Iron County register., 1891-01-08
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
Mr.. VAN GRIPS FORTUNE.

MN. VAN GRIPS FORTUNE,
In 1910 Mr.. Van Grin purchased from,
the Van Snort estate lot of land front.
ing on Broadway, below Fulton street
for S25, 900. An old building stood on
the lot at that time, and Mr.. Van GRIN
had 1t torn down and a new building
erected in its stead. The new buildine
cost $4,000 and created no little stir
and gossip in New York in those davs
BESIDES giving minute description of
IL In their news columns, the Buple and
Bladder treated the subject editorially
anu In glowing terms praised the enter
prise and public spirit of Mr. Van Grip,
anu wound up with a wish that New
1ork were blessed with more men like
MIN. enterprise and public spirit were
not Mr.. Van Grips only virtues. He
was reIglous, God-fearing gentleman,
q loving husband, a good father, a
lhorough business man who was not too
proud to look after his own affairs.
"hlch ne always kept in the straightest
order, keeping accurate accounts of all
MS 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 model mana man to
NC 1Vohcu up LC ana copied.
Years rolled by, bringing poverty,
munger and rags to many and riches,
plenty and fine linen to a few. The
clV1l war broke out, and thousands of
hot-headed patriots left home and kim
dred to sacrifice their lives on the altar
OF freedom. Hitherto it had been a cast
iron rule with Mr.. Van Grip to PERSONAL
ly represent himself on all occasions
where matters of any moment were 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 a ship-shape manner. The
Iublic veal demanded this, and. as Mr.
van Grip was heavy taxpayer, the
city could not very well spare him. He
was one of her representative men.
In 1886 Mr.. Van Grip died, in the Ian
guage of the eminent divine who off,
clated at the funeral services, uni
versally regretted" and was peacefully
laid TO rest in the family plot, where a
handsome marble shaftrecords his MANY
virtues for the edifcation of future gem
erationS.
Early in 1887 the lot of land and the
building (now an old one) on Broadway
were sold in partition proceedings for
the snug little sum of $3.50, O00. / have
incidentally remarked above that Mr.
Van Grip kept accurate accounts of all
his transactions, and here take the lib
erty of glancing at the accounts relative
to this particular one. not to satisfy any
morbid curiosity, but simply with view
of learning lesson from the enterprise
and public spirit of the exemplary gem
tleman.
The account is written in neat hand
every - is dotted and every - is
crossed. and it is most beautifully ruled
of in red ink. On the debit side are en-
tered payments for taxes, water rates,
insurance, repairs, etc, and interest at
the legal rate on the 1925, 900 invested;
and on the credit side appear the
amounts of rent received. For the
first three years t1S41-S) the debit and
credit sales of the accounts exactly bal
anee. During the following seven years
GS44-50) the credits exceed the debts
by $500; from 1881 to 1860 the excess of
credits over debts is S11. 900; from 1861
to 1870 this excess amounts to ale. 500:
from 1871 to 1850 the excess amounts up
to S14, 900; and from 1881 TO 1885, incIu-
sive, it is S. 600; the grand total of ex-
cess of rents over and above payments
for taxes, insurance, water rates, re-
pairs. etc. and the amounts which Mr.
Van Grip allowed himself for interest
on the principal sum invested during
the forty-six years being S51, 900.
Now let us work out two little prob
lens. one in subtraction and the other
in addition. From tho price At which
the property was sold in 1887, namely,
$3.50. 600, deduct the cost price, namely.
S125, 900. and there remains 1925, 600, to
which add $4,000, and we find the net
profit on this little transaction was S216.
600. OF course, l have not taken into
consideration interest on the surplus of
receipts over disbursements which &C
crued annually from 1914 to 1856, and of
which surplus Nr. Van Grip wa. sufi-
ciently enterprising and public spirited
to take appropriate advantage
Two hundred and seventysix thou
sand dollars, Phew, To think of it
makes my head swim. What genius!
What enterprise! What public spirit,
Compare this with the puny efforts of
twenty pigmy contemporaries of Mr.
Van Grip. Those twenty clods Of hui
manity started in the race with him
They drudged and delved for twenty
years Gs4O-6o), and as the result of their
drudging and dslving averaged S525 q
year per man. they all earning during
the twenty years S21o, 900, which these
good-for-nething fellows squandered
as fast as they earned it
The war broke out and the whole
twenty marched off to the
front" from which six of them return
ed alive to resume their drudging and
delving For the next twenty-five years
t1S65-S6) the total amount earned by
those six nobodies was S66 600. or $500
yearly a man. This they likewise spent
as fast as they earned it, in riotous liv-
ing and pampering Of the flesh. And
then those six nobodies died and were
buried out of sight and into their miser-
able graves, whereon not as much as a
wooden stake Is placed to remind the
passer-by thst such pigmies lived.
Here we have the bright example OF
one enterprising. public-spirited gentle
man, earning and saving on one of his
transactions as much as twenty nobod-
les earned and soandered- Just think
of i'll
We have said one of his transac-
tions. for this was only one of num-
bcr of like ones in which Mr. Van
Grip had been engaged during those