Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-07-29

WY ASf11NGION, ~ ", July A4.-I Ne
NV term millionaire may mean one thing
or it may mean another. To the
average person millionaire is man who
is the fortunate possessor of $1,000,000.
To some of those who study the statistics
Of income published by the internal revenue
bureau Of the treasury a millionaire is not
one who possesses merely $1.O00,0o0, but
one who has an income Of $1,000,000 a
year or more Such a man must possess
a fortune Of many millions Of dollars.
The vicissitudes of these super-million-
aires, most of whom were created by the
war, is an interesting story. There may
be some fiction in it, also. 1t is diff
cult to determine whether the statistics
reflect actual vicissitudes of fortune or
jugglery of figures, but the figures must
be taken at their face value and the as
sumption made that they constitute a
true report. If that be true, the super
millionaires of the United States came and
went in the war years as summer insects
come and go, but there are many still
buzzing around.
In 1914, the first year in which the
great war in Europe changed the face of
the world and turned the channels of bust
ness, there were so persons in the United
States who reported incomes of $1,000,0O0
a year or more. The internal reyenTse
bureau has no higher classification than
this, but it is said that if the classifications
were carried upward, it would be found
that there are incomes Of $10,0O0,00O a
year and more.
BY 1915 the crop of superb illionaires
had doubled. There were 100 persons who
returned income of $1,O00,000 year and
over. In 1916 the number had reached
206. This was the peak. In 1917 the
figures had fallen to 141; but in 1918
it was CT; in 1919, 65; and in 1920 there
were but S3 Americans reporting incomes
Of $1,000,000 a year and over.
When They Dwindled
Observers of these matters see coinci-
dence in the fact that the great incomes
began to dwindle in the same year that
the United States entered the war and laid
heavy taxes and surfaces on incomes. The
figures are supposed to give, not the tax
able income merely, but the total net in
come. That is, these amounts were re-
turned whether taxable or not. The point
has been made that the great incomes did
not actually fall off when the United States
entered the war so sharply as has been
indicated, but that by some mysterious ma
nipulation, they were kept out of the re-
turns. That may be fact and it may be
that the beneficiaries of these vast in
comes, realizing that large proportion Of
their funds would be taken by the income
tax collector, began in 1916 to distribute
their property to heirs or to dissipate it
in other ways
If the normal definition of a millionaire
is used, the statistics are astounding. AS
Stunning that millionaire is one who has
an estate worth $1,000,0O0, the numbers
can be arrived at by assuming that each
receives an income Of 10 per cent on his
fortune. This would be at the rate of
100000 year. In 1914 the number of
persons having incomes of 100000 a year
was 2,2S8. Add the so s1per-millionaires
and grand total of 2,34S is obtained.
This was the year in which the European
war broke out.
Taking this same definition of million
aires, there were in 1915 some 3,7O4 of
them, and, with the super-millionaires add
ed, grand total of 1924. The figures
for 1915 show 6,427 with 206 super-mil-
llonalres to add, giving a grand total Of
1858. In 1917 the number was 6,523, and
with the super-millionaires, 1864. This
was the high tide for the combined show
ing. The high tide for the super-milIion-
aires was 1916 when there were 2O6. In
1917 there were but 141. But the classes
ranging down to the normal single-million-
aires reached their zenith in 1917. In 1918
there were 4,432 normal millionaires and
OF r-m1ll1onalreS, or total OF 4499:
in 1919, there were 5,461 normal million
aires and So super-millionaires, or a total
OF 5,526; in 1920 there were 3,616 normal
millionaires and 33 super-millionaires, or
total Of 3,649. This is the last year for
which figures have been compiled, but it is
expected that 1921 and 1922 will show
still further decreases in all these classes.