The Concentration of Wealth

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 18, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 11.

The Concentration of Wealth

The great nations of antiquity went down under the hand of the monopolists. Egypt went down when two per cent of the population controlled her wealth; Babylon when two per cent controlled her wealth; Persia when one per cent held her wealth; Rome, when 1800 persons owned the civilized world. In 1835 there were but six millionaires in the United States, while in 1902 there were 9,600. The national wealth is seventy billion dollars, and one-half of it is owned by 25,000 persons. In 1850 capitalists owned 37½ per cent of the nation's wealth. In 1870 they controlled 63 per cent, while in 1902 two per cent of the population owns seven-tenths of the entire wealth. These are stupendous facts for the sober thinkers.