Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-01-09
The Coneentrnton of Menlth.

Inc census once mas puDliShed
the results Of its investigation of
farm and home proprietorship in
twenty-five states andt erritories.
In the case of every family the
census recorded whether it owned
or hired the farm or home it occu-
| pied, and, in case of resident own
ers, whether or not the property
was incumbered. In these twen-
ty-two states thirty-two per cent
of the farm families and sixty
three pei cent of the home fami-
lies are tenants.
81 per cent of the 12,690152
families of the country own no
more than about 20 per cent of
the wealth, and 8 per cent Of the
families own about II per cent of
the wealth. Among the 1,096, 265
families in which II per cent of
the wealth of the country is con
centrated, there is a still further
concentration, which may be In
tlicated by taking account Of the
wealth of the very rich. The
New York Tribune's list of 4,047
millionaires affords the best basis
for this. Here the unknown guam
titles are of such magnitude that
widely divergent estimates can
readily be made. In Mr. Thomas
G.. Shearman's estimate of the
wealth of millionaires, partly bas-
ed on the assessment of Boston,
and. published in the Forum for
November, 1889, the average for
the class is set at about two and a
quarter millions; but it would
seem as if Mr.. Shearman had con-
siderably overestimated the num-
Der of mlllionaires worth less than
SO, 3,750,000 apiece, and, if SO, his
average is too small. Without
going into details, the conclusion
adopted IN this article is that the
4,047 millionaires are worth not
less than ten or more than fifteen
billions of dollars, say twelve bill
lions, or about one-fifth of the
nations wealth. This gives an
average of about 100000.
We are now prepared to charac-
terize the concentration of wealth
in the United States by stating
that 20 per cent of it is owned by
three hundredths of one per cent
of the families; 81 per cent by
nine hundredths of one per cent
of the families, not including mil
lionaires; II per cent by nine per
cent of the families, including mill
lionaires, and 29 per cent by nine
ty one per cent of the families.
AS little as 5 per cent of the ma
tion's wealth is owned by fifty-two
per cent of the families, that is, by
the tenants alone. Finally, 4,047
families possess about seven-tenths
as much as do IL, ,593,9S7 families.
This result seems almost incredi-
bic. 1t is not in accordance with
appearances, and if the distribu-
tion of well being, is an indication
of the distribution of wealth, some
great mistake has been overlooked.
Yet it is probable that the state
ment is approximately correct.
The disposition of property
through bequest and under the
laws of intestate succession seems
to be an inadequate check on
wealth concentration. Notwith-
standing the fact that one-fourth
of the wealth is redistributed
through probate courts every ii to
Is years or thereabouts, and trans
mitted to more numerous holders,
the diffusion Of wealth has not
been the net result, and perhaps
it might not be so if accumulation
were confined to interest and the
earnings of labor. Perhaps the
members Of the middle class have
not become poorer, but the rich
have outstripped them as ac-
cumulatos; and if, with nine per
cent of the families of the country
now owning more than 20 per cent
Of its wealth, the proportion of
these families is to diminish in
/the future as it has done in the
past, tho problem that is to vex
the coming ages of the republic is
already clearly manifest. In a
new country rapidly developing
out Of the conditions that go with
agriculture, it Is inevitable that
there should be considerable con-