The Topeka Independent from Topeka, Kansas • 1

I The Topeka Independent. ANOTHER CLASS OF FACTS. ONE CLASS OF FACTS. On this basis 50,000 families would appear to own one half of the national wealth. The second table was as follows Several Hundred Thousand More Men Out of Employment.

a general reduction in the prices paid for Goodyear lasting throughout the city was disclosed today when it became known that, on their return to work after the usual summer suspension, the lastere of the G. G. Snow Company would be asked to accept a reduction, which means an average loss of 50 cents a day. 45,000 PERSONS OWNED HALF OF OUR PROPERTY EIGHT YEARS AGO. Distribution of Amerloan Wealth, on the Basis of Tax Returns.

DESPERATE CONTEST BETWEEN SUFFERING WORKING MEN AND CAPITALISTS. WEALTH MORE CONCENTRATED IN THE UNITED STATES THAN IN ENGLAND. All Due to the Single Gold Standard. i CAREFUL ESTIMATES MADE BY THOMAS G. SHEARMAN, OF BROOKLYN.

f. ii 51 1 5 will, in any case, violate law or older this will be a peaceful contest; violence must not enter into it in any degree public opinion is with us telegrams and letters from men in all walks of life are pouring in endorsing our actions. The great body of the people are on our side and we mean to retain their support by strict adherence to law and order. The independence proclamation of the United Mine Workers of America is that industrial despots and despotism must forever be suppressed. With this inscribed upon our banners, and with 30,000 men imbued with a purely American spirit to carry it aloft, success will crown our efforts.

Wont Extend To Kansas. Coal Miners of This State Satisfied With the Seale and Wont Strike. Labor Commissioner Lee Johnson says that the coal miners strike will not extend to Kansas. The Kansas miners, said Commissioner Johnson are satisfied with their scale of wages. Of course the Kansas miners dont have much to do, but a strike wont help them in that regard.

And then, the strike in the other states is going to help business in Kansas, if it lasts long enough to af. feet the supply of coal. A long strike certainly would help the Kansas market, and that would give the Kansas miner more work. Commissioner Johnson says that the Kansas miners now work from one to three days a week. They earn just enough to keep sold and body together.

The New Army of Idle Men. The kindred industries of coal mining and iron and steel manufacturing of the Alleghany region have about added to the great army of the unemployed in the United States probably more than a half a million of men, mostly skilled workers. Carroll D. Wright, Chief of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, recently published the statement that about 3,500,000 men ivere in enforced idleness in this country. This, added to the men just called or locked out, makes the following remarkable showing: Wrights estimate of the unemployed 3,000,000.

Miners called out 375,000 Amalgamated workers, etc 250,000 Distribution in Classes. Average Class. Families. Wealth, per Fmly Rich 182,090 $43,367,000,000 $238,135 Middle 1,200,000 7,600.000,000 6,250 Workg 11,620,000 11,215 000,000 968 Grand total 3,625,000 The following statistics of this big strike among the miners alone, show an amazing loss of wealth to the country as follows Number of men called out 37 5,000 Number of states affected 10 Months loss to 375,000 men at 90 cents a day $10,125,000 Months loss to men at 10 cts. profit per ton on 16,000,000 tons 1,600,000 Loss to railroads at 30 cts.

per ton 4,800,000 Loss to coal companies stores at the rate of 75 cts. a day spent by each miner 8,437,500 Lowest Wages On Record. Miners Were Never Paid Such Starvation Wages As Now. New York, July 2. The Journal and Advertiser says that the bituminous coal miners strike to be inaugurated on the 4th of July will be the greatest wage contest the miners have ever engaged in.

If the temper of the hungry men is accurately guaged, it will be the most violent. At the present time the miners are working for the lowest ages in the history of the industry. They are getting 54 cents in Pittsburg, and, on last Saturday, a conference was held in Columbus between the Ohio miners and operators, at which the employers demanded that the rate in the Buckeye field be reduced from 54 to 51 cents. Kansas Miners Suffer. A DispUtch From Osage City Tells of Want Among Coal Diggers.

Kansas City, July 6. A special to a local paper from OsageCity, says There is great destitution among miners and their families in this district. Scores subsist entirely on the product of their gardens and many have not bread to eat with the vegetables they thus obtain, while meat is entirely out of the question. The total pay roll of the Carbon company (the Sante Fe mines), for 150 men, in May, was $475 and in June, $350, an average per month per man of $2 75. There has been no work this month.

The average wages earned per man for the past year is less than $10 per month. Many heads of families, and as many of the boys as are able, are now working in western Kansas harvest fields. $24,962,500 Monthly loss i 4 greater than the mistakes made by including names which should not havq been on. The Seventy Richest Americans. The total estimate, both as to number of persons and amount of wealth has been amply verified by later information.

With three omissions the list published in 1889 was as follows The figures indicated the wealth believed to be possessed on the average by each of the persons named $150,000,000 J. J. Astor. $100,000,000 C. Vanderbilt, W.

K. Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Leland Stanford, J. D. Rockefeller. Estate of A.

Packer. $60,000.000 John I. Blair, Estate of Charles Crocker. $50,000,000 Wra. Astor, W.

W. Astor, Russell Sage, E. A Stevens, Estates of Moses Taylor, Brown Ives. $40,000,000 P. D.

Armour, F. L. Ames, Wm. Rockefeller, H. M.

Flagler, Powers Weightman, Estate of P. Goelet. $35,000,000 C. P. Huntington, D.

0. Mills, Estates of T. A. Scott, J. W.

Garrett. $30,000,000 Charles Pratt, Ross Winans, E. B. Coxe, Claus Spreckels, A. Belmont, R.

J. Frederick Wayer-hauser, Mrs. Mary Hopkins, Mrs. Hetty Green, Estates of S. V.

Harkness, R. W. Coleman, 1. M. Singer.

$25,000,000 A. J. Drexel, J. S. Morgan, J.

P. Morgan, Marsshl Field, David Dows, J. G. Fair, E. T.

Gerry, Estates of Gov. Fairbanks, A. T. Stewart, A. A.

Schermerhorn, $22,500,000 O. H. Payne, Estates of F. A. Drexel, I.

V. Williamson, W. F. Weld. $20,000,000 F.

W. Vanderbilt, Theodore Havemeyer, Henry O. Havemeyer, W.G. Warden, W. P.

Thompson, Mrs. Schenley, J. B. Haggin, H. A.

Hutchins, Estates ot W. Sloane, E. S. Higgins, Charlemagne Tower, Wm. Shaw, Hostetter, William Sharon.

Mr. W. W. Astor afterwards inherited his fathers wealth, and is unquestionably worth far more than There were further reasons for believing that there were at least ten persons worth $100,000,000 and one hundred more worth- on an average $25,000,000 each. This estimate, which has been amply confirmed by later information, was taken as the foundation of an estimate of the further distribution of wealth.

On this basis, two tables were prepared, the first assuming that the 'English tables afforded a proper test, and the second assuming that the experience of Boston was a safer guide. The first table was as follows fr' 1,900 Mill Men Idle. Over Production Causes a Shutdown of the Massachusetts Mills. Lowell, July 2. The Massachusetts mills have closed.

Mr. Southworth, the agent, says that this is the first shutdown the mill has had since 1885, and it was necessary now in consequence of the low price at which goods are selling and the lack of demand. The company has a weekly pay roll of about $13,500 and employs about 1,900 hands, although the number fluctqates. Senator Millss Statement. Less than 25,000 out of our people own $31,500,000,000 more than one half of our wealth.

A pretty wise Frenchman once said: Monarchies are destroyed by poverty, and Republics by wealth. Thomas C. Shearman's Letter. The World requests me to state the basis of the estimate of. distribution of American wealth, published in 1880, and referred to by Senator Mills, of Texas, a few days ago in the course of the Senate debate on the pending tariff bill.

The figures quoted by Mr. Mills were taken from the first estimates which I made, in September, 1889, and which were modified, on careful inquiry, in The Forum of November 1889. In the latter article I assumed that the great law of averages might be relied upon in America as much as in Great Britain, and that we needed only to find a starting point in order to proceed safely to calculate, in accordance with universal experience, the average increase in the number of persons owning wealth, in proportion to the decrease of the amount owned by each. It was theii shown by reference to official tax returns, first in Great Britain, and next in the city of Boston, that there was a regular progression in the number of persons owning wealth, rapidly increasing as their individual wealth became less and less. It was shown, in this way, that the concentration of wealth in Boston was much greater than the concentration of wealth in Great Britain.

The estimate of total national wealth, given by the census of 1880, was then referred to, and, from that an inference was drawn as to what, on similar principles, would be the census estimate of the total wealth of the United States in 1889. It was next shown that, if we could only ascertain with even tolerable accuracy the wealth of the 100 richest persons in the United States it would be easy to estimate, in accordance with the law of progression, which had been demonstrated in Boston, in Great Britain, in Germany and 4n every city or country in which full tax returns were published, what would be the average wealth of the next 1,000, the next 5,000, the next 10,000, and so on. His Figures Never Questioned. It was further shown that we have eertain evidence that a vast majority of American families do not possess as much wealth as $1,000 each. Taking all these considerations together, the possibility of making a safe and conservative estimate of the extent to which wealth was concentrated in the United States was, I think, fully demonstrated.

At all events, the principles upon which these calculations were made have never been impeached even by those who object most strongly to the interferences drawn. In order to obtain the necessary starting point, by an estimate of the total wealth of the 100 richest Americans, very careful private inquiry was made as to the number of families reputed to possess each than the value of $20,000,000. Seventy such persons were then reported, and the names and figures are here reproduced, with only three omissions where mis takes were made. It will be seen that Mr. Andrew Carnegie and several other well known multi-millionaires were not included, so that the takes made in omitting names which should have been on the list were 13,002,090 $62,082,000,000 $4,776 On this basis 40,000 own over one half of the wealth of the United States, while one seventieth part of the people own over two thirds of the wealth.

It will be seen that, in the table, which was prepared upon the basis of purely American statistics, the concentration of wealth appears to be much greater than in the table prepared upon the basis of British statistics. By either table, 75 per cent of the national wealth appears to be concentrated in the hands of a very smal 1 minority of the people, but, dividing this wealth in proportion to the English ratio, it is distributed among 235,000 families, while dividing it according to the Boston ratio, it is possessed by only 182,000 families. It was estimated that the truth probably laid between the two, that 45.000 persons owned half of the national wealth and 250,000 persons from 75 to 80 per cent of the whole. The Figures Verified. The World further inquires whether these estimates have been affected by later investigations.

Such inves-tigatigations have been made by statisticians who greatly desired to reach different' conclusions. The utmost reduction which any intelligent inquirer has been able plausibly to suggest is to the effect that possibly half the national wealth is owned by 100.000 persons, instead of 45,000, and that 4 per cent instead of 2 per cent of the people own 75 per cent of the wealth. The New York Tribune, in the hope of disproving my inferences, published a list of 4,000 names of millionaires. My estimate was that there were from 7,000 to 8.000 millionaires, and the fact that 4.000 names could he given, appears only to confirm that estimate. Some of the estates in my list have since been appraised.

While some were valued at less than above stated, others proved to be worth vastly more. In the cases of reduction there had been a heavy decline in market values since 1889, while no estimate of real estate values was given in any case. Taken as a whole, my original figures were much too low. It is worth mentioning, as evidence of the care which was taken in the matter, that my estimates of population and total wealth, which were printed a year before the last census was taken, were almost what was reported in the census tables, which were ntt published until three years afterwards. My estimate of the national wealth was $65,000,000,000.

The official estimate for the same year, made upon actual investigation, but not printed until three years later, was $65,037,000,000. Summing It Up. To Bum up, I adhere to the opinion that, in 1889, more than half of all American wealth was owned by less than 45,000 persons, and that the num her of these persons grows less every year. Thomas G. Shearman.

What The Strikers Say For Themselves. Columbus, July 3. President Ratchford of the National Executive Board of the United Mine Workers of America, says of the miners strike ordered for the 4th of July The exact date of the miners national suspension has been a matter of speculation with -the' newspapers of the country for weeks past. We are very thankful to the press for the friendly mention which this great movement has received from every quarter. With the press and the public it is not a question of should or should it not take place, but rather a question of when shall the movement for living wages be inaugurated.

Independence day was chosen as a day well befitting our demand. It is the anniversary of our political independence let it also mark the beginning of an era of industrial freedom, and, as our revolutionary fathers freed themselves from foreign rule, let the miners of the country free themselves from the domination of their oppressors, and wrest forever from their limbs the fetters and shackles of slavery. Independence day cannot be celebrated by American slaves in a more patriotic manner than to make proclamation to the world that they shall no longer submit to industrial servitude. Our present suspension is not of our choice, it is forced upon us by cantin uous reductions in wages until the point is reached where living by our industry is no longer possible. Our miners everywhere in this country are ready for it, as a last resort, and there is no doubt that it Will be the greatest movement of its kind that this country has ever seen.

Reports from every mining section indicate the temper and determination of the miners and show conclusively that this movement must continue until wages is established. The convention held in Pittsburg today will be unanimous in their support. Those miners who have been forced by poverty and the cruelty of unscrupulous employers of that district to sign ironclad contracts will throw them up, as they should do, and join the suspension. I am not fearful that the miners Sherman And Hanna Have Their Say. New York, July 6.

A dispatch to the World from Washington says In speaking of the miners strike Secretary of State Sherman said that such disturbances were always serious and, threatened to become injurious to business interests. The withholding of so important a product as coal, if continued for a considerable period, he said, neccessarily involves a liberal increase in price and consequently affects all classes. He does not believe that politics enters into strikes that any of the parties, or that the preceding or present administration can be held responsible for the existing disagreement between operators and miners that a solution of these problems must be found by the employers and those in their service. They must adjust their differences in their own way and to their own satisfaction. Senator Hanna, of Ohio, in speaking of the coal miners strike said Owing to the existing conditions of business, no one can be expected to raisewages, for thepresent, anywhere in any line of business, and, therefore, the strikers have chosen a very unfortunate time to make their demands, whether the latter be reasonable or not.

With better times, greater confidence and increased demand for the product of the mines, it ought to be possible to give laborers of all kinds a better return for their labor. That is what we mean by prosperity an improved condition of business; when money is freer, operations are carried on upon a safe, sound and profitable basis, and the humblest laborer reaps the benefit of the good times in proportion to the value of his labor. The hoped for good times are coming, I believe, before long, but they will not come suddenly, but gradualy and when business does improve employers of labor can listen to the grievances of the employed. I do not see that they can be expected to do so before. It is to be hoped that the men will agree to submit the matter to arbitration and let their troubles be settled for the present in a reasonable manner.

Acts of violence prompted by the thoughtless passion can never accomplish anything good. Cut on the A. P. Sweeping Wage Reduction on the A. P.

Division Affectiag Thousands of Employes. Denver, July 2. A special to the Republican from Albuquerque, N. M. says: Richard English, general master mechanic of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad, formerly the Atlantic Pacific, threw a bombshell into the ranks of the railroad shop employes this morning by presenting them with a circular announcing a general sweeping reduction of wages.

The wage schedules went into effect this morning, and, although there appears to be some dissatisfaction among some of the wage earners, the reductions were accepted. Machinists and boilermakers are reduced from $3.40 to $3.20 per day and their helpers from 20 cents per hour to 15 i cents. Carpenters are reduced from 25 cents per hour to 191 cents; blacksmiths, pattern makers, brass moulders, car inspectors, are also reduced from 10 to 15 cents on the hour. Skilled helpers of all kinds will be paid at this point from 17 to 25 cents and, at all points outside, from 20 cents to 27 cents per hour. The reductions extend all along the line from Albuquerque to Los Angeles and affect several thousand Distribution of American Wealth on the Basis of British income Returns.

Families. Average Wealth. Total. 10 $100,000,000 $1,000,000,000 100 26,000,000 2,500,000,000 1,200 6,000,000 7,200,000,000 2.000 2,200,000 4,400,000,000 1.000 1,400,000 1,400,000,000 2.000 1,000,000 2,000,000,000 4,000 700,000 2,800,000,000 13.000 400,000 6,200,000,000 62.000 160,000 7,800,000,000 160.000 60,000 9,600,000,000 200.000 20,000 4,000,000,000 1,000,000 3,600 3,600,000,000 11,566,000 1,000 11,175,000,000 13,000,310 $62,576,000,000 Fob. propty, ohnrohee, Aon $2,600,000,000 Condensing this table so as to arrange it in three great classes, we arrive at this result i Distribution of American Wealth.

Average per Class. Families. Wealth. family. Rich 285,310 $43,900,000,000 $186,667 Middle 1,200,000 6,260 Workg 11,566,009 11,176,000,000 968 i.

Lastere Wages Come Down. Reduction of 50 Cents a Day Will be Accepted Under Protest, Brockton, July 2. What is taken to be the initial etep towards Total 13,000,810 $62,675,000,000 $4,813 A.