Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-17
100000 new M|LLIONA|R[S
IN AMERI CA SINCE WAR
Many of New Rich Simply Had
Money Forced Upon Them,
Says Financier.
From The New Yord World

The recent observation 0f n distinguish
ed British financial expert that America
| is fast becoming o nation Of obscure mill
ionaires is not aa wholly facetiouB as il ap
pears at first glance During the last FIVE
years thousands Of Americans have be-
| come millionaires- how many, it is
| difficult To say; but conservative estimates,
! based on income and excess profits tax
returns, place the number ut between
/ fifteen and twenty thousand
Naturally, but a compar atlvely small
number Of so-called war mlllionalres
men who made fortunes IN munitions and
supplies related IN one way or another
60 the war have had their names IN the
| papers The prosperity of most Of those
| who have amasged wealth suddenly as
result Of the most amazing squirt Of
prosperity the country has ever expert
| enced, p known only 10 their most inti-
mate friends Although familiar with
! fortune they are undiscovered by fame
| Consequently, they may be spoken of as
Americas obecure millIonaires.
Who are these unknown millionaires7
| II there are fifteen or twenty thousand
of them. surely there must be some
clue IA to their identity. In these days,
hen profiteering and the inequitable
distribution u wealth are among the most
important topics of discussion, an answer
10 this question is really vital
"Of the miilionaires created since the
start Of the Worlds War 1914, it Is not
fair 10 assume very great percentage
of profiteerB, said A NJ Andrews,
prominent investment banker of New
York Many men had thus wealth
literally forced on them Men who per
haps had hoped N accumulate si00,0 900
during their lifetime have gone past this
mark without recognizing IL or remember
ing they had It until they found themselves
in tho millionaTre claHs. They were
flooded with orders wbich could not be
tsfscn care uf hy the large concerns n
the established trade channels, 50, while
many men and many concerns, wealthy
nud prosperous before tho var. nave
lated a surplus ~ one hundred
per cent during the past five years,
the small manufacturer has become the
equal in wealth of his former leaders and
has perhaps added several thousand per
cent to his original surplus and canrtal
We have seen the small investor make
many thousand per cent on his securities, /
bought for income purposes, because he
happened to own shares N 4 small rather
lhun Il large corporation
1t seens 10 bc ono Of nature : laws,
this cvenlng-up process. For analogy
let us take the United States Steel Cor
poration, which IS supposed 10 dominate
the most important industry in the world,
and compare II with the Mississippi +
river al food time One can easily con-
csive that the main body Of the river IS
swollen and has perhaps twice a. much
water IN Il as IN normal times But when
you compare the small streams and food
Cd lowlands tributary to the main chan
mel With their appearance 10 normal
IL n -.
sands of times their usual volume
That IS just what happened when the
war orders 81 al kinds began to food the
markets 81 the world The larger and
better organized concerns were immediate
" flooded 10 capacity. and because of
their size could not possibly hope TO adapt
themselves 10 the changed conditions,
while the small concerns could double
and treble almost over night until the
flood point was reached or the law Of
returns asserted itself.
The rise Of Bethlehem Steel from 80
20 over 700 per share in less than two years
and Of General Motors from s. 70 800
in about the same time, has become an
cient history and forgotten in Wall Street.
But every community knows Of one or
more local concerns whose stock today
has never been heard Of in Wall Street,
on each dollar Of capital it had five years
ago than either Of the above well-knoWn
Xamples
Heavy as the income and war profit
tax was it had little effect on the increased
profits of these smaller concerns, Is it
was almost always added TO the selling
price and passed along TO the ultimate
consumer
1t has been variously estimated that
he number 0i new mllhonalres III the
United States since 1914 IS from 10000
10 10000 and from the number Of OF new
ones personally know Of IN my small
,ircle. | would he inclined 20 favor the
after guess.
Var has always meant "A redistribution
II wealth "a new deal all around and
his being the greatest war OF history,
las exemplsfed the matter IN proportion.
It IS almost as If 10 the middle OF 3
1oker game for large stakes some one with
authority to do so had slipped into the
Dom and declared the yellow chips worth
i've cents and the white chips one hundred
lollars The game would not stop on
hat account and II II goes on long enough
he men with the demonetized yellow
hips will probably corral the white ones
IS they did the yellow. They may change
he rules, but they won't change the WIN
lerS.
The wild orgy OF spending which L
oing on at this time here and abroad |
Rows how hard it is for these new million
res to stand their sudden wealth, and the
low back Is already under way. 1t IS
,oing to take some time, and every one
Vii have fairly good time While il lasts. /
,ut the chips VII end up IN the usual \
place