MODERN FORTUNES

Evening Star, Issue 19919, 16 July 1928, Page 1

MODERN FORTUNES

HOY/ THEY ARE MADE Sir Josiaii Stamp, the distinguished economist, who has just been made a director of tho Bank of England, has undertaken an inquiry, the results of which will be of widespread social and political importance. lie is seeking a wide mass of data from which he .can draw necuralo conclusions as to how_ modern fortunes are made up, particularly as to how much of them have been accumulated solely through the efforts of their owners.

In the fiscal year just dosed the Chancellor of the Exchequer had a surplus of about £1,529,000, but this would have been a deficit if the year’s inheritance faxes had not exceeded expectation by nearly £10,000,000. Sir Josiah points out that there is a good deal of speculation about this fact, and a good deal of surmise on the part of ninny that the very rich are growing richer at a faster rate than has heretofore been supposed. Ho also points out that there is a marked absence' of dependable information as to the real composition of fortunes, although various political and economic schools of thought put forward arguments which are based on the assumption that certain ideas on the subject arc well founded. In the inquiry which is now being undertaken, persons having knowledge of how estates of £5,000 and upward have been accumulated, whether by inheritance or by personal effort, are asked to come forward and disclose the information in confidence to Sir Josiah. A.special, form on which the required details may bo entered has been printed, and will be forwarded on application to the London School of Economics.

In his presidential address before iiio British Association on ‘lnheritance as an Economic Factor,’ Sir Josiah traced the, changing public attitude toward inheritance and the widespreading social implications that go with any proposal to 4 limit it. He also showed that such movements suffer greatly from the fact that the arguments adduced in their behalf arc almost all based on .surmise. The present inquiry is intended to settle these points with definite statistics, and it is expected that its success will grealy increase the interest of economists and public men and women in the subject.