The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-03
SORROWS S OF THE RICH.
How the Man With $1OO,OOO Year Has
 to FcOnomiZe.

How the Man With $1O0,OOO a Year Has
 to Economize.
 Fifty years ago, though incomes had for some time been swollen by the prof it's of trade and manufactures, man who derived G10,OOo year from land or secure investments was still ac- counted rich. Lord Beaconsfleld, then MT. Disraelli, and one Of the keenest observers of society who ever existed fixed the figure even lower, declarlnE that with any basis of good manage ment GS000 a year without drawbacks was a yeritable Aladdin's lamp. Wealth now begins with e2O,0O0 a year, nor will the possessor of that formerly | splendid income feel, if he lives up to his position, as free from care about money as if he were really rich. When he has paid for his country house, with it's modern garden and hired shoot ings." for his London house and its occasional entertainments, for his Wite's and daughters dresses, Tor a 'fair moor in Scotland, for modest yacht ] for six weeks in the year, and Tor an annual trip to the Continent, he Will find that the amount of free money left to gratify his personal tastes is very little indeed. He does not, in fact, feel the freedom which Is the grand advantage of wealth; perhaps it's sole advantage as compared with com petence, still les the sanse of complete exemption from pecuniary anxleties. He has not a pound to much, even if he is a fair manager, and Will ma that he has to avoid many expenses which t,,n, q ly11nc h. out thinking, and that he is not reck- oned over any wide countryside as d man of very large means. lie Will not have to live quietly, or to Keep nm self notably out of the usual routine or i his rank, but the new prosperity or the country has altered the scale of eV- erything. all luxuries have increased enormously in cost, though necessaries have not. and at the end of the year he vii begin to think whether this or that outlay could not be economized. Suppose MT. Semi- -Croesus has made or inherited what used to be the mag nifcent sum of half million sterling, he will find 1t very difficult out Of business to invest at 4 per cent, TOT though Americans obtain { they do 1t by trusting industrials speculatons, which the average Englishman once out of the city thinks to uncertain for his children's future. We will, how ever, allow him per cent, which on half A million is e19000 year, that is
 e2O.0O0 with the shilling income tax which is deducted before the income reaches him, taken off. He has to buy town house. which will cost him G2O nr nGtgtp in a pleasant county Whicts with the nee essary rebuilding to suit his speclal taste. will run away with eSOGOo more There is the income of his estate to be sure, to come to him, but he will fnd that when he has paidfor repairs and scolded his bailitf for the losses on the home m-indispensable, you know for supplies-s satisfied his tenants complaint, and paid his rates and his tithes. and hired the extra shootings his Keepers are anxious for, and pro vided for the upkeep of his park With it's lodges and gates, and, above all roads. that income is almost a negiigi- ble quantity Then there are two great houses to be well furnished on a scheme in keeping with his new posi- tion, which implies a few good plc- lures and some marbles, and many books, all new and paid for at prices which bear no resemblance to those they will fetch one day at auction. He l will be fortunate If the bills leave much of E20G00; that Is, he will have spent in setting up or installing him self el30, ,000 or, in other words, reduc- ad his free income to G14,000 year, sum which as he approaches 50, will be further reduced by allowances to ms sons. pensions and other claims which have grown upon him to, say f1o0OO a year, which is too little for the secheme of life he has adopted,
 There are so many more rich men than formerly that everything they seek for especially fin, 1ouses, fine furn~1re and opportunities of sport, has arisen in price by leaps and bounds. The scale has altered and to keep among the first few requires means which to our grandfathers would have appeared immense. We see no proof that vice has ncreased-certainly that of gambling has not though it is far too prevalent-and we are not sure about the wastefulness. There seems to be more of it because there is more money wasted, but is the proportion grea ter? We think not, the number or the sensible and thrifty having in creased as much as that of the spend thrjfts while the proportion of the philanthropic has been indefinitely en-