Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-01-09
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
Mr.. VAN GRIPS FORTUNE.

MIR. VAN CHIPS FOX ONE~
In 1910 Mr.. Van Grip purchased from
the Van Snort estate. q lot of land 'front.'
ing on Broadway, below Fulton street,
for $25, 600. An old building stood on
the lot at that time, and Mr.. Van Grip
had it torn down and new building
erected in it's stead. The new building
cost S1OO, 900 and created no little stir
and gossip in New York in those days.
Besides giving minute description of
it in their news columns, the Bugle and
Bladder treated the subject editorially
and in glowing terms praised the enter
prise and public spirit of Mr.. Van Grip,
and wound up with wish that New
York were blessed with more men like
him. Enterprise and public spirit were
not Mr.. Van Grips only virtues. He
was religious, God-fearing gentleman,
loving husband, good father, a
thorough business man who was not too
proud to look after his own affairs,
which he always kept in the straightest
order, keeping accurate accounts of all
his transactions so that at any moment
he could tell exactly how he stood with
respect to any particular one of them;
in short he was a model mana man to
be looked up to and copied.
Years rolled by, bringing poverty,
hunger and rags to many and riches,
plenty and fine linen to a few. The
civil war broke out, and thousands Of
hot-headed patriots left home and kim
dred to sacrifice their lives on tho altar
of freedom. Hitherto it had been q cast
iron rule with Mr.. Van Grip to PERSONAL
ly represent himself on all occasions
whore matters of any moment wcrc at
issue, but in this case he was satisfied
to appear by proxy. So he hired an
agent to represent him at the front, :"
and remained at home himself to look
after the interests of society and to see
that the business of the metropolis was
carried on in ship-shape manner. The
public veal demanded this, and, as Mr..
Van Grip was heavy taxpayer, the
city could not very we'll spare him. He
was ono of her representative. mon.
In 1886 Mr.. Van Grip died, in the Ian
guage Of the eminent divine who Off
ciated at the funeral services, "uni-
versally regretted" and was peacefully
laid to rest in the family plot, where d
handsome marble shaftrecords his many
virtues for the ediication of future gen.
crations.
EARLY in 1887 the lot of land and the
building (now an old one) on Broadway
were sold in partition proceedings fol
the snug little sum of $350,OO / have
incidentally remarked above that Mr.
Van Grip kept accurate accounts of al
his transactions, and here take the lib
srty OF glancing at the accounts relativ,
to this particular one, not to satisfy an,
morbid curiosity, but simply with viey
of learning a lesson from the enterpris
and public spirit of the exemplary gen
tleman.
The account is written in neat hand
every ''i'' is dotted and every IT.
crossed, and it is most beautifully rule
off in red ink. On the debit side are eli
tered payments for taxes, water rates
, the legal rate on the 1925, 900 invested
= and on the credit side appear til
;, amounts of rent received. For tt
Y first three years Cs41-3) the debit ar
/ credit sales of the accounts exactly ba
@ ance. During the following seven yea
n QS44-50) the credits exceed the 'debi
r by S., 500; from 1851 to 1860 the excess
r credits over debts is Sl1, 200; from Isl
to 1870 this excess amounts to S12.5 so
from 1871 to 1850 the excess amounts Il
to $4,000; and from 1851 to 1856, incll
@ sive, it is SIS, 600: the grand total of e,
cess of rents over and above payment
Y for taxes, insurance, water rates, re
7 pairs, ETC., and the amounts which M
S Van Grip allowed himself for interes
4 on the principal sum invested durin
4 the forty-six years being 1000.
u Now let us work out two little prol
: lens, one in subtraction and the othe
a in addition. From tho price at whic
: the property was sold in 1887, namely
: $3.50, 900, deduct the cost price, namely
l S125,O00, and there remains $225, 900,
D which add 1000, and we find the ne
: profit on this little transaction was S276
Z 900. OF course, have not taken int
: consideration interest on the surplus {
y receipts over disbursements which az
. crued annually from 1914 to 1856, and c
which surplus Mr.. Van Grip was sufl
GENTLY enterprising and public spirite
r to take appropriate advantage
q Two hundred and seventy-six tho,
sand dollars! Phew! To think of
! makes my head swim. What geniu!
! What enterprise! What public spiri
! Compare this with the puny efforts {
y twenty pigmy contemporaries of Nj
r Van Grip Those twenty clods of h,
: manity started in the race with hin
4 They drudged and delved for twent
0 years 1s4o-6O), and as heresult of the
G drudgiug and delving averaged S525
;. year per man, they all earning durin
y the twenty years 100000, which thes
: good-for-nothing fellows squandere
as fast as they earned i
: The war broke out and the who]
t twenty marched off to til
d 'front.'" from which six of them return
0 ed alive to resume their drudging an
: delving. For the next twenty-five yea
= Qs65-s6) the total amount earned |
= = those six nobodies was &c., or S5l
: yearly a man. This they likewise spe1
as fast as they earned it, in riotous Ii
d ing and pampering of the flesh. AT
f then those six nobodies died and wei
: buried out of sight and into their mise