The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-12-26
PRoDiGAL SONS.
Spendtnritt British Bankrupts Of the
Upper Middle Class"

Upper Middle Class"
A report like that of the Inspector
General in Bankruptcy is astonishing
enough to us OF this age and genera
ton In mid Victorian times 1t
would have been hardly comprehensi-
BILE
Those failures of 1907 which were
due to personal extravaganza are
stated to be noteworthy for the IA
pidity with which the debtors sue
ceeded in dissipating substantial IN
heritances. Several instances are
given. In one case debtor with an
income of $1,000 was found to have
spent about E25.000 year. In an
other case the debtor on reaching
the age Of %, shortly before his bank
iuptcy, became entitled to properly
estimated at G447.0O0, but on this at
the date OF the receiving order he had
created charges exceeding 4i30.OOo.
In a third case the debtor, when no
was "a. became entitled TO an income
of more than G4S.00O. within
comparatively short time he was
charging his life estate and erecting
policies as security for loans until Ia
eighteen years he owed G459,OO thus
secured while his unsecured debts
amounted to upward OF 446,O0O The
latter were subsequently paid and
suitable allowance provided for Ike
debtor, hut his expenses again great
ly exceeded his income. and at the
date of the receiving order he owed
G22 900 unsecured
The men who came these heavy
troopers appear to have belonged to
the station Of life to which the gen
eral run OF Anthony Trollopes char
! acters may be assigned. For lack OF
a better definition we call it the upper
middle class. Now TrOllOpe's novels
may be confidently accepted, by those
OF us who do not remember early and
mid Victorian times. as faithful rep
reservations Of habits, ways of life
and modes of social thought. TrOllope
knew the sort Of income which mem
bers Of the upper middle class con-
sidered convenient for marrying,
bringing up family (Which was
often large) and generally enjoying
their existence upon.
We find him mentioning $4,000 as
a good standby, while $4,000 or 50
made one of his characters a wealthy
man and another character a most
desirable heiress. Well. even In these
days no sensible man or woman de-
spises $4,000 or even $4,000. Many
very sensible men and women would
be delighted to get as much. But they
would not dream Of regarding such
an income as wealth in the eonsid-
cradle degree. To be thought more
than comfortably of In that part at
the modern world which approx
mates to Trollope's world one must
begin to count ones income In tens Of
thousands
What would the society Trollope
depicted have said of man who
found $4,000 a year hopelessly in.
sufficient to pay his way? We fancy
they would have been shocked to hear
Of the smaller Of the Inspector Gen
erals revelations-Of the income Of
$1,000. the annual expenditure OF
E25,00O The modern observer Is not
be sufficiently surprised at the Ia
mentable inability to cut the coat ac-
cording to the cloth when the cloth
has Sc generous dimensions. but he is
not likely to make the mistake OF
supposing that $4,000 is enough, in
certain corners of the fashionable
world, to relieve the owner from all
pecuniary care.
We have not had an opportunity OF
examining the more intimately per-
sonal details Of the cases quoted by
the InspectorGeneral in Bankruptcy.
It is stated, however. that these for
tunes were inherited, and we may
fairly conclude that the inheritors
dispensed with work Of any kind
that they lived idly-lived for pleas
ure. rehabilitation Evening