The World's Wealth by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 9, 1914

The World's Wealth

By F. M. W.

The centuries of the past have witnessed many eras of national and international prosperity and progress, but it has been reserved for the last hundred years to witness the greatest progress in scientific research, the greatest achievement in invention and constructive ability, and the greatest advancement in general education which history records. The increase in the wealth of the world has likewise been phenomenal. Indeed, this increase in material prosperity has opened the way for much of the progress witnessed in all lines of human endeavor.

No less an authority than Sir George Paish, editor of the London Statist, declares that “at no time in history has the economic condition of the world improved as rapidly, or as much, as in the past hundred years.” While all countries have not advanced equally, this writer declares that the progress made is nothing short of marvelous. He gives, according to the Literary Digest of June 27, 1914, some interesting statistics relative to the increase of wealth in four of the leading nations of the world: namely, Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States of America.

The United Kingdom possessed in 1814 a total wealth of about £2,500,000,000. A conservative estimate now makes the wealth of that country £17,000,000,000, an increase of sixfold. In France during the last hundred years there has been a fivefold expansion of national wealth, an increase from £2,000,000,000 to nearly £10,000,000,000.

Equal progress has been shown by the German Empire. Of course, one hundred years ago there was no great federation of German states. They existed largely as separate kingdoms. Sir George estimates the combined wealth of these states one hundred years ago as “probably less than France’s,” but at the present time the wealth of the united German Empire has reached £16,000,000,000, or £6,000,000,000 more than the wealth of France, and within £1,000,000,000 of the wealth of Great Britain.

During this one-hundred-year period the population of Great Britain increased less than two and one-half fold; the population of France, one third, or thirty-three and one third per cent; while in Germany the population has grown from 24,000,000 to 67,000,000, more than 180 per cent.

But these figures, although they are stupendous in their character and almost beyond our comprehension, are eclipsed by those representing the wealth of the United States, which has behind it a history of a little more than one hundred years. This country, standing as the Benjamin among the nations, has received, as did Benjamin, a fivefold portion in the unlimited resources it contains and in the material wealth possessed by its people. Sir George gives for the United States a total wealth in 1814 of about £350,000,000 and a total wealth now of £30,000,000,000, an increase of nearly ninetyfold. The total income of this country has arisen from less than £100,000,000 to about £7,000,000,000, or to more than the combined incomes of Great Britain, France, and Germany. A twelvefold expansion has marked the growth in population.

A recent number of the New York Press speaks of the wonderful advantages enjoyed by the wage earners of the United States. Of the amount of their deposits in the savings banks of the country the Press says:—

Upward of $5,000,000,000 held in the savings banks by the wage earners of this country—and it is the wage earners who make the savings bank deposits—tells no story of poverty up to last year for the great mass of the American people. It tells a story which only a generation ago as a prophecy would have looked like the wildest dream that ever came out of the imagination of man.

In 1890 the savings bank deposits in the United States were $1,524,844,506. Since that time the savings of the American people as represented in their savings bank deposits alone—irrespective of their other investments in homes built and bought, in bonds and stocks taken in small amounts—have increased by $3,000,000,000, with more than another $200,000,000 on top of that.

But in this country, as in the countries of the Old World, a growing inequality of wealth distribution is seriously apparent. A list of the big fortunes left by wealthy men who have died since Jan. 1, 1913, is given in a recent number of the Washington Post, as follows:— John Jacob Astor .......................... $87,218,791 Anthony N. Brady ........................ 75,000,000 J. Pierpont Morgan (exclusive of art works) ........ 65,000,000 George W. Vanderbilt .................... 50,000,000 D. O. Mills .............................. 37,000,000 Chas. E. Appleby ........................ 50,000,000 George Westinghouse ..................... 35,000,000 Benjamin Altman ........................ 30,000,000 L. H. Severance .......................... 15,000,000 James R. Keene .......................... 15,000,000 George A. Hearn ........................ 10,000,000 Edwin Hawley ............................. 9,720,000 Henry M. Flagler ........................ 6,000,000 Isaac V. Brokaw .......................... 5,000,000

This great increase of the world’s wealth, together with the products of man’s inventive genius, has entirely changed the atmosphere in which men live. Speaking of this, the editor of the Statist bears the following testimony:—

It is difficult to grasp the fact that only a century ago none but the very wealthy could afford to travel, that nearly all were chained to the localities in which they were born, that even in London there were no omnibuses, that all but the very rich were compelled to live in the immediate vicinity of their workshops or businesses, and that now it is possible for most persons to travel not merely by motor bus, tramcar, railway, motor car, or bicycle, from their homes to their occupations, but to journey many thousands of miles at small cost to obtain employment, either temporary or permanent. Moreover, when one stops to think that in those days newspapers, magazines, books, or engravings were very great luxuries, to be indulged in by the few, and that it was exceptional for people to know anything of affairs outside their own village or town, whereas now nearly all are rich enough to purchase newspapers or magazines containing information about everything under the sun, to possess prints of the greatest pictures in the world, and are able to keep in touch with social, scientific, political, and religious thought not only in their own locality and State, but in every country, one is compelled to acknowledge, however averse one is to doing so, that the advance in the mental condition of the world in consequence of the growth of wealth and of income has been extraordinary.

In completing his review of the present financial situation, Sir George declares:—

Thus a very cursory review of conditions today and a century ago reveals the wonderful change on every side of life, in this and in other countries, and the great forward movement of the nations both in mental and in economic well-being.

It was to this progressive and enlightened age in the world’s history that the prophet of the Lord looked forward years ago. He declared that in the last days “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Whether we apply this running “to and fro” to the searching of the Scriptures of Truth or to the extensive travel by railroad and steamship as seen in the world today, the prophecy is equally meeting its fulfillment. It is the day of the Lord’s preparation

and in the giving of the gospel message to the world the agencies of promotion and transmission have been prepared for a speedy work.

The great aggregation of wealth was foretold by the apostle James. James 5:1-8. But the increase of wealth and the determination to control the world’s supply and demand, the apostle indicates would be attended by serious strife between the warring factions of society. We see that also being fulfilled today, and in still more striking measure will future days reveal the intensity of the controversy.

May God grant that our eyes shall be anointed to see, our hearts opened to understand, and our hands and feet made willing agencies to co-operate with the Lord in the giving of the gospel of the kingdom in this day of his great preparation. F. M. W.