Evening star., 1894-01-06
WEALTH NOT WELL DIVIDED.
seventy-one Per Cent Of 1t Owned ny
Per Cent of American Families.

Per Cent of American Families.
George K. Holmes special census agent
on mortgage statistics. approaches the con-
centration of wealth In the current number
of the Political Science Quarterly In
stead of attempting to compute the property
holdings OF the rich he strives to ascertain
how much of the national wealth the mass
es of the people possess. The census bu-
reau took from every family in twenty
two states and territories answers to the
questions whether IT owned or hired the
farm or home occupied. and the extent of
the incumbrance on owned farms and
homes, If any, with the value Of the prop
erty. The results are believed by the
Springfield Republican to be fairly repre-
sentative of the whole country. Assuming
this to be so. 81 per cent OF the farm
families and 63 per cent Of the home fam
lilies in the country are tenants. Among
farm-owning families 30 per cent carry
mortgage debts averaging sl.130 on farms
whose average value is S. 319O; among home
owning families % per cent carry incum-
brances averaging $l.l2o on homes valued
on the average at s3,254. The census will
show the number OF farms to be about
4,5O0 600, leaving s.190152 families occupy
ing homes that are not farms Mr.. Holmes
confines his wealth estimates here to prop
critics valued at less than 5000 Such
farms incumbered constitute 80 per cent in
number and 81 per cent in value Of all in
numbered farms: and such incumbered
homes cons titute So per cent in number and
46 per cent in value of all incumbered
homes. The census did not take the values
Of unincumbered farms and homes and the
percentages in the other case are adopted
here as probably the truth.
According to the estimates tabulated by
Mr.. Holmes 81 per cent of the families of
the country own no more than about q
per cent of the wealth. and 9 per cent own
Il per cent Of the wealth. And Mr.. Holmes
believes his estimates do not overstate the
case against the poor. These conclusions
are about as dubious as any which have
ever been reached in the study of this
question. Proceeding to divide the richer
0 per cent of the families as between the
rich and moderately well of. Mr., Holmes
takes the New York Tribune's list Of mil
lionaires 4.04O ana gives them an average
Of about 81. .oOO-this estimate being also
partly based upon the results of Thomas
This gives to the 4,047 very rich families
or three-hundredths of ! per cent of all
the families, about 2.000. .0O0, 900, or 20 per
cent OF tae nations wealth; and leaves the
remaining property of the nation (51 per
cent? to 8 per cent of the families includ-
The result seems incredible to Mr.. Holmes
That 4,047 families should possess nearly as
much wealth-seven-tenths as much Mt
least-as 1l,593, ,ss7 families is, indeed, rath-
er startling. But Ii Is probable, he con-
tends. that the statement is approximately
correct. Excluding the millonaires the
wealth OF the l,092.2lS families lying be-
tween them and the great mass Of people
holding property valued at less than S. 900
becomes an average of $4,000 a family,
which seems large for so many, but which
Mr.. Holmes goes on to demons ira te must be
about the case.