The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-17
THE ARISTOCRACY
 OF DOLLARS

Oldest of the great houses in the American aristocracy of dollars is that of the Astors. Eclipsed in the matter of money by such upstart dynasties as those of Rockefeller and Carnegie, the Astors still hold first place in the gilded society of ulti-millionaire- dom. They are farther from shirt sleeved ancestry than any of the other celebrated families of the mon- jed peerage, and their social position has lately been improved by the ad- mission of one of their, number to the British House of Lords.
 Now thoroughly American or Eng fish in their sympath1es and allegi- ance, and, in the later generations, largely so in blood, the house of As- tor is nevertheless of German origin. John Jacob Astor, the founder of the dynasty of dollars was born in Wal dorf, Germany, 153 years ago today, July IT, 1763, and emigrated to Amer ica at the age of twenty, intending to embark in .the selling of musical instruments. He soon entered the fur business, in which he acquired a fortune, which he invested in New York real estate. When he died in 1S48 he left fortune estimated at twenty millions. and this fortune, vastly increased, has descended to his issue and their offspring down to the great-great-great-gra
 In many. respects the first John Ja- cob Astor was one of the ablest and most intellectual of the founders of famous American families. Largely self-educated, he yet had a great e. of literature and writers. He employ ed Fitz-Greene Halleck as his private secretary, and he was a close friend of Washington Irving. To the latter he gave lot on Irving Place-nam- ed by Astor in the authors honor and loaned him the money to build a residence thereon. He further ex- pressed his fondness for literature by bequeathing $400,O00 to establish the Astor Library in New York, and $5o,- 900 for. an Astor Library in his native town of Waldorf, Germany.
 The original John Jacob was some thing of linguist and could write and speak English, German. French. Spanish and the tongues of several Indian tribes. Although he wrote flawless English, he spoke it with a decided Teutonic accent. Nobody would know I vas a Cherman py my supeech, would they?" he often asked his friends. And-since he was a man of great wealth and power-they always assured him that his English was perfect and his Americanism untainted by any suspicion of hy- phen.
 John Jacob was a lifelong member of the Dutch Reformed church, but he gave literally to all sects and creeds. To his intimates among the 'fntellectuals." he candidly confessed his inability to accept any religion as revealed" or of supernatural origin. He looked upon the church az an ex- cellent social institution for the women, and as a beautiful device for keeping the poor in subjection. and for these reasons, and not because he believed in its creeds, he gave it his moral and financial support.
 Speculation played no part in the founding of the stor fortune. John Jacob was decidedly averse to any, thing resembling gambling. He want ed a "sure thing," and so he invest ed in real estate. He bought wisely, and the natural increase in values did the rest. One of his pet projects was the Astor House, in its day the fashionable hoste1ry of the American metropolis, although \when it was built it's site at Broadway and vesey street was considered too far uptown to be successful.