to mention the many tracts of unimproved land that he held. His income
from these properties and from his many varied lines of investments was
stupendous. Every one knew that he, along with other landlords, derived
great revenues from indescribably malodorous tenements, unfit for human
habitation. Yet little can be discerned in the organs of public opinion,
or in the sermons or speeches of the day, which showed other than the
greatest deference for him and his kind. He was looked up to as a
foremost and highly exalted capitalist; no church disdained his
gifts;[157] far from it, these were eagerly solicited, and accepted
gratefully, and even with servility. None questioned the sources of his
wealth, certainly not one of those of his own class, all of whom more or
less used the same means and who extolled them as proper, both
traditionally and legally, and as in accordance with the "natural laws"
of society. No condemnation was visited on Astor or his fellow-landlords
for profiting from such ghastly harvests of disease and death. When
William B. Astor died in 1875, at the age of eighty-three, in his sombre
brownstone mansion at Thirty-fifth street and Fifth avenue, his funeral
was an event among the local aristocracy; the newspapers published the
most extravagant panegyrics and the estimated $100,000,000 which he left
was held up to all the country as an illuminating and imperishable
example of the fortune that thrift, enterprise, perseverance, and
ability would bring.

FOOTNOTES:

[143] Matthew Hale Smith in "Sunshine and Shadow in New York," 186-187.

[144] See Part III of this work, "The Great Railroad Fortunes".

[145] See Part III, Chapters iv, v, vi, etc.

[146] Proceedings of the [New York City] Commissioners of the Sinking
Fund, 1844-1865:213.

[147] Doc. No. 46, Documents of the [New York City] Board of Aldermen,
xxi, Part II.

[148] Proceedings of the [New York City] Commissioners of the Sinking
Fund, 1844-1865:734.

[149] Ibid:865.

[150] Proceedings of the [New York City] Sinking Fund Commission,
1882:2020-2023.

[151] Documents of the [New York City] Board of Aldermen, 1877, Part II.
No. 8.

[152] New York Senate Journal, 1871:482-83.

[153] See Exhibits Doc. No. 8, Documents of the [New York City] Board of
Aldermen, 1877.

[154] For a full account of the operations of the Tweed regime see the
author's "History of Tammany Hall."

[155] Report of the Metropolitan Board of Health for 1866,