Dynastic America, and those who own it online

THOSE WHO OWM IT



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Dynastic America

and

Those Who Own It

I
BY

HENRY H. KLEIN

First Deputy Commissioner of Accounts
of the City of New York



AUTHOR OF

"Bankrupting a Great City''
"Standard Oil or the People"




Published by

HENRY H. KLEIN

158 East 93rd Street

New York



Copyright 1921, by HENRY H. KLEIN



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England, 1921, by Henry H. Klein.

All rights reserved including translation into foreign languages, including the
Scandinavian.



This book is dedicated to those who
believe in Constitutional Govern-
ment of, by, and for the people.



The Federal Constitution is intended to preserve
free institutions in the United States. It was
amended for Prohibition and Woman Suffrage.
Why not amend it to limit excessive private for-
tunes?



The Sherman anti-trust law has failed to check
extortion by private monopoly. Why not check the
greed of those who control private monopoly?



FOREWORD

DURING the past quarter of a century, in fact since the Civil
War, a power has grown up in this country that is greater
than the government. It is the power that Abraham
Lincoln warned against and that Theodore Roosevelt called the
"Invisible Government." It is the power of Great Wealth, lodged
in the hands of the Few, wielded for their benefit and against the
interest of all the people.

Here for the first time is told who constitute that Great Power.
Here is shown who these individuals are and of what their wealth
consists. Here are shown the details of their possessions and the fact
that excessive private fortunes are in the hands of second, third, fourth
and fifth generations, who exerted little or no effort to obtain them.

The power of the government, that is, of all the people collec-
tively, should be greater than that of any individual or set of men,
and the only way such restoration can be accomplished is by curtailing
the wealth-power of the Few. In this book, I propose that private
fortunes be limited, so that the surplus or excess over a certain amount,
goes to the government. In this way, the government becomes the
principal stockholder and bondholder in all monopoly and draws the
bulk of revenue therefrom; the cost of government is defrayed out
of income on public property, the cost of living reduced, the wages
of employees increased, and the interests of small stockholders and
bondholders benefited. Taxation in time disappears and govern-
ment and business become simplified.

Such is the remedy which I propose as an offset to the bolshevism
and anarchy which threaten. The facts contained in this book should
move all right-thinking persons in the same direction. My idea is
that the constitution of the United States should be amended to
limit excessive private fortunes. All things in life are limited even
the power of the President. Why not restrict the Greed of men
and stimulate worthy ambition?



In my book, "Standard Oil or The People?", published in 1914,
I proposed a limitation on private fortunes. I again urged it in my
book, "Bankrupting a Great City," the story of New York, pub-
lished in 1915. I repeat the suggestion now and this book is written
to prove that wealth is concentrated in the hands of the Few, and
that private fortunes should be limited. It is the hope of the author
that this result will be accomplished.

HENRY H. KLEIN.

August, 1921.



Summary of Headings



PAGE

Dynastic Rulers in America 11

Excessive Private Fortunes That Have Been Inherited During

the Present Generation (Names and Amounts) 18

Detailed Schedule of Estates 24

(See Alphabetical Index, page 173)

The Largest Estates Are From Standard Oil 62

Estates of John D. and William Rockefeller Are Yet to be

Inherited 69

How Standard Oil Wealth Grows 72

How the Industries Are Controlled 74

Steel 74

Copper 76

Oil 80

Beef 81

Railroads 83

Coal 90

Tobacco 93

Telephone and Telegraph 95

Timber 95

Sugar 97

Rubber 98

Sewing Machines 98

Farm Implements 99

Motors 99

Electric 100

Milk and Farm Products 101

Gunpowder and Firearms 101

Local Public Utilities Are Controlled by the Few 103

How the Banks Are Controlled 105

American Corporations Engaged in Vast World Trade 109

Standard Oil 109

Beef Trust 112

Harvester Trust 112

Tobacco Trust 113

American International 114

Other Foreign Business 115



SUMMARY OF HEADINGS Continued

PAGE

American Foreign Banking Interests 117

Public Utilities in New York City Are Controlled by the Few. . 121
Excessive Private Real Estate Holdings in New York City. ... 123

The Politics of the Country Is Controlled by Those of Excessive

Fortune 124

What Is Rockefeller Worth and of What Does His Wealth

Consist? 130

Holdings of Rockefeller Foundation and General Education
Board Indicate Character of Mr. Rockefeller's Wealth,
But Not the Amount 134

John D. Rockefeller's Chief Financial Agents 139

What Have the Foundations Accomplished? 143

Rockefeller Foundation 143

General Education Board 147

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial 150

Carnegie Corporation 151

Estimated Wealth of Richest Families 155

Those Who Oppose Excessive Private Fortunes 158

Why Private Fortunes Should Be Limited 164

Alphabetical Index of Estates , 173



This book proves that wealth is concentrated.
History records that the decline of civilization in a
nation begins with wealth concentration.



Excessive private fortunes are in the hands of
third, fourth and fifth generations, who exerted little
or no effort to obtain them. Why not limit what
these individuals can have, and stimulate worthy
ambition?



The late Colonel Theodore Roosevelt said, in
igo6:

"I feel that we shall ultimately have to consider
the adoption of some such scheme as that of a pro-
gressive tax on fortunes beyond a certain amount,
either given in life or devised or bequeathed beyond
death."



The late William K. Vanderbilt said, in 1905:
"Inherited wealth is a big handicap to happiness.

It is as certain death to ambition as cocaine is to

morality"



DYNASTIC RULERS IN AMERICA

DYNASTIC EUROPE is dead, but the dynasties in America
flourish. There are more dynasties in the United States than
ever existed in the old world; and their wealth-power is
greater than all the King-power combined. Theirs is the power of
life and death over the whole human race.

There is the Dynasty of Oil and the Dynasty of Copper, the
Dynasty of Beef and the Dynasty of Coal, the Dynasty of Steel and
the Dynasty of Railroads, the Dynasty of Gas, Electric Light and
Traction, and the Dynasty of Ships, the Dynasty of Tobacco, the
Dynasty of Rubber, the Dynasty of Sugar, the Dynasty of Tele-
phone and Telegraph, and the Dynasties of a hundred other things
in essential use by the people.

There are various rulers in each of these dynasties, some of
which are ruled by the same set of men and families.

The Dynasty of Oil is ruled by Rockefeller, who controls the
Standard Oil Companies. There are lesser rulers in the Oil Dynasty
such as Payne, Pratt, Harkness, Flagler, Bedford, Rogers, Archbold,
Doheny, Pierce, Sinclair and Cosden.

The Steel Dynasty is ruled by Rockefeller, Morgan, Phipps,
Baker, Schwab, Corey, Gary, Wilkinson, and the heirs of Converse,
Carnegie and Frick.

The Coal Dynasty is ruled by Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt,
Baker, Widener, Stotesbury, Girard, Peabody, Mellon, Berwind,
Madeira and Watson.

The Beef Dynasty is ruled by Armour, Swift, Cudahy, Morris
and Wilson.

The Copper Dynasty is ruled by Guggenheim, Morgan, Rocke-
feller, Rogers, Haggin, Phelps, Dodge, James, Sewell, Hayden,
Stone, Agassiz, Shaw, Clark, Ryan, Cole, Whitney and Lewisohn.

The Railroad Dynasty is ruled by Rockefeller, Morgan, Harri-
man, Vanderbilt, Hill, Huntington, Gould, Baker, Stotesbury,
Frick, Payne, Widener, Harkness and Whitney.

The Dynasty of Gas, Electric Light and Traction is ruled by

11



Page 12 DYNASTIC AMERICA and

Rockefeller, Morgan, Baker, Brady, Bodine, Dolan, Billings,
Doherty, Fruehoff, Bertron, Griscom, Byllesby, Barstow, Stone,
Webster, McMillan, Insull and Porter.

The Dynasty of Telephone and Telegraph is ruled by Rocke-
feller, Morgan, Baker, Schiff, Vail, Mackay, Whitney, Gould,
Harkness, Marsters and Slocum.

The Dynasty of Tobacco is ruled by Ryan, Payne, Duke,
Widener, Brady, Lorillard, Hill, Dula, McAlpin and Whitney.

The Dynasty of Rubber is ruled by Rockefeller, Brady, Ryan,
Colt, Leland, Aldrich, Vail and Ford.

The Dynasty of Sugar is ruled by Havemeyer, Spreckels, Post,
Arbuckle, Thomas, Childs, Babst, Howells, Jarvis, Mollenhauer,
Jamison and Allen.

The Dynasty of Gunpowder and Firearms is ruled by DuPont
and Dodge.

The Dynasty of Ships is ruled by Rockefeller, Morgan, Harri-
man, Keith, Dollar, Grace and ^Franklin.

There are scores of lesser dynastic rulers whose wealth is esti-
mated in the tens of millions but whose rulership is only subordinate
to those of greater fortune.

Rockefeller is the Colossus that bestrides the world. The
Rothschilds in Europe, whose wealth is estimated at Two Billion
Dollars, and the Guggenheims, DuPonts, Vanderbilts and Astors,
whose family possessions approximate half a billion dollars each, are
subordinate to Rockefeller.

In a single lifetime, John D. Rockefeller has amassed a fortune
greater than that of any other individual or family. His wealth is
estimated at TWO BILLION, FOUR HUNDRED MILLION
DOLLARS, including the holdings in the Foundations.

Mr. Rockefeller is worth one billion dollars in oil alone. His
railroad holdings are estimated at $400,000,000. His holdings in
industrial corporations outside of Standard Oil, are appraised at
$400,000,000, and his interest in gas, electric light and traction, is
fixed at several hundred millions more. He has several hundred
million dollars in bonds of the United States and other countries and
in the bonds of cities and states. He owns many millions in real



THOSE WHO OWN IT p age 13

estate and mortgages. Part of this vast wealth is held in the
Foundations.

When Mr. Rockefeller dies, his estate will show far less than
he owns, because a large share of his fortune has already been trans-
ferred to his children.

Individual and family rulership in the various industries is the
result of private monopoly. Excessive incomes and excessive private
fortunes are produced mainly through private monopoly; and it is
through private monopoly only that excessive prices for commodities
can be maintained. Public control of monopoly would result in
reduced prices.

More than forty families in the United States have in excess
of One Hundred Million Dollars each.

More than one hundred other families have in excess of Fifty
Million Dollars each.

More than three hundred other families have in excess of Twenty
Million Dollars each.

The income tax is levied only on taxable wealth. Government
bonds and Liberty bonds of the first issue, are exempt from taxation.
The bulk of these non-taxable securities is held by those of excessive
fortune. About four hundred million dollars of Mr. Rockefeller's
taxable wealth is held in Foundations and other institutions, that
pay no taxes.

Estimated income tax returns show that John D. Rockefeller's
taxable income is about $40,000,000 a year ; William Rockefeller and
the late Henry C. Frick $10,000,000 each; Morgan, Baker, Hark-
ness, Armour, Ford, Payne, Vanderbilt, Field, Green, Harriman,
Guggenheim, Astor, Hill, Mellon, and Phipps $5,000,000 each;
Stillman family, Ryan, Schwab, DuPont, Clark, Brady and Whitney,
$3,000,000 each; Schifr, Duke, Eastman, Kahn, Swift, Rosenwald,
Blair, Huntington, Flagler, Widener, Stotesbury and Pratt, $2,500,-
000 each.

Others whose taxable incomes are estimated to exceed $2,000,000
a year are Penfield, Converse, Gould, Reid, Rogers, Dodge, Hearst,
Mills, Davison, Belmont, Ryan (John D.), Gary, Billings, Cochran,
Pullman, Couzens, Pierce, Doheny, Chapin, Wendel, Goelet, Wool-



Page 14 DYNASTIC AMERICA and

worth, Plant, Arbuckle, Rhinelander, James, Morris, Moore, Phelps,
Lamont and Warburg,

The gross income of most of these persons far exceeds the taxable
amount. The gross income of John D. Rockefeller, for example, is
about $140,000,000 a year. His income in 1907, the panic year, was
estimated at the same amount. Prior to that time it was estimated at
$6,000,000 a month.

There are other excessive fortunes besides those based on indus-
trial and utilities monopolies. The excessive wealth of the Astors,
Wendels, Goelets, Rhinelanders, Watt, Appleby, Gerry and Hoffman
is based on inherited real estate in New York City. There are
excessive real estate fortunes in every large city in the United States.

An analysis of the fortunes of those of excessive wealth who died
during the present generation shows to what extent the wealth of the
nation is concentrated.

Andrew Carnegie and Frederick Weyerhaeuser had $300,000,000
each ; William Waldorf Astor left $200,000,000, mostly in New York
property; Charles W. Harkness left $170,000,000; Oliver H. Payne,
$150,000,000; Henry C Frick, $142,000,000; James J. Hill, Hetty
Green, William K. Vanderbilt, L. V. Harkness, Moses Taylor Pyne
and E. C. Converse, $100,000,000 each, and Morgan, Brady, Astor,
Wendel, Kennedy, Weightman, Sage, Gould, Widener, Goelet,
Flagler, Harriman, Field, Stephenson, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Dodge
and Schiff, more than $60,000,000 each.

The estates of these and other excessively rich men show that
they control the leading industries, utilities and banks. They control
the railroads and mines ; and the bulk of their great fortunes has been
left to mediocre and inefficient heirs. These estates can never diminish
so long as private monopoly and the cohesive power of great wealth
endure.

Of three million stockholders in the leading corporations in the
United States, less than one per cent controls. The average small
stockholder has less than fifty shares, in any of the leading corporations.

Fifteen stockholders own a majority of Standard Oil stock, the
market value of which is about Three Billion Dollars. Of about
20,000 shareholders in the American Tobacco Company, ten own a
majority. The same state of concentration is true in the five corpora-
tions that compose the Beef Trust.



THOSE WHO OWN IT Page 15

Of 628,000 stockholders in the railroads, the majority is owned

by 8,300 or 1.3 per cent, according to government report. These

controlling shareholders own an average of 6,130 shares each, as

against an average of 75 shares each held by the other stockholders.

Of 27,000 stockholders in the New York Central, twenty of

them own 25 per cent of the stock. The twenty largest shareholders

in Illinois Central own 41.6 per cent; in Southern Railway, 37.7 per

| cent ; in Southern Pacific, 23 per cent ; in Chicago and Northwestern,

*' 19.8 per cent; in Erie, 19.7 per cent; in Chicago, Milwaukee and St

Paul, 18.5 per cent; in Lehigh Valley, 18.1 per cent; in Baltimore

and Ohio, 17.4 per cent; in New York, New Haven & Hartford,

15.3 per cent; in Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, 14.3 per cent, and

in Pennsylvania Railroad, 8.9 per cent.

The Rockefellers, Harrimans and Huntingtons are the leading
I stockholders in the Union Pacific; the estates of James J. Hill, J. S.
Kennedy and D. Willis James, in the Great Northern and Northern
Pacific. The Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Astors are the largest
* security holders in the New York Central, and Rockefeller, Frick,
Stotesbury, Harkness, Widener and a few others, are the leading
stockholders in the Pennsylvania Railroad. These four railroad sys-
tems constitute one-quarter of the railroad mileage in the country and
have aggregate assets of five billion dollars.

Ownership of a majority stock is not necessary for control. The
^ ownership of stock in a corporation is usually so scattered that control
can be obtained and held by only a small minority. This is the case
i in virtually all large corporations.

The largest stockholders in the leading industrial corporations
are among the controlling stockholders in the railroads. The Beef
Trust controls the railroads so far as the shipment of its own products
is concerned. The Oil Trust, Steel Trust and other trusts do like-
wise. This fact is established by government inquiry and report.
The result is that the railroads are managed mainly for the benefit
of private monopoly which profits to the extent of tens of millions
of dollars annually through rebates and other railroad favors. The
railroads are the instruments of private monopoly and these monopo-
listic corporations control their own banks, and own vast real estate.

The Federal Constitution is intended to preserve free institu-



Page 16 DYNASTIC AMERICA and

tions in this country. There can be no industrial freedom so long
as control of monopoly remains with the few, for private ends.

Private monopoly is mainly responsible for the ills of society.
It is responsible for economic strife and political misrule. It is re-
sponsible for newspaper misrepresentation and for high prices. It is
responsible for Bolshevism in America. The Bolshevists in Europe
aim to overthrow capitalism throughout the world.

The Constitution has been amended at various times to correct
wrong tendencies in the country. It was amended to extend the
right of citizenship to the negro and to provide governmental revenue
through an income tax. It was amended to extend the ballot to
women and to curb the appetite for strong drink. The fact that
some appetites have been whetted by prohibition, is merely an incident
in the failure of law enforcement.

The Constitution should be amended to cure a fundamental
economic wrong a wrong that is at the basis of our social and politi-
cal ills. It should be amended to take control of monopoly out of
the hands of the few and transfer it to the many.

This can be done by limiting private fortunes. If private for-
tunes are limited, so that the surplus or excess over the prescribed
amount, goes back to the nation, the government becomes the principal
stockholder and bondholder in all monopoly in place of the Few.
The government, representing ALL the people, needs no excessive
profits out of commodities. It needs only normal income for gov-
ernment purposes. The cost of living would be reduced, wages of
employees increased and governmental revenue provided without
taxation.

The bulk of excessive private fortunes is in the hands of the
second, third and fourth generations, few of whom earned any part
of them. Why should wealth be concentrated for the benefit of the
few, while the mass of people suffer? Why pile up greater fortunes
for those who are unable to earn even a small part of them ?

Government is instituted for the good of all, and when the cost
of living rises beyond the reach of ordinary persons and wealth be-
comes congested, then the government should intervene. The system
of industry should be readjusted.

The cost of oil, steel, beef and other monopolized products and



THOSE WHO OWN IT Page 17

by-products in essential use by the people, is far greater than business
necessity warrants. The claim that private monopoly reduces prices,
is long an exploded myth. Private monopoly aims only to increase
prices in order to swell profits, not to reduce them.

The income tax is no remedy for fundamental economic ills.
It is merely a governmental measure for raising revenue. When
the income tax went into effect, the pioneers of industry were busy
amassing fortunes. Their net incomes to-day and those of their heirs,
in face of the income tax, are far greater than when the tax was first
levied. Rockefeller's income is twice what it was when the tax first
went into effect, because he controls monopoly.

Unrestricted greed has produced gross social inequality in this
country and throughout the world, Europe is in chaos and we should
re-adjust our affairs in order to restore a balance not only in the
United States, but by example, in every other nation. Think this
over and decide for yourself what steps should be adopted.



Page 18 DYNASTIC AMERICA and

Excessive Private Fortunes That Have Been
Inherited During The Present Generation

Andrew Carnegie (highest amount owned) $300,000,000

Frederick Weyerhaeuser (estimated) 300,000,000

William Waldorf Astor (estimated) 200,000,000

Charles W. Harkness 170,000,000

Oliver H. Payne 150,000,000

Henry C. Frick (estimated) 142,000,000

Lamon V. Harkness 100,000,000

James J. Hill (estimated) 100,000,000

William K. Vanderbilt (estimated) 100,000,000

Hetty Green 100,000,000

Moses Taylor Pyne 100,000,000

Edmund C. Converse (estimated by son) 100,000,000

Henry M. Flagler 90,000,000

Anthony N. Brady 87,000,000

John Jacob Astor 87,000,000

Marshall Field 85,000,000

John G. Wendel 80,000,000

Cornelius Vanderbilt 80,000,000

Edward H. Harriman 80,000,000

J. Pierpont Morgan 78,000,000

Jay Gould 74,000,000

Isaac Stephenson, Wisconsin (estimated) 70,000,000

William Weightman, Pennsylvania 70,000,000

John F. Dodge, Michigan (estimated) 70,000,000

John S. Kennedy 67,000,000

Russell Sage 66,000,000

P. A. B. Widener (estimated) 65,000,000

Ogden Goelet 60,000,000

James Oliver, Indiana (estimated) 60,000,000

Robert Goelet 60,000,000

Jacob H. SchifT (estimated) 60,000,000

William L. Harkness 55,000,000

Charles E. Appleby 50,000,000

George W. Vanderbilt 50,000,000

Horace E. Dodge, Michigan (estimated) 50,000,000

Meyer Guggenheim (estimated) 50,000,000

Mrs. Phoebe Hearst (estimated) 50,000,000

John I. Blair 50,000,000

William Rhinelander 50,000,000

Frank A. Sayles (R. I.) 50,000,000



THOSE WHO OWN IT p age 19

Henry A. C. Taylor (estimated) 50,000,000

Henry H. Rogers 49,000,000

Benjamin Altaian 44,000,000

Frederick G. Bourne 43,000,000

John D. Archbold 42,000,000

George Smith 42,000,000

Darius O. MiUs 41,000,000

James Stillman 40,000,000

George Crocker 40,000,000

Norman B. Ream 40,000,000

John C. Brown 40,000,000

Archibald Watt 40,000,000

William H. Yawkey 40,000,000

William P. Furniss 40,000,000

Michael P. Grace (estimated) 40,000,000

Charles G. Roebling (estimated) 40,000,000

William B. Leeds (estimated) 40,000,000

P. D. Armour 40,000,000

Adolphus Busch 40,000,000

W. L. Elkins (estimated) 40,000,000

Edward Morris 40,000,000

Henry Miller (Calif.) 40,000,000

Edward F. Searles 40,000,000

Collis P. Huntington 37,000,000

John Arbuckle 37,000,000

Alfred G. Vanderbilt 35,000,000

Daniel O'Day 35,000,000

Thomas Dolan 35,000,000

Joseph R. DeLamar 34,000,000

Morton F. Plant 33,000,000

Warren B. Smith 32,000,000

Levi Z. Leiter 30,000,000

James H. Smith 30,000,000

George M. Pullman 30,000,000

Mrs. Leland Stanford 30,000,000

William W. Scranton (Pa.) 30,000,000

Frank Woolworth 30,000,000

John H. Barker (Illinois) 30,000,000

Moses Taylor 30,000,000

Alexis I. DuPont (estimated) 30,000,000

D. Willis James 27,000,000

Nelson W. Aldrich (estimated) 25,000,000

Mrs. Potter Palmer 25,000,000

John W. Gates 25,000,000

William Salomon 25,000,000



Page 20 DYNASTIC AMERICA and

Frank Drexel 25,000,000

Norman H. Harris (111.) 25,000,000

William G. Warden (Pa.) 25,000,000

Joseph Pulitzer 24,000,000

Wm. C. Whitney 23,000,000

Quincy A. Shaw 23,000,000

James B. Haggin 21,000,000

Ferdinand A. Schlesinger (Wis.) 20,000,000

John W. Sterling 20,000,000

Eugene S. Higgins 20,000,000

Edward Ford (estimated) 20,000,000

Marcus Daly 20,000,000

Henry G. Davis (W. Va.) 20,000,000

Dr. James Douglas 20,000,000

John C. C. Mayo 20,000,000

Robert R. Randall 20,000,000

W. Murray Crane (Mass.) 20,000,000

Theodore N. Vail (estimated) 20,000,000

William Penn Snyder (Pa.) 20,000,000

George C. Boldt 20,000,000

Henry M. Tilford 20,000,000

Charles W. Post 20,000,000

Samuel W. Allerton (111.) 20,000,000

Charles R. Smith (Wis.) 20,000,000

John R. McLean 20,000,000

Karl G. Roebling (estimated) 20,000,000

Harris C. Fahnestock 18,000,000

William Ziegler 17,000,000

Henry O. Havemeyer 17,000,000

Henry Strong (Rochester, N. Y.) 16,000,000

James Campbell 16,000,000

Stephen Sanford 16,000,000

Richard T. Wilson 16,000,000

Louis H. Severance 15,000,000

Jacob Ruppert 15,000,000

James R. Keene 15,000,000

James G. Fair 15,000,000

J. W. Garrett 15,000,000

David Eccles 15,000,000

Mrs. Lucy Carnegie 15,000,000

Frank Work 15,000,000

Benj. F. Keith 15,000,000

Amos F. Eno 15,000,000

Ambrose Monell (estimated) 15,000,000