The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-19
AMERICAN MlLLlONAIRES.
Who Are They, and How Many Are
 There of Them7
From Munsey's Magazine.

From Munsey's Magazine.
 One day in September 1852, when the ship that brought the late Carl Schurz to America was sailing up New York har- bor MT. Schurz chanced to notice some "charmlng dwellings" on the shore of Staten Island, then favorte watering place. He turned to a fellow passenger, home coming American. and asked who were the owners of these pretty houses.
 Rich New Yorkers" was the laconic reply, as MT Schurz himself recorded 1t.
 And how much must a man have to be called rich New YorkerY' MT. Schurz inquired
 Well" was the answer, man who has something like S15OOOO or $200, 900, or an assured income of $10,O00 or $l2,000 a year. would be considered wealthy. Of course, there are men who have more than that-as much as q million or two or even more"
 Are there many In New York?"
 "Oh, no, not many; perhaps a dozen."
 How many such are there in New York today? Nobody can tell with exactness l recently put the question to an active member of one of New Yorks most im- portant banking and promoting houses
 "Oh, five thousand" was his reply There are 2600 millionaires I could count up, and there must be 2500 more. many of whom are absolutely unknown to Wall street"
 There are in New York a host of un- known millionaires who drift there from provincial homes. The unknown million aire Is, in MT. Howells' view, the oppor- tunity of some novelist fin the future, a pathetic figure of modern metropolitan life, though the pathos Is often unrec- ognized by himself. He goes through the motions of doing what the rich and fash
 
 lshment dimes at expensive restaurants, attends the opera; but in reality he and his family live detached lives so far as social relations are concerned. Even the reported does not invade their finely pri- vacy.
 How is one to make even a guess at the total number of millonaires? I have at hand some rather significant statistics, secured for a business purpose, covering the annual incomes of the families in the United States. There are in this estimate 2,694. 900 families, or IT per cent of the whole number. enjoying incomes between $12O0 and 5000 year; and 5830 GOO families. 3K2 per cent of the whole number, with incomes between $3000 and 5000. Continu- ing mp the scale, we find 1t stated that 811 900 families, or per cent of the whole number, have incomes above 5000.
 All speculation on this subject must
 
 the distribution of wealth as q whole, but similar uncertainties in the case of in- dividual milionares. When one Is deal ing with statistics in the large, 1t can be assumed that these uncertainties may to a great extent be balanced against one another. But when it comes to the individual, we all know that actively in- vested capital fs constantly menaced by chance of loss however unconvincing may be the paper losses and gains of Wall street, by which millions are made today and wiped out tomorrow. The number of the wealthy whose money is invested in inactive and secure form, as govern ment bonds, is comparatively small, al- most negligible Hence 1t is the elusive nature of wealth. the danger that 1t may slip away while the possessors back is turned-for instance. when the owner of railroad finds himself held up' by a secretly secured right to parallel it. as happened to the late William IT. Wander bilt-which gives to the possession of mill lions the vaccination of mystery.