The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-21
Marvellous Increase
In MilliOnaireS.
To-day Where There Was Thirty Ago. and One Hundred Today
Where There Was One Sixty Years Ago.

"Give me neither riches nor poverty"
the wise King Solomon prayed in the
olden time. How often that is the
prayer nowadays l do not know: but l
am persuaded that nearly all men of
ambition in the modern world are
struggling for wealth with might and
main. And what is more, in the United
States at least, more men achieve rich
es than was ever the case before in the
history of the world.
To be a millionaire is still a distinc-
ton. but there are now so many OF
them that the presence of one of them,
even in a remote part of the country,
does not create a very great sensation.
The increase in the numbers of this
class has been more marked in the past
decade than previously, but the class
has been growing for more than half a
century. / am not going to say how
many there are: to do this would be
guessing even for the best Informed
banker in the country. But that there
are ten where there was one thirty
years ago is surely true indeed, as the
other fact that cannot be disproVed'
that there are one hundred to-day
where there was one sixty years ago.
Not "a Guess, But n Fact.
This statement, which is not made
as an exercise in guessing or merely
for the purpose of creating surprise,
shows how wonderfully this country
has grown in wealth in compare
lively short space of time. If the
~, Inn l.
merous, the well-to-do-the happy
weIl-to-do, according to King Solo
mon-have increased in numbers also,
and the thrifty poor have removed
themselves further from the worst
pains of poverty. The well-to-do, the
thrifty and the industrious prosper
with the rich. 1t is inevitable that
they should, and a study of savings
bank deposits and real estate statistics
in the census returns Will convince
any man who is capable of recogniz-
ing results and seeing facts in their
real relations to one another.
And yet an the colonial days or the
early federal days 1t is doubtful If
there was any man in the whole coun-
try who could be called millionaire
1t used to be the right thing to say
that George Washington was the rich
est man of his day in America. l
very much doubt 1t. He was carefui
and thrifty and always knew how he
stood in his affairs, but he probably
had very little money; nor did his es-
tate, even when combined with that of
the Widow Curtis, have those poten-
tialities of wealth from which great
riches come by what Henry George
called "unearned increment"
WnshingtOn's Wealth.
Washington's wealth could not have
been nearly so considerable as the
PATRON Van Rensselaer's of that day,
for he owned thirty miles square on
either side of the Hudson river at,
above and below Albany, besides a
very considerable estate in New York
city. There were potentialltles OF
wealth in this Van Rensselaer, prop
erty. and what is more, they were real
lied. for in the forties the estate of
Stephen Van Rensselaer,, the last of
the PATRONS. was estimated to be
worth $4,000, 000 and this property
was considered only to be less in value
than that Of John Jacob Aston, that
marvellous money-maker, whose en-
terprises and investments were more
lucky even than the dreams OF Al
naschar of arabian highs" memory.
This remarkable Aston from hum
BILE beginnings in 1888 when his ca
reer in this country began, until 1848,
when he died, made the accumulation
of money the one main object Of his
life. And no man up to this time, in
America at least, ever succeeded so
abundantly. When he died he left
some S25, 900, 900 to his sons and
daughters. 100000 to found public
library and an annuity of 5000 TO his
friend, the poet Fritz Green Halleck.
The fortune established by the first
Aston has grown into something so
immense that his heirs cannot spend
the income: so the fortune is getting
larger all the while. and utterly re-
flutes the saying which a generation
ago was accepted in this country as
an axiom: "In America II Is only
three generations from shirt sleeves TO
shirt sleeves
wealthy Men 80 Years AGO.
But there were many wealthy men In
America sixty years ago, and notably
many I'm New York city. which was
then the metropolis as II is now, but
not so far ahead as at present OF Phil
adelphia and Boston, In 1886 Moses Y
Beach. then the owner OF the New York
Sun. complied. with the assistance OF
commercial. real estate and banking
friends. list Of the rich men and
women in the metropolis. The standard
as 20 wealth was not then 10 high as q
Is now, for "a person who then had
500. 900 or its equivalent M property
was considered rich enough 10 be nota-
bic This iiat embraced i.02f names,
some Of them undivided estates. OF