Year: 1874




The disasters that have occurred il
the business circles of New York durinI
the last few months are full of practica
suggestions, upon which the daily pres
has made abundant comment but on,
of them has received but little notice
viz, the effect of these disasters upor
the families of the sufferers. These
with many dependents, were sharers il
the prosperity of those who have gon.
down to poverty. They lived in fin.
houses, and had all the privileges which
wealth bestowed. Many of these bust
ness men had wives, who had beer
helpers and household economist
through all the years of early struggle
and who held a strong moral claim upor
q portion of the wealth which they have
seen swept away without the power tc
lift finger or say a word in self -protec.
tion. In day, they have seen the &C
cumulations of years melt away, and
themselves and their little ones made
poor. The husband and father, with
burdens too heavy to be borne in his
Office or his counting room, goes to his
home to be tortured with the spectacle
of straitened life, among those who
are more precious to him than all his
wealth had been. 1t is quite likely that
he will find heroism and self-denial and
cheerfulness there; but his pain will
not be wholly cured by these, and he
must always regret that when he had
the power to secure a competence to his
dependents he did not do it.


A large majority Of the business men
of New York carry heavy life insu.
rance but this, at the very moment OF
the failure of any one of them, is not
only no help to him, but, by its yearly
demands upon his resources, q constant
drag upon his efforts and prosperity.
1t may be, indeed, that he will be una
BILE to keep up his yearly premiums,
and so be obliged to sacrifice all that
he has paid during the previous years.
Life insurance makes a provision for
his death, but none at all for disaster
that may destroy his power to provide
for his family just as effectually as his
removal from the world. His power
even to keep his life insured goes with
his power to make money, and thus his
family is left helpless whether he live
or die.


All men who deal in stocks, all who
are in commercial or mercantile life,
and all who are engaged in manufac-
lures, have much at risk. Wars, revul-
sions, bad crops. capricious legislation,
changes in the channels of trade, over
production-one or more of these, and
other adverse causes, come In at un-
looked-for seasons, aud prove to them
all that they hold their wealth by q very
uncertain tenure. There is no man who
does business at all who may not be
ruined by q combination of circum-
stances that he can neither foresee nor
control.


Now, we know of no way by which q
man can protect his family but by
taking q competent sum from his busi-
ness and bestowing it upon them out
right, and securing it to them, in the
days Of actual wealth and prosperity.
A man who, by honest enterprise, has
secured wealth, has the right to bestow
it where he chooses. When such man
endows a seminary, or establishes q
charity of any sort, we praise him. We
acknowledge his right to do what he
will with his own; and we ought not
only to acknowledge his right to endow
his family with the means of support,
but insist that it is his duty to do so,
even before he endows his seminary or
establishes his charity.


There are two objections to this
course, one of them coming from the
man himself, and the other from the
community. The man insists either
that he cannot spare the necessary sum
from his business, or that he believes
he can do better for his family by risk
ing his all while the community, trust
ing him, reckons among his means that
which he seems to own, even when, in
fact, it is owned by his wife, the trans
fer never having been publicly known.
It is against the mans mistakes that we
wish specially to protest. He has no
moral right to risk his all, when its loss
would make his family poor. provided
he has more than enough to do q fair,
safe business. This is the fatal blunder
that nearly all men make. Their busi-
ness grows. and its requirements grow,
with their consent, or by their strenuous
efforts. Large, superfuous wealth is
their aim, and it is this inexcusable
motive which prevents them from doing
justice to their dependents. If they
would abandon this aim, there would
be nothing in the way Of q wise and
provident policy.


The objection on the part of the COM
munity is, under the present condition
of affairs, q sound one; but o little
legislation would set this aside. II the
transfer OF money or property to ones
wife and family were legally required
to be made as public as the gift of q
considerable sum to public institution
is naturally made, there would be no
difficulty in the matter. II, when man
endows his wife with property, the act
could only be made legal by the publi-
cation of the fact, and by public state
ment of the sum transferred, showing
that his available capital had been re.
duced by that amount, the business
community would be protected. We
see no valid objection to this. There
are many ways in which, for public rea-
sons, the private affairs of man are re-
quired to be made known, and there is
nothing in this transaction which should
exempt it from publicity. Rsscality
would avail itself of this privilege,
without doubt, if it could but the pri.
vilege may be protected by all the safe
guards that legislation can throw around
It. A man may be compelled to prove
that he has the right to dispose Of
portion of his estate in the way pro-
posed, without prejudice to his credi-
tors or the community. We write with
out any knowledge of what the laws are,
but with a very distinct idea of what
they may and ought to be. We are at
least, sure that there ought to be some
way in which men of wealth may justly,
with every obligation to the commu-
nifty fairly considered,-protect their
wives and little ones in the possession
of q portion Of their means honestly
won and we hope that those who are