El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-05-17
EVERY PERSON
IN NEW YORK
W0ATH5l
Municipality Is Richest and
Most Expensive to Oper
ate in Country.
FAMOUS ASTOR
HOUSE To GO

" land worth 81 800 000, 1000, Father
/ = y KnickerbOcker is undoubtedly
: the greatest municipal land owner IN
the world. This is the most striking
/ fact brought to light by a search just
| completed TO discover the exact finan-
/ cial standing Of the city. Incidentally
( New York city the headquarters OF
J many of the worlds greatest corpora
3 lions is nevertheless the greatest one
/ within its own limits
: The stockholders OF this corporation
/ that is the citizens. find matters IN
T one of them is in a sense the owner Oh
. $3.50 worth of real estate. which, now
/ ever, cannot be sold On the, otner
/ hand. the city owes a consldeIstDis
! -77oIInt of money. something liile $50
Z 100000 all told. or S164 for eacn STOCK
I holder in the corporation, leaFIilsS. an
= aside from his real estate holdings
I father knickerbOcker has some P5y,
100000 worth of trinkets such as IRE
J engines. automobiles, horses ana me
& like. which add an additional So 10
! the share of each resident
New TOr5z's Expenses
/ When it comes to the operating end
] the expenses Of running New YORK are
Z so great as to dwarf BY comparison
[ those Of chicago, Phlladelpnla anu
] Boston. It's total revenues are SlSz--
I 600. 600 greater than those OF chicago.
/ and SIS, 100000 greater than nose o.
/ Philadelphia In outstanding moe teq-
1 ness Boston. which ranks second IS
more than $500. 100000 behind me cost
I of running the city is S1SS-0U0,UU0 more
/ than for chicago, ana sou uyy'UgO NOR mo-
/ than for Philadelphia Indeed the cost
/ of governing. like everything else,
/ seems to be going up, Tor the IlSuEeS
/ show that it is Increasing faster than
/ crcasing even faster
City sells Own Property
In compiling the list Of the CITY
property holdings, many queer sltua-
2 tiOns have come 10 light In some cases
: il appeared that because Of faulty rec
: ords the city had actually sold Tor un-
4 Maid taxes land which il owned itself
I While this shows bad management,
I there are also cases Of lar slgnJedness
as lnstanceC Dy S16s ese-tt P-- - y - IL
purchased from Peter SJuy EeSenI III
1866 for s., is now worth Sl,S6O,OOO-
Death of n 8Iiser.
The death here of Dudley Jardine,
leaving an estate valued at more than
500. 900. has brought to light one OF
up in this city of many strange MS
( tories tt is that of a man Of wealth.
and education, a musician ana the Sun
of a great organ manufacturing IlrIl
who SO years or more ago voluntarily
gave up his friends and family TO go
and live under an assumed name IN
BOwery lodging houses for Sl-z5 a
week He ate in the meanest reslau-
I rants. dressed in the poorest clothes
and passed his life amid those sur
I rCundiuEs- His name totally unknown
, TO all about him. his wealth never SuS-
pected. he lived. and in his last illness
he went to charity cot IN a nosplJaI
from which his body was taken 10 the
D. --ue. From there II would have
F c.-e to the POtter's field had 1t not
been for an inquiry Of a Bowery 1rlend
Z who searching lnrOugh the papers N
{ his room. found his true name and thus
| discovered distant relative
Left Much Wealth.
Even then relatives who were dis
. covered would have buried the body
. as that OF a man who left nothing in
this world If a notice had not struck
: the eve of another man IN whose GUS
/ today a viii had been placed p years
D ago He got in communication Win
! the family and more memoranda re
{ vealed safe deposit vaults and the
| wealth Dudley Jardine died in his 18TH
! year. He was the son of George Jar
I dine, founder Of the organ building
4 firm Of George Jardlne & sons, max
! ers of some of the largest pipe organs
J in the country There were three sons,
} Edward and Joseph P Jardtne being
! the two others All were associated
with their father. His brothers had
long since died. and Dudley Jardine had
retired from the firm when 80 years
I or more ago he developed the eccen-
tricity which finally blOtted him out Of
the memory of his family. He left his
home. went up in the Bowery and found
: a cubbyhOle of a room In lodging
I house under the name Of William
/ Smith. and there ne spent the remain
der. of his life He did not give up
! business altogether, but gradually
I sought new affiliations He was wei
( known in certain old established Wall
! street houses. where he was known as
: a most conservative investor, but his
! family lost track of him.
Is Good VIII TaxnbIes
Whether or not the good will Of a
+ business concern is taxable under the
I inheritance law is a knOtty problem
which the best legal talent of the city
/ is trying to unravel as a result OF tne
7 death Of J. PieTpOnt Morgan. At the
+ time OF his death the value of his good
Will TO the firm of which he was the
head was VariOuSly estimated at from
5000 600 to 10000 GOO and visions Of
Z a fat inheritance tax in this connection
! for the state rose in the minds of its
officials. But even before the value of
such an intangible asset as good VIII
could be agreed upon. the point was
Z raised that good viii could not be
7 taxed any way Immediately a merry
war began The surrogate judge suS-
tanned the claim of the appraiser OF the
estate that il was not taxable on the
Z ground that both the partnership
/ agreement and the testimony of the sur
| vivinE partners indicated that the es-
tate of the deceased partner had no
Q interest in the good will because 1t
/ passed to the firm
/ AstOr House to Close.
Next week will mark the closing OF
I what is probably the most famous no
tel in New YOrk-the old Aston house
far downtown which for SO years has
! been associated with the history of the
city. There is probably more history.
tragedy and comedy associated with
/ the weather stained. gray stoned old
Astor house than with any other build
ing in New York shortly after the