WEALTH OF THE ASTORS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1582, 25 March 1887, Page 3

WEALTH OF THE ASTORS.

No one family in the country has so kept its wealth within itself as the Astor?, who intend to continue the financial policy originated by old John Jacob Astor about the beginning of the ce r tury. It is commonly supposed that he made the bulk of his for: ure in furs. He formed a gigantic project for extending the business from the northwestern likes to the Pacific by means of various trading-posts, by establishing a central station at the mouth of the Columbia, and then by making a depot Ht one of the Hawaiian Islands, to supply China and India directly from the Pacific Coast The pr< jnct was partially carried out, but meanwhile Mr Astor saw greater opportunities for making money in city real estate than in tne fur tra le. He began to buy extensively, and the growth of the town was so npid that, in some ca«('s, the property increased a hundred-fold. When he died, nearly forty years ago, he wan estimated to be worth 20 000,000 doll n. He left t. his sou, Wm. B. Astor. the hu:k of his estate, to be matm-'ed in the inter* st of the family. William B. left it in turn to ' is son, John Jacob, and now John Jacob has entru«ud it to his eon— his sole child, ind-ed— William Waldorf Astor. This virtually amounts to an entail, and prrrents the wealth from being scatter d, tht.ngh thero is small danger of that, the Astors being noted for conservatiim and prulent thrift They bare always invested in real estat >, buying fow bonds or stocks, and have evinced great care and discretion in their investments. Their constantly increasing surplus they have, so to speak, put into the ground, reaping extraordinary profits thereby. They never sell; they are ev» r buying, buying, buying, but keeping their transactions as secret as possible. No one but themselv; s and their agentß have any idea of the vast blocks of real estate in their possession. They own tbuusind* of business houses and dwellings. They nevtr touch unimproved property, and now add each year two or three hundred houses to their immense holding. When it is rememdered that wealth doubles at simple interest in less than 17 years, and in much less time when ii.vested in real estate, it ii easy to understand

how theirs must have grown in the psst 90 years. One of the advantages of such investments is that they increase with the value of the city. They are not confined, as bonds and similar securities are, to a fixed rate of interest. Certain lots purchased 30 odd years ago would pay to-day what is equivalent to 40 or 50 per cent per annum. There is little doubt that the Astor estate is bv far the greatest hero or in the country It cannot be much short of 300,000 OOOdols, and by the close of the century, if managed as it has been, it will be nearly doubled. What will prevent tbem in another hundred years from owning most of Manhattan Island 1 N. T. Corr. Boston Advertiser.