News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-04-03

speculator and railroad magnate. The
aggregate wealth of the Rothchilds
reaches nearly 81 900, 900, 900, but no
individual Rothchild is worth over
S75, 900, 900. Here is an estimate, OBJ
tanned from the most reliable sources,
of the fortunes of the Americans
named:
TOTAL FORTUNES.
John d. Rockefeller. ............S1 35, 900 900
| William Waldorf Aston. 125,000,0t0
Cornelius Vanderbilt. .......... 1l0,000,0OO
Jay Gould. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 9O,O0O,0OO
1t has been supposed that the late
John Jacob Astor was the richest man
in the world, aud so he was for time
after the division of the wealth of
William III. Vanderbilt, who. at the
time of his death,w was worth 5000, 000,-
900. John ID. Rockefeller has made
money faster in the past few years
than any othec mortal ever made it. He
is so rich that he cannot count his own
millions. He said, under oath, in a
legal proceeding not long ago, that he
could not estimate his fortune within
$1,000, 900 or $12 200, 900. The esti-
mate of S135, 900, 900 is not considered
excessive. If anything, it is under the
actual amount.
Rockefeller was once 4 newspaper
reporter, and less than two decades
ago was business man of only mod
crate means in Cleveland, o. His at
tention was attracted to the opportuni-
ties for making money in the handling
and refining of the product of the
Pennsylvania oil fields. He started q
comparatively small refinery, and from
a. grew the most powerful monopoly
on earth-the Standard Oil trust.
How rapidly the Standard has grown
is shown by the fact that in 1880 its
capital was only s., 900, 900, whereas
it is now 800, 900 900. The par value
of the stock is 500 share, but it is
quoted at $40. 1t pays dividends
rnting to 10 per cent. per annum
| Rockefeller owns more than a majority
of the stock, so that something like
| 800, 900, 900 of his fortune is repre-
scented i'll the trust. He also has ex-
ensive natural gas interests in Ohio,
and in addition is II large owner of
government bonds and the securities
of railroads and other corporations.
1t has been said, and it is probably
a fact, that the Standard Oil trust is
| the best-managed corporation in the
world. John d. Rockefeller is the di-
recting spirit. He looks and acts more
| like preacher than schemer. He is,
| in fact, deacon in a Baptist church.
He has STOPPING shoulders, dropping
eyelids and face that is almost sepul- |
| chlal. He lives i'll a handsome house |
| in West Fifty-fourth street, just around |
! the corner from Fifth avenue.
1t is in this neighborhood where the
| Vanderbilt mansions, the finest in New |
York, cluster. His diversions are few.
| Little is heard of him, and less is seen
/ of him. He is inaccessible at all |
| times. lie yields the enormous power |
| of the Standard Oh trus. from behind |
portals. And his power is proved by
the irresistible way in which opposi- |
/ ton to the Standard in all forms has
! been crushed out. There is, however.
one thing to be said of the Standard |
If an opposition pipe line or refinery
is started and assumes proportions sdf-
ficicut TO make il formidable. au offer. |
and fair one, at that, j. made TO-. |
] its purchase. If tn offer is refused. |
the ) andard puts down prices, inter |
feres with facilities and makes its |
competitors business Improbable |
The competitor in the end gives up. |
The Standard never was producer in |
Pennsylvania, but, when the Ohio |
oil field was discovered, it proceeded |
to secure all the productive territory, |
and now controls the situation there
absolutely.
William Waldorf Astor's wealth is
principally in real estate. The origin
al John Jacob Astor bought farm after
farm along the Kings Highway, the
old post road, extending from the bat
terry in New York to A bany. The
Kings Highway is now known as
Broadway. His heirs followed his ex-
ample, and thus it is that the Astors
have at one time or another owned the
best part of Broadway. PeoI lie who
desired to put up residences or bust
ness structures would obtain ground
leases from the AstOrs, and on corn
fields and potato patches reared build
ings, which, at the expiration of the
leases reverted to the Astors. AS a
rule these leases ran for q years.
Cornelius Vanderbilt inherited $50
600, 200 from William H. Vanderbilt.
He was previously the possessor of
50, OO0,O0 Interest and appreciation
in the value of bonds and stocks left
him by his father make up the balance
of the 0,O00 900 with which he is
credited. His fortune is very saoa-
ciously invested. 1t is principally in
st cks and bonds, but of class that in
Wall street are known as ''9ilt-edged.n
Even panic in the stock market
would not be apt to dim n;sh the value
of his fortune over 10 per cent, and
this impairment would not be perma-
nent. lie was the favoIite grandson
of old Commodore Vanderbilt, whose
name he bears, and he was likewise
the fuvorite son of hi, father. He is
an eXcel.em business man. His meth
DDS are conservative. Vanderbilt is
unassuming.
The estimate of Jay Gould's fortune
is made up on the "market value" In
one way it is p, ecarious fortune 1t
is composed almost entirely of the Sc
curities of the corporations controlled
by him, and these are speculative i'll
the extreme. A panic in Wall street
might reduce Lis fortune oDe-half.
Gould has practically retired. His
health is not good, and he has put the
active management of his properties in
the hands of his two eldest sons,
George and Edwin Booth. He has con-
tractcd rather than extended his inter
ests during the past three or four years
until now his holdings of stock are not
great outside the Western Union
Telegraph Company, the Nilsson Pa
cifc railroad and the elevated railroads
in New York. His sight has failed to
such an extent recently that he wears
gold-bowed spectaces almost con-
stantly. lie has grown rather tired of
his yacht, but in the summe" finds it
convenient in going between New York
and his country pace at Irvington-on-
the-Hudson. Rockefeller and Gould
have made their fortunes in a single
generation. Astor's fortune represents
the accumulation of four generations
and Vanderbilt's of three generations.
Rockefeller's fortune probably
yields, at its estimated value, per
cent. Vanderbilt's yields about the
same. Astor's fortune is calculated to
yield per cent. Inasmucl as many
of the stocks and bonds owned by