The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-19
TFrom the New York Sun.

do not think err in saying that
the number of great fortunes possessed
by- individuals is the most striking
feature of our present social SYSTEM
Making all allowance for unavoidable
exaggeration, the wealth Of the Van
derbilts, the Astcrs, the Goelets MIR
Jay Gould, Mr.. Pierpont Morgan, Mr.
Russell Sage, aud others like them, is
something never before known in oul
history, and it necessarily commands
our attention, if not our admiration
and our envy. If We may believe the
testimony Of those who do not usually
speak without knowledge, Mr.. Rookie
feller has Sl50,00O,C00, and Mr.. Flag
Ter about the same. The two elder sons
of the late William H. Vanderbilt have
over Sl00,O00,O00 each. Mr.. William
Waldorf Astor's possessions are esti
mated at about Sl00,000,000, and, ac'
cording to the hereditary family policy
of keeping the property together as
much as possible, the young John
Jacob Astor, who is to be married next
week, will eventually have pretty near
ly as much.
Then comes Mr.. Gould's fortune o.
100000; Mr.. Sage's, Of perhaps
S50,OO0,OO0; the Goelet boys, with theii
25,000000 apiece, more or less; Mr.
Pierpont Morgan, Mr. Mills. Mr.. Bish
op, the children Of the late Moses Tay
lor, and e dozen others whose names
do not now recall, and whose pardon l
beg for their omission, each with from
S25,00O,O0O or thereabouts, down tc
Sl0,0O0,OO0. Besides these there are
many not well known to the public
who have from S., 100000 to $40, 100000
and every few days some hitherto OBJ
scure man, like the late Mr.. Fayer
weather, dies and surprises the world
by leaving behind him one, two OF
more millions. In other cities and
States the case is similar, though less
striking, and the fortunes owned IN
Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chi
cago, st. Louis, and San Francisco
rival, if they do not equal those in Ne"
York.
These great fortunes have become SO
familiar to Us that they are accepted as
the necessary and permanent results OF
our social progress, like the railroads,
telegraphs, telephones, oil wells, and
other modern, wealth-producing agen-
cies in which they had their origin.
Yet, to an old-fashioned fellow like
myself, they never cease to be wonder
ful. When first began to be acquaint-
ed with business affairs, fifty years or
more ago, the possession Of 100000
was thought enough to retire upon,
and the saying of the late Stephen
Whitney, "a man with S5O0,000 is just
as we'll off as if he were rich," was re-
garded as a brilliant specimen Of ironi-
cal wit. In fact, I do not know besides
Mr.. Whitney and the first Mr.. Astor
there was another man in the whole
country who possessed property to the
amount Of more than 100000, The
advance beyond this modest limit be-
gan with the discovery Of gold in Cali
fornia and in Australia, and was accel-
Grated by the development of our
railroad system, which opened the
European market to the agricultural
and mineral products of the greatWest
and stimulated emigration to that Sec
ton of the country.
It was by taking advantage Of these
forces that Commodore Vanderbilt
gained his first $4,000, 10000, while the
rise in real property which they occa-
stoned added enormously to the value
of the Astor, the Goelet, the Rhine
lander, and other great estates. Then
came the war and its profuse eNpend-
itures, the creation of the national debt,
the issue of the greenbacks, and a
feverish activity in industry and specu-
lation, which afforded opportunities
for gain such as until then had not
been known. That those who availed
themselves Of these opportunities We're
unusually able and enterprising does
not make any less important the fact
that they were also unusually favored
in living at the time they did, and that
but few now can hope to repeat their
experience.
\ great deal Of solicitude has been
felt and expressed as to the effect which
these masses OF accumulated wealth
are going 20 have upon our national
future, AMI by some people this effect
is expected to be Injurious 1t is feared
that very rich lnen will employ their
money to corrupt the Government and
to oppress the people: that tic luxury
in which they indulge will excite envy
and hatred, besides debauching those
who partake Of ii; and, in general, that
the sight OF such great fortunes will,
where it does not arouse hostility, ,stim-
ulate the less favored to the employ
ment of dishonest means to gain like
fortunes for themselves. Hence their
existence is deplored as 4 caiamity,and
their perpetuation regarded as an evil
TO be abated.
These forebodiugS seem to me to he
uDgrounded, and in my view, the pco-
- Io ,i> -