The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-04-10
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A MYSTERY OF WEALTH.
The Aston Family and the Aston LIBRA y.
iNew York Snn.l

NNSW Ofk oun.t
The Small passage of the law consolidating
the Aston. Lenox and Tilden libraries.
affords an instance of a certain well-nigh
interchangeable fact concerning great wealth,
which those not having wealth find always
perplexing mystery. Although George
Peabody and Leland Stanford and a few
others OF lesser financial magnitude. broke
this rule of rich men. they are exceptions
which their rarity makes unnecessary to
consider here. Peabody. nun of a few
millions only, was the first and almost the
last to devote a sum neaslred in millions to
an enterprise dedicated to the benefit of
the public.
Al present two members OF the Astor FAM
lily hold two of the six fortunes identified
with this town. which exceed. it is safe to
say. the sum of one hundred millions of dol
lars each. The limitation of the Gould for
tune. shown to be seventy millions, when Mr..
jay Gould died. prevents Mr.. Geore gGould
from making these lucky gentlemen seven
inst ed of six. When it is remembered that
MI. Moses Taylor. man reputed rich but
by no means astonishing in his wealth, lett
the solid sum of forty five millions, the es-
innate assigned above to each of six for
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prevailing impression, We bnlieve, is that
{ he Astors, measured By capital raj her than
by income. are the rio hest of New Workers.
Well, of the possassors CT colossal for
tunes who have died, there has been none
to do with his money anything colossal in
the way of public benefit. There have been
large gifts. without in any instance exhib-
ting sudden expansion of ambli ion to SER
vice the community beyond the dreams of
precedent, or vigorous and extravagant
departure away from previous figures and
conceptions. Nothing so great as 10 be
startling; nothing enough 10 connect A
mans memory with an enterprise built on
the scale which make public institutions
important and famous. Notwithstanding
fortunes have been enormous, the charita-
blu ideals of their dying owners have con-
tinued to be restrained within very moder.
ate bounds. Poor men often please them
selves with thinking what great things they
would do with money; but the things done
when money of tremendous amount gets in
to individuals hands seem to prove that
these great imaginings are but little better
than chlmerical. Apparently. nobody when
he gets very rich inclines to do anything
very great. Some unexplained influence up-
on the rich mans mind prevents him from
fulfilling tho pl omise of the poor man fam
cy, and makes him keep his money locked
in his family chest.
This library consolidation furnishes a
striking instance of the fact we speak of.
John Jacob Asior, the first of the family
in the United States, came to America hun
dred years ago. He dealt in furs, and while
it is not absolutely certain whether the
Aston fortune is really due to him OF to hi S
brother. who kept a butcher shop in tie
Bowery, and whose heir he was, it started
with him, for a career of steady aocumula-
ton which has kept it uninterruptedly at
the front of estates identified with New
York. Since his time, the name of Astor has
been perhaps the most conspicuous in this
city. Its representatives have been
honored gentlemen, Of high and creditable
character. always constituting an import
ant influence in New York affairs. John
jacob Astor give a large fraction of his
posses ions 10 establishing the Aston Libru-
~, and he thereby laid for the perpetual
tion of the Astor name foundation whic h
his descendants might be expected to take
especial pride IN preserving intact and
strong. The Aston Library was by far the
most conspicuous memorial to single name
within the limits of New York. Properly
cared for and cultivated it would have shed
on John Jacob Aston and his descendants
continual honor, not grudged but approved
and applauded by the public. The decline
of the Aston Library as a wholly satisfac-
tory institution. following necessarily IFS