The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1916-05-29

.
tlgator
In my last article | showed you
where the national income Of sac.
600. 100000 COMES FROM An
even more important d question lie
WHO GETS IT.
The first big question u.s.
What do the wage aud salary
earnerB get the mlilionk Of work
erE who primarily produ ce the va.
tons wealth. There d re q 0o0. 4.
600 OF them. and with their fami-
I Lies they constitute TWD TIilRDS
81 the total population. yet their
aggregate incomes are only ti5..
600 600 0Q0-lesp than ONETHlRD
Of the national income
Farmers Get one-Nin,h
The farmers. including owners
and tenants. get about ~ 900 600
GO0--lcsa than ONE-NlNTH OF the
total after ieductlng in| crest and
taxes
The lawyers. doctors and other
professional men. who derive their
incomes from fees. receive about
$500. 600 600
The other so. 0O0 900 doc OF ma.
| tlonal Income more than 56 per
ceut--gueH 40 the bankers. mcr.
chants. manufacturers and proper.
/ @ owners We lack the nee esaary
data upon which TO bass even an
approximate division ampng these
various classes. but we know that
the bulk 81 II goes 90 flock snd
hondholdefs and that onie com
uarAtiyely small part goes 10 the in.
diNiduais who conduct their own
private businesses
Small Business Man Passing
Except ia a few lines. the indie
pendent small business man is
practically extinct Look for ca.
ample al manufacturing. where as
long ago as 1909 EIGHTY PER
. CENT OF all products " ere made
[ by corporations Even In retail
/ trade. the last stronghold OF the
small business man. erormous in
roads have already been made By
the department store and the
chain store
WHO OWNS THESE cor.
pORATloSS7 There are hun
orcds OF thousands on stoek
ard bondhoIders. many OF
whom, are ssisried people and
few even wage earners, but
the holdings Of the Majority
are relatively Insignificant
The real ownership and the
absolute control is eontentrst
ed In the hands OF a few thou.
sand nulti-millionaires. fully
one-halt Of whom live on that
little nub Of rock known as
Manhattan island.
How Stock Is Divided
There Is q fiction indt siriously
circulated hy the Capitalistic press
that the stocks. particularly Of the
great corporations. are very widely
distributed The United States
Steel corporation. With mpre than
100 600 stockholders. Is Away
cited as the supreme example Of
this democratic" ownership Very
WELL Let us look AZ The steel
trust You don't have TO take my
word. for IN 1911 the steel trust
/ filed as an exhibit IN the dissolu.
ton suit table showing exactly
how It's stock was distributed At
that time the corporation claimed
l00.34S stockholders. 1920 owning
common stock and GLIB preferred
stock
Take the common stock first
there were Just 1865 siock holders
with 900 shares and over, but they
owned s35S.9i6 600. or 20 per cent
OF the common stock. while the %.
799 holders OF less than 81 shares
owned only I per cent
Similarly. only 4S2 holders Of
more than 100 shares OF preferred
stock held IS per cent. while the
49.l91 holders OF less than 25 shares
owed only II per cent Taking all
the steel trust stock common and
preferred together. less tina n ONE
AND.A.HALF PER CENT Of the
100. 900 stockholders OWNED F1F.
. TY SEVEN PER CENT of all the
stock
Two per Cent. Contrib
have examined for this in
vestigation every stockholders
list made public for three years,
and have found that, taking
them all together-bis com
panies and little companies.
banks, railroads and industries
less than TWO PER CENT OF
the stockholders, owning 1000
shares and over hold MORE
THAN HALF Of the stock
/ The ownership OF land is equally
concentrated. few EXAMPLES will