Let us see, then, what it is that the Nineteenth Century has stored up, which is to result in such a terrific convulsion in the Twentieth Century.
The following diagrams present the Logical Premises from which the “revolution and bloodshed,” as a conclusion, must inevitably follow, provided their action is not checked.
Distribution of Wealth in the United States.[[5]]
Population: 62,622,250. Wealth: $65,037,091,197.
“These diagrams showing by percentages the population and wealth distribution in the United States, according to tables compiled by George K. Holmes, U. S. Census Expert on Mortgage Statistics, are from the Encyclopedia of Social Reform.”
The contents of the above diagrams show on the bases of statistics that in 1890 three hundredths of one per cent of the population, |PERCENTAGES OF WEALTH AND PEOPLE.| which are the millionaires, held 20 per cent of the nation’s wealth. Eight per cent and ninety-seven hundredths of one per cent of the population, which are the rich, held 51 per cent of the wealth. The middle class, consisting of 28 per cent of the population, held 20 per cent of the wealth. The lower class, consisting of 11 per cent of the population, held 4 per cent of the wealth. And the poor class, consisting of 52 per cent of the population, held but 5 per cent of the national wealth,[[6]] as this table shows:
| Percentages of People. | Population in Groups. | Percentages of Wealth | Aggregates of Wealth in Dollars. | Distribution of wealth per head in Dollars. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00.03 | 18,786 | 20 | 13,007,418,274 | 691,867 |
| 08.97 | 5,617,172 | 51 | 33,168,916,461 | 59,041 |
| 28.00 | 17,534,216 | 20 | 13,007,418,253 | 741 |
| 11.00 | 6,888,432 | 4 | 2,601,483,644 | 377 |
| 52.00 | 32,563,644 | 5 | 3,251,854,565 | 99 |
| 100.00 | 62,622,250 | 100 | 65,037,091,197 | 1,036 |
This illustrative table represents the exact value of the diagrams on p. [5]. And nothing is more interesting in this table than the sad differences in the worth of the groups, and especially when their respective wealth is divided per every head. The right-hand column shows that there are 18,786 persons whose aggregate wealth, if divided equally among them, would give $691,867 to each man, woman, and child. And there are 32,563,644 persons[[7]] in the last group, whose wealth, if equally divided among them, can give but $99 to every person. These two groups present the greatest possible extremes of group-poverty and group-opulence.
The other three groups, as their averages clearly show, are intermediary between the two extremes. |PER CAPITA WEALTH.| And if all the wealth of the nation were equally divided among its population, we could have $1,036 to every man, woman, and child. This per capita wealth indicates that the nation is very rich on the whole, but its riches, as you see, belong to a very few persons.
What then is the difference between a rich man and a poor man, between a rich woman and a poor woman?