lected in the
distribution of wealth. The "swollen fortunes" of that period rested
upon the same foundation that had given stability for centuries to
the aristocracies of Europe. Social preeminence in large cities rested
almost entirely upon the ownership of land. The Astors, the Goelets,
the Rhinelanders, the Beekmans, the Brevoorts, and practically all the
mighty families that ruled the old Knickerbocker aristocracy in New York
were huge land proprietors. Their fortunes thus had precisely the
same foundation as that of the Prussian Junkers today. But their
accumulations compared only faintly with the fortunes that are
commonplace now. How many "millionaires" there were fifty years ago
we do not precisely know. The only definite information we have is a
pamphlet published in 1855 by Moses Yale Beach, proprietor of the New
York Sun, on the "Wealthy Men of New York." This records the names
of nineteen citizens who, in the estimation of well-qualified judges,
possessed more than a million dollars each. The richest man in the list
was William B. Astor, whose estate is estimated at $6,000,000. The next
richest man was Stephen Whitney, also a large landowner, whose
fortune is listed at $5,000,000. Then comes James Lenox, again a land
proprietor, with $3,000,000. The man who was to accumulate the first
monstrous American fortune, Cornelius Vanderbilt, is accredited with a
paltry $1,500,000. Mr. Beach's little pamphlet sheds the utmost light
upon the economic era preceding the Civil War. It really pictures an
industrial organization that belongs as much to ancient history as the
empire of the Caesars. His study lists about one thousand of New York's
"wealthy citizens." Yet the fact that a man qualified for entrance into
this Valhalla who had $100,000 to his credit and that nine-tenths
of those so chosen possessed only that amount shows the progress
concentrated riches have made in sixty years. How many New Yorkers of
today would look upon a man with $100,000 as "wealthy"?

The sources of these fortunes also show the economic changes our country
has undergone. Today, when we think of our much exploited millionaires,
the phrase "captains of industry" is the accepted description; in
Mr. Beach's time the popular designation was "merchant prince." His
catalogue contains no "oil magnates" or "steel kings" or "railroad
manipulators"; nearly all the industrial giants of ante-bellum
times--as distinguished from the socially prominent w