We see from the lists that one Alexander J. Stewart,
dry-goods person, we believe, returns an income of 814,2001. a year, the greatest in America. If Mr. Stewart is not the mere representative of a company, it is also, in all probability, the largest business income in the world. It is extremely improbable, if we except the Rothschilds, whose wealth is rather that of a family than of an individual, that any uncrowned, person has an income approach- ing Mr. Stewart's. If such a one exists, it must be among the South American States, where there are still one or two families with incomes surpassing those of Europe. The largest realized income in America is Mr. Astor's, returned, we believe, at more than 80,000/. a year, a sum below the English highest level, but considerably above the boundary line between the rich and the millionaires, namely, 50,000/. a year from realized property. Till recently there were certainly not one thousand such mil- lionaires in the world, but with the rise in rents and prices the number must have considerably increased.
Previous page
