The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-01-14

Libraries and schools each wear than tho
m6nd
for with S3,0o6.000 a year, but he is
poor compared with Pierpout Morgan.
Alphonso Nil, King of Spain. is Civ
on Sl,aOO 900 year to provide the style
Ihat should surround a King, but Col.
John Jacob Astor could easily out.
ss1uander this youthful monarch if he
rem so disposed. The Kaiser receives
small annual allowance, only s650,0OG
so that either William X. Vanderbilt
or August Belmont have more ready
money at their disposal than Germany g
emperor Any one Of a dozen more of
our millionaires are wealthier
than any OF the remaining rulers of the
world who might be named,
Really Is No Comparison.
When 1t comes to comparing our to.
tai wealth with that of the oldest and
richest of nations, the measure of our
afhuence is so excessive that there
really ism any comparison No won
der foreigners think that money grows
on trees In America We have n thou
sand millionaires. New York alone has
more wealthy citizens than London.
Parls, Berlin and st. Petersburg com.
bined.
Fully one-half of the railway mile.
age OF the world is in the United
Staces, and we possess ope-third of all
the world s banking power. An accu.
rate measurement of our monetary
strength shows that we are really in a
class by ourselves, and in many respects
actually assuming the proportions of a
worthy rival Of all the rest of Christ.
endom combined. No wonder Europe
views our growth with alarm, and
would like to talk us into war with
oePan. or some other power, in the hope
OF having us crippled.
TO say that the total valuation Of
the wealth of the United States is $107.-
ooO,0OO,000 is not understandable. A
hundred billion dollars is such n pile of
money tnat the mind simply cannot
grasp Its meaning on the instant II is
more than twice the total amount Of
the wealth of the United Kingd ON,
or France. or Of Germany, and over
three times that of Russia, or of Aus
trla- Hungary, Probably the best way
of illustrating the actual extent Of
Uncle Sam s riches is 10 state that if
he could convert all his assets into
money he would have nearly four times
as much as would be required to pay off
the entire national debt of all the gov
ernments in the world, including his
own.
The estimates of all the visible
wealth OF our country 90 not take into
account the probable future returns on
our investments, nor the future value
OF our undeveloped resources. Even the
widest enthusiast could not tell that,
And how many Of our business men,
how many Of our farmers, would sell
out for exactly what they have invest
ed in their business9 Not many, YOU
may be sure, 1t is equally certain that
If Uncle Sam could be materialized into
national personality. be would decline
to sell out for sl07 900, 100000.
Staggering Totals.
When one remembers how young this
country is, and that only forty years
ago it was torn by internal strife such
as would have stopped development for
a century among any people with less
vitality than the Americans, these stag
gering totals of millions and billions
are all the more wonderful, The South,
which suffered so greatly in that strug-
gle, had an estimated wealth in 1860
of little over five billions, the most
of which was wiped out by the war.
It would be hard to conceive of any
people suffering greater reverse, vet
look Mt the present wealth of the eleven
only recovered their own, but have dou-
bed and tripled their former wealth,
including even the estimate OF the value
of their slaves. Few people know that
the State of Texas is now providing
one fourth of the cotton supply of the
world
We paid more than half billion dol
lars to run the machinery Of the Fed
eral Government last year, but when
the final balances were struck. the taxes
collected were over twenty-five millions
In excess of the expenditures. Although
our treasury is bullying with wealth, if
Congress should pass an inheritance tax
law such as the President favors, the
bulk of the great fortunes of our mil
lionaires would eventually revert to the
Government. Under such law the
United States would receive about half
billion dollars from the Rockefeller
estate alone. This regulation TO control
swollen fortunes, by making them re.
vert TO The State. would give us funds
to prosecute such schemes for public
Improvement as would dwarf the most
pretentious creations Of all the builders
Of history.
Our National Wealth
Even as it is, our national wealth
has already scared higher than the
lmaGlnlnSs OF Vht ih"S, 9dnSuin - Oui ~,
early optimists, To what extent II will
vet 90, even the most astutc of living
men can only conjecture. Lei us look
10 the future course we shall pursue,
lest we become vain Of our riches and
quickly go the way of the Caesars, who
fen into decay and dsrepute on account
of the boards they gathered about
them.
Let MS hope that we shall always
"'wish for no victories bnt those OF
ueace; for no territory except omr own;
for no sovereignty except the sovereign
ty over ourselves II we can go on
amassing wealth and still adhere TO these
admirable principles so recently uttered
by our eminent Premier, Mr.. Elibu
Root. the Goddess of Liberty will long
hold up her beckoning light, and We