We have named are
very small part of their income, so that
the accumulation goes on little affected
by them. Most of these men, too, are
comparatively young, and if they live
to the seventy-six years Of Mr.. Dows,
with the ratio of increase undimin-
ished, the fortunes of the next century
will make those Of our day seem as
small as Mr.. Astor's twenty millions in
1S4S seem to us now. Meantime the
estates of five millions and ten millions
are also increasing rapid, very few of
their possessors expending more than
a fifth or even tenth part Of their in
comes.
What is going to be the result to So
ciety of this vast accumulation Of pri-
vate wealth? We do not believe that
it will be the calamity predicted by so
many gloomy philosophers of this day.
The public will benefit by the aggrega-
ton and competition Of these enor-
| nous estates lessening the rates for
money. individuals will hold the prop
erty, but for their own interest they
they will have to administer it as 4
trust for the general interest aid IN
terest and advantage. 1t is possible,
too, that fortunes so great will come to
be regarded as burden rather than Il
prize to be sought for with zest. The
average comfort, too, is steadily in
creasing. In 1913 Mr.. Astor, with his
wealth, could not have bought aids to
the enjoyment Of existence which in
vention and Improvement since his
day have brought within the general
reach until they have come to be re-