The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1917-07-13
MILLIONAIRES
AND PAUPERS

teresting and enlightening para
graph:
Fifty years ago, one who had a
fortunte of 100000, or even $4,000,
or, for that matter, $4,000, in the
United States, was somebody"
while to be a millionaire now is so
common that little if any distinction
attaches to it. There are 1861
mlilionaires in the country at the
present time, and many more are
on the way.
Now, if someone good on statis-
teal information will give us similar
details about the number of paupers
in the United States fifty years ago
and the corresponding number of to-
day then we shall be able to draw
some meaningful conclusions.
The question is: Are the few rich
residents of our country becoming
richer at the expense of the poor
and the near-poor?
United States Government Stats
ties do not give the number of per-
sons in the land who live from hand
to mouth, year in, year out. But
the same satisfies do reveal the fol-
lowing striking facts:
Three and fifty-eights only out of
100000 people report incomes in
excess of $4,000 per year.
Nineteen out of every twenty fail
to provide either for their old age
or families.
Over 100000 women must work
to live.
Ninety-five per cent of men en-
gagged in business fail.
Ninety per cent of children who
enter school at age of six have to
stop before completing the eighth
grade.
There is other reliable data to
show that the ownership of wealth
in the United States has become con-
centrated to a degree which is diff
cult to grasp. The recently pub
lished researches of Professor Will
lard |. King, in ''The Wealth and
Income of the People of the United
States" have shown that as nearly
as can be estimated the distribution
of wealth in the United States is as
follows:
The 'rich," two per cent of the
people, own sixty per cent of the
wealth.
The middle class" thirty-three
per cent of the people, own thirty
five per cent of the wealth.
The poor" siXty-five per cent of
the people, own five per cent of
the wealth.
This means in brief that a little
less than 100000 people, who
would make up city smaller than
Chicago, own twenty per cent more
Of the Nations wealth than all the
other 90,0OO,OOO.
The figures also show. that with
a reasonably equitable division of
wealth, the entire population should
occupy the position of comfort and
security which we characterize as
middle class.
The actual concentration has, how
ever, been carried very much further
than these figures indicate. The
largest private fortune in the United
States, estimated at $1,000,OOO,OOO,
is equivalent to the aggregate wealth
of 100000 of those who are classed
as poor" who are shown in the
studies cited to own on the average
about $500 each.
Between the two extremes of su-
perfluity and poverty is the large
middle class-farmers, manufacture
ers, merchants, professional men,
highly skilled artisans, and salaried
officials-whole incomes are more or
less adequate for their legitimate
needs and desires, and who are re-
warded more or less exactly in pro-
portion to service. They have prob
lens to meet in adjusting expenses
to income, but the pinch of want and
hunger is not felt, nor is there the
deadening, devitalizing effect of su-
perfluous, unearned wealth. This is
the happy" middle-class. And
strange enough, it is largely the in
fluence and balance of this group
which keeps America in the even
tenor of her ways and prevents rad
ical steps being taken with the
swollen fortunes to which the
Christian Science Monitor refers in
such a commonplace manner.-Coast
Seamen's Journal.
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