The St. Johns herald., 1898-11-05
DISSIPATION OF FORTUNES.
How Millions Are Thrown to the
 Winds Fact and Reputation.

Winds Fact and Reputation.
 When John Fl. Inman died we sup posed he left an estate of about S7,OOO,- 900. For years he had been classed among the very rich men of this city. I hear now, by way of Atlanta, that he left practically nothing; that his for tune was diminished enormously in disastrous speculation in the two years immediately preceding his death. Sam Inman, the head of the big cotton house In Atlanta, complained two years ago that he had done all for John that he could afford to do; that he sent him S2OO, ,O00, and didn't intend to put up any more. The Inmans have handled as many as 100000 bales of cotton an nually.
 It is the talk in Atlanta that Inman committed suicide. People no longer speak of it in whispers, but openly. He was the most omnivorous of men, and thought he had the stomach of an os- trich. Like Brignoli, he could eat dozen chops at sitting and repeat the performance within an hour. Notwith- standing his prodigious capacity for food, he never was obliged to wear an abdominal supporter. His physique did not run toward embonpoint He was in no sense bon-yivant; simply a gastronome-an Apicius. If required to answer the old question, Do you live to eat or eat to liveT' he would n his stomach to the utmost, destroyed the mechanism, and died at the early age of 52.
 Are the great fortunes of our pluto crats dwindling? Are We not giving them too high d rating? We thought Ogden Goelet worth at the very least $1OO,O0O,OOO. The most conservative men placed his fortune at S5O,OOOOOO; yet 1t dwindled to less than $10,0OO,OOO. The $3O,000,O00 of "Spite-house" Rich ardsOn dropped to $500,0O0 as soon as 1t struck the court house. George NJ. Pullman was supposed to be worth every cent of $50,000,000. Immediate ly after his death $25,000,000 was the figure; but the latest reports name ST. 100000 as the value of the estate. How is this2 Can 1t be that we are far wrong in placing the fortune of John D. Rockefeller at $200000,0O0? VIII 1t dwlndle to $50,000,000 when he shuf- fles off? Is Gen. Sam Thomas, part ner of Cal Brice and Inman, worth S1O,OOO,000? I doubt 1t. What Is Cal worth? His is about the only fortune that no one tries to estimate. From the way he flies around he must have big money.
 Who can tell whether Uncle ColliS Pacific Huntington is worth $3,OOO,0OO or S3O,OOOO0O? What is Flagler's for tune-S1O, 100000 or $75,000,000? Is 1t possible that James B. Colgate Is worth S20, 900? No. Is John E. Andrus worth S3O,OOOO0O? I think not. Is J. Jennings McComb worth $30,0OO,OOO? Where did he get it? Is Charles l.. Tiff fany worth S30,OO0,000? That Is his rating. And there are John D. Arch bold. whose fortune is estimated at S1O.0OO, coo; k. E. Hopkins with $o,OOO,- GOO. Asphalt Amzi Longeye Barber with $25,OO0,OO0, John T. Terry with S3O, 100000, William Rockefeller with SSO, 100000, II. Walter Webb with $5,- GOO. GOO. Warren B. Smith with $2o,- COG. OOO Mrs. Elliott r. Shepard with S50,OOO.C00, Cornelius Vanderbilt with S11O.OOOO00, Willie k. Vanderbilt with S9O.0OOOO0. Frederick Vanderbilt with S40.0OO0O0, George Vanderbilt with S3O, 100000, George Gould with S30'- OOO. GOO. and so forth and so on.f
 The safest way to get at the size or mans fortune is take the public esti- mate and divide 1t by ten. l generally find that a man who is rated at $20,- 100000 cuts up for about $2,OOO,OOO. It is the custom in this day and genera ton to converse in millions. We ac- count a man poor whose has not more than S1,000,000. He is between the devil of entertainment and the deep sea of financial stresS-too well oil to be parsimonious and too poor to trot heats with the Croesuses. He cannot afford S1O,O00 for a dinner and recep- ton without feeling 1t. It is so easy to talk millions that we invariably use the word in the plural.-New York Press.
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