The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-26

TUNES,
The announcement of the size OF the
estate left by Senator Hanna, enpha-
sizes anew the fact that the popular
estimate Of the fortunes Of men known
to be rich is, nine times out Of ten,
very erroneous. Soon after Mr.. Hanna
was taken i'll there appeared in the
| public prints various estimates Of his
/ wealth. Some Of them placed it as
high as So. OOO. Co., and none Of them
/ put il below SIS, 900. COO II turned out
that it was only 5000. 900, a fifth Of the
most conservative estimate
There was no particular reason why
/ it should have been said that Mr.. Han
ma was worth s25.O00.00O He was not
extravagant in his personal expendi-
lures and he did not make a show Of
great wealth by giving vast sums to
public institutions. 1t is true that he
was a liberal distributor of his wealth
in a quiet way. but not more liberal
than might be expected Of a moderately
rich man. as rich men are estimated
these days.
OF course the world knows that Mr..
Carnegie and Mr.. Rockefeller are very
rich men, because it knows the amount
the former got for his great steel plants
and it is able to form a pretty fair es-
innate Of Mr.. Rockefeller's fortune, be-
cause the extent Of his interest in the
Standard Oil Company is public prop
erty, but it is probable that the wealth
of each of them is considerably over
rated
The truth is. the public likes that
which is sensational, and the newspa-
pers in dealing with great private for
tunes is apt to give currency to the
largest estimate for which there is any
authority. AS rule, there is a quite
general tendency to exaggerate in mat
tiers concerning which there is no ac-
curate information.
There are undoubtedly a great many
large fortunes in this country. but it is
pretty safe to say there are no billion
aires. though it is not uncommon to see
1t stated in the newspapers that Mr..
Rockefeller is a Millionaire. If he is,
it is about certain he is the only one in
the world. II takes a vast amount of
money TO make billion dollars, and
even at the rate at which Mr.. Rookie
feller's wealth accumulates it would
take a good many years to get billion
OF dollars.
Now and then man leaves larger
fortune than the public credited him
with having. but it isn't often that such
is the case. II a man is very rich the
fact leaks out some way, notwithstand-
ing his efforts at concealment. But it
would be better for society generally If
facts could be substituted for exagger-
ated estimates. The report that this or
that man is worth s2O,0OO.OOO or $780,
100000, and even in some cases 500, 000,-
900 or more. is calculated to create dis
satisfaction among the class OF people
who earn their bread by their daily
labor. This class of people, particu-
larly when they are having hard time
to get the bare necessaries of life, are
apt to become dissatisfied when they
have it brought to their attention that
few have so much more than they
need and so many have hard struggle
to keep body and soul together.
1t might be good public policy to re-
quire rich men to make known the
amount of their wealth. 1t is probable
that Senator Hanna would have been
more popular with workingmen than
he was if it had been known by them
that his fortune was only about fifth
of the lowest estimate put upon it by
those who pretended TO be informed
respecting his financial affairs.