Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-12-02
Some Lawyers Make $l0O,OOv Il
Year, But the Average is
Only $4,000.
Heads of Insurance Companies
and Railway Presidents Get
Princely Salaries.
Doctors and Artists Fairly Well
Paid--FeW Literary Men Get
Rich Through IGeIr Pens.

III no profession are the 1nancL-4 re-
/ wards Which attend success greater
than III the law; but it is a fact that
the average income OF the successful
lawyers of this big town is not much
! over $4,000 year, says Rufus K. Viii
SC u III the New York Press. Many Of
! the large law firms of New York have
III their employ lawyers, bright and
capable men, too, who try their minor
| 81, 900 to $1,000 a year. Some lawy ers
of this class receive as high as $4,000
q year, but their number is small, and,
as their lot is an arduOus one, lawyers
avoid it whenever possible. The i'll
comes, even of the most successful
lawyers, vary greatly from year to
year, and this probably conduceS to
| making many of them the inveterate
spendthriftS they are known to be.
/, The late S. l.. NJ. Barlow was long one
of the largest money lhakers at the
| New York bar, but died a bankrupt,
and James Strahan, whose annual earn
| ings for many years seldom fell below
/ $4,000, left his heirs nothing but his
law books. At the present time the
earnings of John e. Parsons are prob
ably larger than those of any other
| New York lawyer. He earns regularly
from $4,000 to 100000 a year. 1t is
the general opinion of the profession
that the fee he received for organizing
the sugar trust, which has since been
dissolved by the courts, dbl not fall be.
low $2SO,OOO, and some estimates have
put it at treble that sum. 1t was with
out doubt the largest single fee ever
received by an American lawyer.
The earnings of James c Garter
are nearly rs large as those of Mr.
Parsons, and it is said that the annual
income of Bourke Cochran has for
several years exceeded 100000, but a
portion of this great sum has come
yearly from the successful Speculations
for which the brainy and eloquent Irish
lawyer is known to have Il fondness.
A list of the New York lawyers who
regularly earn more than $4,000 4
year would include, beside those al
ready named, Joseph III. Choa:e, Ben
Robert G. lngersoll, Elihu Root, Arte-
mas III. Holmes, Horace Russell, S. T.
G. Dodd and George Hoadly. Ingersoll,
Dodd and Hoadly are western men,
DCdd being now chief counsel for the
Standard Oil company. In recent years
nearly all of the strongest recruits to
the New York bar have come from the
west David Dudley Field. now r:tir-
ed from practice. made ever Il million
In the law, and Theodore w. Dwight,
who died last summer was found after
his death to have been millionaire.
Both were what is known rs corpora
ton lawyers. Senator Hill. when he
practiced law in Elmira ten or twelve
years ago, seldom earned over 5000 a
year. but not long since he devided
with Charter p. Bacon fee Of $780,
OOO This was paid them by the plain
tiffs in the famous Fiske will case
against Cornell university. Roscoe
Conkling, had he lived. would probably
now be the biggest money-maker at
the New York bar. His earnings I'm a
single year exceeded. it Is said, $780,
600. and his fees in the cases left I'M
completed at the time of his death
amounted to nearly 100000. But the
average New York lawyer, and New
York is the lawyers Mecca, counts :
himeslf lucky If at the end Of the year !
he can put $1,000 on the profit side Of :,
the ledger.
The heads of nearly all the big life /
nd
princely salaries. Henry B. Hyde, who
not so very long ago was a modest !
insurance solicitor, draws a salary of /
$4,000 a year as president of the !
Equitable, and the vice-president Of
the same concern receives $4,000 a
year. The annual salary of Richard A.
McCurdy president Of the Mutual In
surance company is $4,000. and that
Of John A. Mccall. president Of the
New York Life. is the same. William
II. Beers. formerly president Of the
New York Life, was paid $4,000 a
year, with an added present of $4,000
ut Christmas. and when he retired from
the presidency was voted an annual
pension of $4,000. John r. Hegeman
draws $4,000 a year from the Metro
politan company. and d. o. Heald and
John w Murrv are equally we'll paid
by the Home Fire and German-Ameri- !
IAN companies respectively. P. r.
Armstrong. when he disposed Of his =,
fire insurance interests year or so ago. ]
was guaranteed 100000 year for the {
term Of five years II during that time {
he would not engage In the fire insur- ;
,nce business. Armstrong ia a push {
ne. keen-witted Canadian, who came {
o New York decade ago with hardly 6
a dollar in his pocket DR.. Norvin t
Green. president Of the Western Union l
Telegraph company. is paid $4,000 a ! 7
7ear. and John Hoey. while president
# the Adams Express company. Jared
we'll
The chief officers Of the leading I
ranks and trust companies of New a
York are well paid. Frederick P. o. a
oft, president of the Central Trust J
company. receives 100000 a year; u
Richard King, president of the Union I
rust. $4,000; General Louis Fitzger- S
Id. president of the Mercantile Trust. u
10000; John A. Stewart, president of t
be United States Trust, $4,000, and
yolonel W. L. Trenholm, who used to E
elp run the civil service machine, and {
J now president Of the American
surety company, $4,000 George G. n
nf n