The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Great American Fortunes,
Vol. I, by Myers Gustavus

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Title: History of the Great American Fortunes, Vol. I
Conditions in Settlement and Colonial Times

Author: Myers Gustavus

Release Date: January 13, 2010 [EBook #30956]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT AMERICAN FORTUNES ***

Produced by Annie McGuire

THE HISTORY OF THE GREAT AMERICAN FORTUNES

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

* * * * *

THE HISTORY OF TAMMANY HALL

HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC FRANCHISES IN NEW YORK CITY

HISTORY OF THE GREAT AMERICAN FORTUNES

BY
GUSTAVUS MYERS

AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF TAMMANY HALL," "HISTORY OF
PUBLIC FRANCHISES IN NEW YORK CITY," ETC.

* * * * *

VOL. I.

PART I: CONDITIONS IN SETTLEMENT AND COLONIAL TIMES

PART II: THE GREAT LAND FORTUNES

* * * * *

CHICAGO
CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY
1910

Copyright 1907, 1908 and 1909
By GUSTAVUS MYERS

PREFACE

In writing this work my aim has been to give the exact facts as far as
the available material allows. Necessarily it is impossible, from the
very nature of the case, to obtain all the facts. It is obvious that in
both past and present times the chief beneficiaries of our social and
industrial system have found it to their interest to represent their
accumulations as the rewards of industry and ability, and have likewise
had the strongest motives for concealing the circumstances of all those
complex and devious methods which have been used in building up great
fortunes. In this they have been assisted by a society so constituted
that the means by which these great fortunes have been amassed have been
generally lauded as legitimate and exemplary.

The possessors of towering fortunes have hitherto been described in two
ways. On the one hand, they have been held up as marvels of success, as
preeminent examples of thrift, enterprise and extraordinary ability.
More recently, however, the tendency in certain quarters has been
diametrically the opposite. This latter class of