| Families worth under $5,000. | Number of families. | Aggregates of wealth in dollars. |
|---|---|---|
| First three groups of the 2d table[[42]] | 11,432,532 | 16,398,622,216 |
| Last two groups of the 1st R. table[[43]] | 11,169,152 | 9,360,228,000 |
| Differences from the 2d table | 263,380 | 7,038,394,216 |
| Families worth $5,000 and over. | Number of families. | Aggregates of wealth in dollars. |
|---|---|---|
| Two first groups of the 1st R. table[[43]] | 1,521,000 | 55,676,863,197 |
| The fourth group of the 2d restored table[[42]] | 1,257,620 | 48,638,468,981 |
| Differences from the 1st R. table | 263,380 | 7,038,394,216 |
As you see, the comparison of the families of the same worth in the different tables shows that the poor classes of the 2d table are larger by 263,380 families, and richer by $7,038,394,216 worth of wealth, |DIFFERENCES REVEALED.| than they are in the first table. On the contrary, the comparison of the wealthy classes that consist of families worth $5,000 and over, shows that the 1st table is larger by 263,380 families, and richer by $7,038,394,216 worth of wealth, than the same families in the 2d table. Hence, the concentration of wealth in the first table is by $7,038,394,216 worth greater than it is in the 2d table. And it is clear that this amount of wealth is closely connected with the 263,380 families of the well-to-do classes. The question, therefore, is, Where could Dr. Spahr find so many more families worth $5,000 and over, than Mr. Holmes has found?
We know that both these great authorities dealt with the same primary facts of statistics, though Dr. Spahr dealt with them as they appeared in the Surrogate Courts, thus raising the value of the |BASAL FACTS UNALTERABLE.| facts. And we know that these facts or returns represent the worth of every family, just at it actually was at the time of the 11th census. Supposing then that the above families were represented as worth $26,723 each, could Dr. Spahr make each one of them worth $4,000 of wealth, with the purpose of including them among the millions of families worth $5,000 and under in each case? And could he thus rob the 263,380 families of their ownership of wealth, in order to make the distribution of wealth so abnormal as his table shows it? No, sir; this is an utter impossibility on anyone’s part. And Dr. Spahr represented the above families among those that were worth $5,000 and over in each case, and that is what anyone ought to have done in his place.
While in the case of the second table, the little more equal distribution of wealth appeared not because it was actually so, but because the above 263,380 families, with their $26,723 worth of wealth |UNREAL BASIS OF MORE EQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH| on the average, unintentionally or accidentally, were included among the families worth less than $5,000. Consequently, their aggregate wealth, amounting to $7,038,394,216 worth, has been nominally distributed among the group of “owners of free farms and homes worth less than $5,000” to every family. This inclusion was as easily performed as was the inclusion of the well-to-do among the poor by Mr. Shearman. We therefore subtract the above families and their wealth from the 3d group and add them to the 4th group of families worth $5,000 and over, in order to show that these families and wealth belonged to another class of the people, as follows:
| Holders of Wealth. | Number. | Value in dollars. |
|---|---|---|
| Tenants of farms and homes | 6,871,099 | 2,837,049,500 |
| Owners of mortgaged farms and homes worth less than $5,000 | 1,483,356 | 2,614,955,764 |
| Owners of free farms and homes worth less than $5,000 | 2,814,697 | 3,908,222,736 |
| Owners of farms and homes worth $5,000 and over | 1,521,000 | 55,676,863,197 |
| Totals | 12,690,152 | 65,037,091,197 |
Now this table represents the very essence of statistics on the distribution of wealth which was |TABLE MOST VALUABLE.| worked out by the two contradictory authorities. The 4th group of it contains the 263,380 families with their aggregate wealth, and equals the first two groups in the 1st R. table, these two and that being made of the families—each worth $5,000 and over.
It should be noticed here, that neither the 263,380 families that we have now included in the proper group of the table, nor their aggregate wealth, had anything to |GROUPS SIGNIFICANT.| do with the groups of mortgagors and tenants in the 2d table. These two groups of families have been separated from the influence of the free owners of wealth, by being debtors and tenants, who have a definite significance of their own in the statistics. And this is the reason why the subtracted families worth $5,000 and over could only be lodged in the 3d group of families worth below $5,000 under its wholesale average.
It should also be remembered that, though the 4th group of the last table represents an enormous amount of wealth, yet there are hundreds of thousands of families in it which are worth but few dollars |THE WEALTHY ONLY FEW.| over $5,000 worth of wealth. So that, the real concentration of that enormous amount of wealth remains in the possession of less than half a million families, as these facts have been represented by Mr. Shearman and the others in the first chapter. And nothing can be said against the accuracy of the careful estimates of the wealth of the very wealthy by Mr. Shearman and the other authorities.
In order to have a more definite idea of the distribution of wealth, let us compare both tables on one page, and remember that if the group wealth were equally divided among the group-families, each family could have such amount of it as the averages indicate. And mind that the next two tables, being based upon the same census facts, represent the results of careful comparison of the original ones.