e case of Monroe vs. Jackson, in
1848, James Monroe claimed that his opponent was illegally elected by
the votes of convicts and other non-voters brought over from Blackwell's
Island. The majority of the House Elections Committee reported favoring
Monroe's being seated. Aldermanic documents tell likewise of the same
state of affairs in New York. (See the author's "History of Tammany
Hall.") Similar practices were common in Philadelphia, Baltimore and
other cities, and in country townships.

[139] "The Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of the City of
New York." By Moses Yale Beach.

[140] "Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of Philadelphia." By
a Member of the Philadelphia Bar, 1845.

The misconception which often exists even among those who profess the
deepest scholarship and the most certainty of opinion as to the
development of men of great wealth was instanced by a misstatement of
Dr. Felix Adler, leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. In
an address on "Anti-Democratic Tendencies in American Life" delivered
some years ago, Dr. Adler asserted: "Before the Civil War there were
three millionaires; now there are 4,000." The error of this assertion is
evident.

[141] Parton's "Life of John Jacob Astor":80-81.

[142] Proceedings of the Board of Assistant Aldermen, xxix, Doc. No. 24.
This poverty was the consequence, not of any one phase of the existing
system, nor of the growth of any one fortune, but resulted from the
whole industrial system. The chief form of the exploitation of the
worker was that of his capacity as a producer; other forms completed the
process. A considerable number of the paupers were immigrants, who,
fleeing from exploitation at home, were kept in poverty in America, "the
land of boundless resources." The statement often made that there were
no tramps in the United States before the Civil War is wholly incorrect.

CHAPTER VI

THE PROPULSION OF THE ASTOR FORTUNE

At the time of his father's death, William B. Astor, the chief heir of
John Jacob Astor's twenty million dollars, was fifty-six years old. A
tall, ponderous man, his eyes were small, contracted, with a rather
vacuous look, and his face was sluggish and unimpressionable. Extremely
unsocial and taciturn, he never betrayed emotion and generally was
destitute of feeling. He took delight in affecting a carelessly-dressed,
slouchy appearance as though deliberately notifying all concerned that
one