PREFACE.
This is not a novel, nor a work of fiction; it is based on the facts of the Eleventh Census and other statistical reports, and on the most reliable authorities on these subjects. This book represents the most essential and fundamental features of the nation’s situation. It shows the reasons why your cities rapidly become the property of a comparatively very few persons; why the American farmers lose their ground, and the urban population lose liberty; and why all become absolutely dependent upon a few multi-millionaires. It exposes the conditions in consequence of which the whole nation becomes a nation of mere tenants of farms and homes, paying rents; and, while the wealth increases, the greatest majority of the people come into desperate struggle not for pleasure, but for simple existence.
In order to impart as much knowledge in regard to the situation of the nation as possible, it was found necessary to supply the readers with a sufficient comparison of statistical facts, pointing to the differences of averages made by different authorities on the subject. This comparison has also been introduced for the purpose of indicating certain truths of special value, and for finding the true bases of reasonably dealing with the most vital problem of the national existence. This problem involving conditions that cause the commonly recognized social unrest of the present time is a problem which grows in intensity.
Recognizing the difficulty in solving the problem and the danger of the situation, we should not wonder, if the very persons who are always inclined to make discounts in established truths, will be profoundly surprised to know from the final conclusions here presented, that the time of discounts has passed away, and that it is now too late to ignore the facts of so serious significance.
If this work should come to be regarded as a general diagnosis of the diseased situation, we may rest assured that there are many thousands of people who will count it their sacred duty to find the proper remedy for curing the disease of the national organism. For it will be seen that the situation is rapidly growing worse every year with the increase of population, and there must be an end to the disease. Surely, if the increase of the national wealth is becoming less than the continual net incomes of the private monopolies, trusts and combinations, it is not difficult to recognize that the situation is already very bad. It is therefore desirable that every one should carefully learn the situation.
THE AUTHOR.
Chicago, April 1, 1900.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES. | |
| Page. | |
| Preliminary: opinions and views | [1] |
| Conclusions of Mr. G. K. Holmes, U. S. Census Expert, illustrated by diagrams and Table I | [5] |
| Conclusions of Mr. Thos. G. Shearman | [11] |
| Diagrams, Table II, and explanation | [12] |
| Conclusions of Dr. C. B. Spahr | [18] |
| Diagrams, Table III, and explanation | [20] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| STATISTICS OF WEALTH OWNERS. | |
| Statistics of aggregate wealth | [27] |
| Economic classes of families analysed | [28] |
| Holders of wealth, tenants and mortgagors | [32] |
| Reciprocal comparison of contradictory classes | [39] |
| Comparison of the poor and the rich families | [42] |
| Right table resulting from comparisons | [45] |
| Comparison of families in tables of different authorities: averages of family wealth | [47] |
| Illustrative chart showing worth of individuals | [50] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| THE PROPERTIED AND PROPERTYLESS PEOPLE. | |
| Fundamental difference in number of resources of the propertied and propertyless | [53] |
| Sources of multiple incomes of the wealth owners | [54] |
| (Extent of mechanical forces applied to labor in favor of the wealthy) | [57] |
| A propertyless man himself is a source of multiple expenses in favor of the propertied | [61] |
| Primogeniture replaced by dividogenesure, the principle of dividogenesure defined and explained | [70] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| ABNORMITY OF THE SOCIAL SITUATION. | |
| Numbers of the people subject to dividogenesure | [78] |
| (Percentage of the homeless population in cities and towns and of the landless on farms) | [79] |
| The propertyless a great nation | [83] |
| Bread-winners and others in gainful pursuits | [89] |
| Productivity of the American people superior | [93] |
| The people labor in favor of speculators | [95] |
| (Artificial world a witness for justice and rights) | [98] |
| Yearly net gains of the natural monopolies | [101] |
| Rates of injustice of dividogenesure expressed in daily incomes derived from millions of dependent individuals by the wealthy few | [103] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| THE MORTGAGOR FAMILIES. | |
| Loss of rights precedes loss of property | [110] |
| Statistics of farm and home families in debt | [111] |
| Percentages and numbers of families in debt in the United States after 1890: double table | [116] |
| Increase of mortgages on acre-tracts and lots | [119] |
| Amounts of indebtedness and life of mortgage | [121] |
| Per capita debt and average rate percent on the debt | [122] |
| Annual interest charges on debts combined | [126] |
| Public and other debts in force after 1890 stated | [126] |
| Significance of mortgages: different views | [128] |
| Loss of property by foreclosure of mortgages | [135] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH IN MONOPOLIES, ETC. | |
| Increase of the national wealth in seven years | [139] |
| Wages: the doctrine of; artificially kept up; the fall of | [141] |
| Net incomes of the natural and mortgagee monopolies from 1891 to 1897 inclusive | [145] |
| Net incomes of monopolizers of rentable houses for the same period | [146] |
| Net incomes of monopolies of rentable farm lands for the same period | [148] |
| Net incomes of some trusts unascertained | [151] |
| Net incomes of the owners of offices, hotels and other rentable properties in the centers of cities | [152] |
| Development of trusts in manufacture and mechanical industries; concentration of capital | [154] |
| Net incomes of manufacture and mechanical trades | [157] |
| Net incomes of mining monopolies | [161] |
| Increase of the propertyless population | [164] |
| Grand total of the total-net-incomes of monopolies, trusts, and combinations in seven years | [169] |
| Excess of the net incomes over the total increase of the national wealth in seven years explained | [170] |
| National and local taxes for seven years paid | [174] |
| Increase of the propertyless and that of national wealth after 1897 up to 1900 stated | [180] |
| Appendix | [187] |
| Index | [191] |