THE BILLIONAIRE by George B. Thompson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Jul 18, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 29.

THE BILLIONAIRE.

By George B. Thompson

THE Boston Herald, speaking of the immense fortunes of the rich men of this country, says:—

"It is not easy to fix definitely the amount of the wealth of the very rich men of this country; but one of our Western contemporaries has undertaken to approximate it in the case of Mr. John D. Rockefeller. It pronounces him the first capitalist who has arrived at the distinction of owning a billion dollars in money values. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reaches this conclusion by estimating that Mr. Rockefeller has an income which is 5 per cent. of a capital of $1,500,000,000. It is rather dizzying to contemplate this fortune in the hands of one man, and still more so to speculate on the additions which it is possible, in Mr. Rockefeller's life, to make to it. The advocates of an income tax find arguments in spectacles of this character, and those who favor an inheritance tax also are not without ammunition for their project. These great fortunes are naturally divided at death, in most instances, even if those who hold them do not distribute their wealth in public benefactions."

The time was, in the recollection of men now living, when a man who had an income of a few thousands was considered rich. Now a millionaire is nothing uncommon; and we are told that the billionaire is as good as here. In the New York World, some weeks ago, the following estimate of the annual incomes of America's richest men was given:—

John D. Rockefeller . . . . . $56,000,000 Andrew Carnegie . . . . . 26,367,500 Senator W. D. Clark, Montana . . . . . 10,000,000 William Waldorf Astor . . . . . 6,750,000 Cornelius Vanderbilt Estate . . . . . 6,625,000 William Rockefeller . . . . . 5,000,000 Marshal Fields . . . . . 5,000,000 John Jacob Astor . . . . . 4,500,000 J. B. Haggin, Montana . . . . . 4,500,000 P. D. Armour . . . . . 3,000,000 Claus Spreckels . . . . . 3,000,000 John H. Flagler . . . . . 3,000,000 J. Pierpont Morgan . . . . . 3,000,000 H. M. Flagler . . . . . 2,500,000 James J. Hill . . . . . 2,000,000 C. P. Huntington . . . . . 1,750,000 George Gould . . . . . 1,500,000 John D. Archbold . . . . . 1,250,000 W. D. Sloane . . . . . 1,200,000 Russel Sage . . . . . 1,000,000 D. O. Mills . . . . . 1,000,000

In the same issue the World gave the following itemized estimate of Andrew Carnegie's income:—

Carnegie's wealth . . . . . $166,250,000 His income, estimated by Frick, in profits of Steel Company . . . . . $24,500,000 Income from other sources . . . . . 1,500,000 Total income . . . . . $26,000,000 Carnegie's income per month . . . . . $2,166,666 Income per week . . . . . 500,000 Income per day (including Sunday) . . . . . 71,428 Income per hour (day and night) . . . . . 2,976 Income per minute . . . . . 50 Nearly one dollar for every clock tick!

We have reached a time when men are piling up treasure to an extent which is certainly phenomenal. And they go further. They take their millions, and heap them together in a trust, a union, a combine, to control some certain commodity; and having gained control of it, they raise the price, and thus wring from the pockets of the poor a few more millions, to "rust," because taken from circulation among the people.

This massing of wealth constitutes a marked fulfilment of the words of James: "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 5:3); or, as the Revised Version renders it, "in the last days."

So the Lord tells us that this heaping up of treasure is a sign that the end is near. It is, in fact, one of the clearest evidences about us that the day of God is at the door. Are we ready for the issue?

Rome, N. Y. G. B. THOMPSON.