Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-12
ENTAILING GRsAr FORTUNE g.

Public attention has been called to
circumstances about the death of Jay
Gould that are neither creditable to the
man nor of good omen to the commune
ity. The most notable thing about the
end of this extraordinary man is that
his death was as eordid as his life had
been. He gave nothing to charity nor
to any public purpose. The Thousand
appeals which should ring in the ears OF
q man of his enormous wealth were ut
terly unheeded. No human being out
side of his own family circle is the bet
ter for his having lived. No institution
has been created by him, neither the
cause of learning nor humanity has been
advanced in his will, nor did he even
show disposition to be good citizen
as the wings of Azrael were outepread to
his falling vision. No principle has
been dearer to the people of the United
States than that there should be per-
mltted no form of entail in this country.
Our people look with great
patience on the accumulation CT
vast fortunes, even when unjust!y
acquired, rejecting that in the
course of nature their posseasors will
soon 90 the way of ell flesh, and that
then these vast sums will again find
their way back to the common fund.
There is probably not state in the
union that has not a law providing
against entails, or the so tying up OF es-
tates as to prevent their alienation by
their inheritors. New York has euch
law, and Jay Gould applied himself TO
its circumvention. The cunning which
he had applied to making money he de-
voted, at the approach of death, to de-
feating the intent Of the law. Thous-
ands of times during his life he had de-
fed and violated the laws Of iscountry.
and be put the capsheaf on his delin-
quencies by trampling on the statutes of
his state at the end. His tinesse de-
serted him at no stage Of his law evad-
ing career, and he made such disposi-
tion of his property as to cheat the state
of New York out of the Inheritance tax
which was its just due.
The degree in which the American
people will permit such tampering with
the spirit of their laws is a matter for
much curious speculation. They have
laid down the cardinal doctrine that
there must be no entail. The law of
New York was practically evaded by
both old Commodore Vanderbilt and
his son William H. Vanderbilt. The in
credible way in which money makes
money in the United States was shown
in the history OF the Vanderbilt family.
When the old commodore died he left
fortune which was estimated at $780,
600 600. This enormous sum had
swollen in fifteen or sixteen years, in
the hands Of man who was loC ked
upon as rather dull person, to $780,
900 900. 1t was practically entailed,
and heaven alone knows how much
Here was a fortune piled up in, at the
outside, thirty years, greater than that
which the whole family OF the Roths-
childs have taken almost century in
accommodating. In the case of the
money left by Gould, similarly practi-
cally entailed, we may look for like re-
suits, for George Gould, wko practically
controls it all, is said to have much of
the money-making knack OF his father.
Nothing is 30 offensive to an American
az the law of primogeniture, and that is
practically what old Commodore Van
derbilt introduced in the disposition of
his vaet wealth. He gave it all, or
practically all, to his SOD William Ii
because he knew that he was greedy,
and would hold on to it. He practically
dlsinherited his son Cornelius and his