Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-07-27

term millionaire may mean one thing
or it may mean another. To the
average person a millionaire Is man
who is the fortunate p~ossessor OF
l 1000, 900. To some of those who
study the statistics of income publish
ed by the Internal Revenue Bureau Of
the Treasury q millionaire 10 not, one
who possesses merely 100000 Y
one who las an income Of : 100000
possess a fortune Of many millions OF
dollars. The victssitudes of these
Buper,Tnillionaires. most Of whom
were created by the val, is an inter-
esting story. There may be sone nc
ton In it, also. It Is difficult to de-
termine whether the statistics reflect
actual vicissitudes OF fortune or Jug
glery Of figures, but the figures must
BE- taken at their face value and the
a true report. II that be true, the
super 1nillionaires of the United
States came and went in the war
years. al hummer insects come Inc
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 business, there were so persons In
LIE CAllOO oSoSOo "
comes of 100000 q year or more.
The Internal Revenue Bureau has no
higher classification than this, but 1t
is said that II the classificadons we're
carried upward. it would be found
that there are incomes Of $i0,0o0.00O
a year and more.
BY 1915 the crop Of su~per-ndildon.
persons who returned incomes OF
81 00O 0On a wear and over. In 1915
the number had reached EOS. This
was the peak. In 1917 the figures
fad fallen to IA; but n 1913 it was
81: in 1915. 65;, and in 1920 there
were but 80 Americans reporting IN
comes Of 100000 a, year and over.
when They Dwtndled.
Observers Of these matters zoe a
coincidence in the fact that the great
incomes began to dw1ndle in the same
the war Ind laid heavy taxes and sur
taxes on incomes. The figures are
supposed to give, not the taxable In
come merely, but the total me- In
| come. That ii, these amounts were
returned whether taxable or not. The
point has been madeNthat the great
incomes did not actually fall OF when
sharply as has been indicated, but
that BY some mysterious mAnipula-
ton. they were kept out OF the. re-
turns. That may be fact and 1t may
be that the b~enenciariss Of these vast
incomes, realizing that q large pro-
portion Of their funds would be taken
by the income tA1 collector. began to
distribute their property to heirs or
to dissapate 1t ia other ways.
II the normap definition Of q mil
lionaire is used, the statistics are
astounding. Assuming that q mil
1ionaire ii one who has an estate
worth $1.000,000 the numbers can BE
arrived At by assuming that each re-
ceives an income OF. 10 per cent on
rate Of 100000 4 yeat. IN 1914 the
$1oo. 900 a year was 2,4Ss. Add the
tai Of 2.sAS ii Obtained. This was
the year in which the European war
broke out.
Taxing this same definition Of mill
lionaires. there we're n 1915 some
s;7Ss Ct then naa az, VII, nlan she ,o suPe s.
3,S54. The figures for 1915 show
6.427 With 3o6 pef-snillionaires TO
add. giving a grand total OF S,eJ3. III
1917 the number vas t.szs and. With
the supef-mY1ionaifes. 1850. This
wAA the 1tsh tide for the combined
sncxins; Ths hssn tide Tor rt The
but l41. But the cihAses rantins
down % the normal aineis- tniIlion-
Afres reached their zenith In 1911. In
1915 there werS 4.43t normal mil
tlofaireS ana ~ ettpsr.fniiliofaires Or
& total Of so: IN 1911, thefe we're
5,411 normal milli0nairet and .05
sapsr..hiiltcnAlfss OF Z total q s.sss;