The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-05
Trinity Church, Columbia College,
Sailors Snug Harbor. the
New York Hospital
ThOy Own Estates In New York
Worth Quarter Billion
Dollars.
Some Are Conducted With n View 70
Wasting tho hcoms-How Iney
Were Organized.

figures. Silently and steadily thsS pu'
away million after million in Their sWoilei
golfers, making no report OF the faoa ossont
che returns they are compelled by Ia" u
make 10 tho state officials, and rendefini
these in such ambiguous language sne
Suoh prspoaterous bookkeeping as to hN<
most efreotually the truths they are sup
posed TO be telling.
or thess, four great estates in New 1ofA
are especially worthy Of notice for the fea-
ron that none Of them is engaged IN COM
1nsrcial business ostensibly. while the ny
Creoate value OF the property they " IL
probably more than 500, 600, 900. Startling
a this statement Ia a little considsrssion
will occasion more surprise. Invested ~
the most of the money is in real estate, the
growth Of the value %(including the ane1-
pended surplus Of r~entals) IL prooapiy
twenty millions q year-certainly not less
than ten millions. What, then. in another
half century will be the extent OF the hold
inrs Of Trinity church, Columbia college
the Sailors Snug Harbor aud the New YORK
hospital?
or the origin Of the great estates owned
md controlled by the four corporations
much has been said from time to time, OF
Trinity church, especially. Claimants by
scores have applied to the courts for their
shared Of the inheritance which they think
should be theirs. but the courts have been
unkind. Decisions have invariably been
favorable to the vestry OF Trinity, and sne
title which 10 vested in them is nov as we'll
established as any in New York. Few
things are more definitely settled, than that
s.the heirs Of Anneke JAMS will never get
dollar Of the estate.
How great the estate i%snobody outside the
board OF control knows, and it is not likely
that ANYBODY will know, excepting In one
contingency, to be mentioned presently.
The late DR.. Dix. when. some years ago. he
WA nj the head of this board, acknowledged
that there were more than $50, 600, 900 in the
treasury, and it is well understood that this
was an entirely inadequate statement at
that time. There is no doubt that at the
present time the vestry owns much more
than 800, 600. 900.
Probably half that sum is a reasonable
estimate Of the wealth of the Sailors Snug
Hsrbor. The story of this estate ia less
widely known, but it is fully as interesting
ncumen of Alexander Hamilton that this
estate has been held intact for ninety years.
IN June. 1901, he drew up a will for Capt.
Robert Richard Randall. The captain de-
sired to d. something which the laws rec
opnize as distinctly opposed to public pol
ICY. namely, to tie up his money forever tor
the purpose of maintaining a home for dis
abled sailors-the famous Sailors' snug
~Hurtp..~aad Hamilton advised leaving
IL to eight persons Uho should be
trustees BY virtue Of their holding certain
public offices. These eight were the mayor
and recorder of this city, the chan
cellor OF the state. the president and vice.
president of the marine society, the presi-
dent Of the chamber of commerce. the REQ
tor OF Trinity church and the senior min
lister Of the Presbyterian denomination in
the CITY CONSTRUCTED to mean the minister
Of the sepior church,. There is no longer
any chancellor of New York state. so there
are only seven trustrees. but until the sue
cession shall fall in some OF the othef of
fees this number will not be decreased.
Moreover the eight, following the instruc-
tions of the will. incorporated themselves
in 1881. SO that they now form a self per
petuatine body, which il practically e.
1nent of the property. As a matter OF
course the individuals die. but by the
terms of the will and OF the articles OF in
corporation the incumbents OF these offices
succeed to the trusteeshlp. 1t Is trus that
the treasurer is obliged to rendor a state
ment eyery wear to the state government,
and the law is technically obeyed, but thsss
statements are invariably written expressly
to conceal the facts. and no information Is
to be had by the public excepting tho In
complete and misleading figures in the
statements, 50 that nobody outside knows
how great the estate now ID.
In regard to tho other two estates men
toned. there 10 even less to say, by author
itv. Columbia college, rich as 1t is, un-
doubtedly devotes the entite income to tho
purposes for which it was established, and
no responsible person has ever questioned
that its affairs are honestly and wisely ad-
miuistered. The estate Of the New York
hospital, on tho other hand, ia conducted
with such defiant secrecy As to give rise to
tho opinion generally held that it, like the
two first mentioned, is managed with an
extravaganoe that amounts TO dishonesty,
in that enormous sums are diverted from
Legitimate use, and paid to favored individ-
uais in the shape of unsarnsd salaries or
fees. II il not known positively, as it is in
the cases of Trinity and the Snug Harbor,
that this is the case. bus it IL vehemsntly
suspected.
%ion of these four estates, but interesting in
the same connection, is the story of the
Manhattan company. This is a corpora
zion nearly AZ old as the present century.
and exists by virturs of a charter obtained
by Aaron Burr whom no was practicing Law
company to supply the city with waite
sand to perform such other acts as should
not be inconsistent with" that business. II
was a clever trick, and somebody discovered
soon that it was not inconsistent" to carr,
on a banking business. Accordingly the
company is now a bank and performs ths
water supply act by maintaining a tank IL
it's costly building ut 40 Wall street. from
which tank any citizen is entitled to a fire..
drink of water. 1t is not recorded tina
citizens 1ock thither in great numbers To-
the water supply now that the public aqua
ducts have been constructed. The com
pany is rich-very rich, but 1t disperses it,
surplus in dividends.
In regard to the four great estates men
tioned {perhaps excepting Columbia col
lsee), there is a growing feeling ON the par
of thu public that something should b,
done. It ID argued that the rapid aggrega
ton of money in such enormous amount
il an injury to the state; that since oil tn,
legitimate functions of the Institution,
that own the wealth could be and are Der
formed with a comparatively small income
the enrichina OF individuals at the expense
indirectly, of the people. is a positive evil
and should be remedied. Several effort
have been made TO induce the legislature O
the state to investigate tho subject an,
max the facts public, but hitherto all thea
attempts have proved abortlve. II is no
unlikely, however. that the agitation of tn
an investigation.
In the course of q persistent investipa
tion of this question | have been SURPRISED
to n that tho most noted lawyers o,
whom ! have called not a single one wa
willing TO talk OH the subject for publiea
tion. And everyone who refuses gives on
of two reasons for declining: either III,
has not studied the question:" or he ha
hHen retAin66 Inv Npma great eorporat;nr