[139] "The Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of the City of New York." By Moses Yale Beach.
[140] "Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of Philadelphia." By a Member of the Philadelphia Bar, 1845.
The misconception which often exists even among those who profess the deepest scholarship and the most certainty of opinion as to the development of men of great wealth was instanced by a misstatement of Dr. Felix Adler, leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. In an address on "Anti-Democratic Tendencies in American Life" delivered some years ago, Dr. Adler asserted: "Before the Civil War there were three millionaires; now there are 4,000." The error of this assertion is evident.
[141] Parton's "Life of John Jacob Astor":80-81.
[142] Proceedings of the Board of Assistant Aldermen, xxix, Doc. No. 24. This poverty was the consequence, not of any one phase of the existing system, nor of the growth of any one fortune, but resulted from the whole industrial system. The chief form of the exploitation of the worker was that of his capacity as a producer; other forms completed the process. A considerable number of the paupers were immigrants, who, fleeing from exploitation at home, were kept in poverty in America, "the land of boundless resources." The statement often made that there were no tramps in the United States before the Civil War is wholly incorrect.
[143] Matthew Hale Smith in "Sunshine and Shadow in New York," 186-187.
[144] See Part III of this work, "The Great Railroad Fortunes".
[145] See Part III, Chapters iv, v, vi, etc.
[146] Proceedings of the [New York City] Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, 1844-1865:213.
[147] Doc. No. 46, Documents of the [New York City] Board of Aldermen, xxi, Part II.