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