Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-01-30
TAX DEPARTMENT.
Mr.. VAN GRIPS FORTUNE.

MN. VAN CHIPS FORTUNE.
In 1910 Mr. Van Grin purchased from,
the Van Snort estate lot of land 'front.'
ing on broadway, below Fulton street,
Tor s@o'OOo An old building stood on
The lot at that time. and Mr. Van Grip
rad IL torn down and new building
erected in its stead. The new building
cost 100000 and created no little stir
and gossip in New York in those days.
BESIDES giving n minute description of
1t 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 werc
not MIR. Van Grips only virtues. He
was religious. God-fearing gentleman,
loving husband. a good father,
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
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
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 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 we're 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 homo himself to look
after the interests of society and to see
That the business of the metropolis was
sarried 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 one of her representative men.
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 a
handsome marble shaft records his many
virtues for the edification of future gem
crations.
Early in 1887 the lot of land and the
building (now an old ose) on Broadway
were sold in partition proceedings for
the snug little sum of $3.50, 900. / have
incidentally remarked above that Mr.
Van Grip kept accurate accounts of all
his transactions, and here take the lib
erty of glancing at tho 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 gen.
tleman.
The account is written in neat hand,
every 81" is dotted and every 1T" is
crossed. and it is most beautifully ruled
off in red ink. On the debit side are on
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 QS41-3) the debit and
credit sales of the accounts exactly bal
ance. During the following seven years
GS44-50) the credits exceed tho debts
by S., 800; from 1851 to 1860 the excess of
credits over debts is S11, 0Oe; from 1861
TO 1870 this excess amounts to S12 500;
from 1871 to 1880 the excess amounts I'D
to $4,000; and from 1881 to 1886, inclu-
sive, 1T is 900; the grand total of ex-
cess OF rents over and above payments
for taxes, insurance, water rates, re-
pairs, etc, and tho amounts which Mr..
Van Grip allowed himself for interest
tho nripcinn1
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, 900, deduct the cost price, namely.
S125, 000 and there remains 1925, 900, to
which add s51, 900, and wo find the net
profit on this little transaction was S2T6,-
600. OF course, l have not taken into
consideration interest on the surplus of
receipts over disbursements which ac-
cruod annually from 1874 to 1886, and of
which surplus Mr.. Van Grip was suffl-
ciently enterprising and public spirited
to take appropriate advantage.
Two hundred and seventy-six 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 Qs4O-6o), and as the result of their
drudging and delving averaged 1925
year per man, they all earning during
Vhe twenty years $40, ooO which these
good-for-nothing fellows squandered
as fast as they earned it.
The war broke out and the whole
twenty marched off to tho
'front.'" from which six of them return
cd alivo to resume their drudging and
dolving. For the next twenty-five years
QS65-S6) the total amount earned by
those six nobodies was 500, 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 that such pigmies lived.
Here we have tho bright example OF
one enterprising, philosophical gentle
man, earning and saving on one of his
transactions as much as twenty nobod-
les earned and sqandered. Just think
OF it!