Millionaires Trebled by F.

Signs Publishing Co. · Melbourne, Victoria · Jul 5, 1920

FromAustraliasian Signs of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 27.

Millionaires Trebled

By F.

THE prophet Isaiah, speaking of the last days, says of the people, “Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures.” Isa. 2:7. Likewise, the Apostle James declared: “Ye have heaped treasure together in the last days.” James 5:3, R.V.

A dissection of figures recently published concerning American millionaires shows the following proportions according to annual income (by which we mean not salary or wages, but money derived solely from personal property or capital):—

ANNUAL INCOME.	NUMBER RECEIVING.
£7,000,000	1
£1,000,000 and over	4
£800,000 to £1,000,000	8
£600,000 to £800,000	5
£400,000 to £600,000	24
£300,000 to £400,000	33
£200,000 to £300,000	67
£150,000	90
£100,000	225
£80,000	170
£60,000	380
£50,000	342
£40,000	763
£30,000	1,302
£20,000	3,302

The total income tax paid to the United States Government by its millionaires during 1918 amounted to £72,297,236, an average of £155,852 per millionaire.

At the close of the nineteenth century, William E. Gladstone declared during one of his notable speeches: “There are gentlemen before me who have witnessed a greater accumulation of wealth than has been seen in all preceding times since the days of Julius Cæsar.” But since these words were spoken there has been almost as great an increase in the accumulation of wealth as the great statesman saw there had been from the days of the mighty Roman emperor. At the commencement of the nineteenth century there were but two millionaires in the civilised world, increasing to fifty by 1856. The rapid rise in numbers in America alone since then is shown by the accompanying chart.

Truly the passion for wealth has seized the world, for not only are “capitalists” seeking to hoard up much treasure, but youth and hoary age of every class are engaging in the same mad rush after gold. This seeking after the precious metal is fast becoming a great yellow peril to civilisation, for in the days that are just ahead the groaning coffers and bulging vaults will be witnesses against those who now take pleasure in gathering to themselves

the wealth of the world. But soon the time will come when the prophecy will be fulfilled: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” James 5:1-3.

When we add the industrial unrest consequent upon the “profiteering” of trade unions and capitalists alike to the picture of hoarded wealth, it is surely plain to the most casual reader that the condition of the world today perfectly fits the prophetic forecast. F.