aces. Yet,
so far as the Law was concerned, the rents collected by the Astors, as
well as by other landlords, were honestly made. The whole institution of
Law saw nothing out of the way in these conditions, and very
significantly so, because, to repeat over and over again, Law did not
represent the ethics or ideals of advanced humanity; it exactly
reflected, as a pool reflects the sky, the demands and self-interest of
the growing propertied classes. And if here and there a law was passed
(which did not often happen) contrary to the expressed opposition of
property, it was either so emasculated as to be harmless or it was not
enforced.

The direct sacrifice of human life, however, was merely one substratum
of the Astor fortune. It is very likely, if the truth were fully known,
that the stupendous sums in total that the Astors cheated in taxation,
would have been more than enough to have constructed a whole group of
railroads, or to have bought up whole sections of the outlying parts of
the city, or to have built dozens of palaces. Incessantly they derived
immense rentals from their constantly expanding estate, and just as
persistently they perjured themselves, and defrauded the city, State and
Nation of taxes. It was not often that the facts were disclosed;
obviously the city or State officials, with whom the rich acted in
collusion, tried their best to conceal them.

GREAT THEFTS OF TAXES.

Occasionally, however, some fragments of facts were brought out by a
legislative investigating committee. Thus, in 1890, a State Senate
Committee, in probing into the affairs of the tax department, touched
upon disclosures which dimly revealed the magnitude of these annual
thefts, but which in nowise astonished any well-informed person, because
every one knew that these frauds existed. Questioned closely by William
M. Ivins, counsel for the committee, Michael Coleman, president of the
Board of Assessments and Taxes, admitted that vast stretches of real
estate owned by the Astors were assessed at half or less than half of
their real value.[158] Then followed this exchange, in which the
particular "Mr. Astor" referred to was not made clear:

Q.: You have just said that Mr. Astor never sold?

A.: Once in a while he sells, yes.

Q.: But the rule is that he does not sell?

A.: Well, hardly ever; he has sold, of course.

Q.: Isn't it almost a saying in this community that the Astors buy
and never s