Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1901 — THE RICHEST AMERICAN CITIES. [ARTICLE]

THE RICHEST AMERICAN CITIES.

Baltimore la Fourth, Following New York, Boston and San Francisco. There is no way in which the diffusions of wealth among the inhabitants of American cities may be gauged with ultsolute precision, but the amount of personal property held in each furnishes one test, for, it includes generally bonds, cash, money, furniture, jewelry, equipages, stocks and money invested in business. It is a fact well known, of course, that the general taxation of all such personal property is impossible, that a considerable portion of it escapes taxation and a considerable portion, of it, too, is exempted by law, but the relation w hich personal property of one big city bears to that of another furnishes a fair guide to the wealth of each. By this standard New York ranks first among American cities, but not very far in advance of the city of Boston, one of the oldest and most opulent of American municipalities, and one in which personal property bears the relation of one to four of real estate value; in New York it is only one to six. Following New York and Boston, which are at the head of the list of the richest American cities, comes San Francisco, with $120,000,000 of taxed personal property, a condition of affluence due to the vast property which has come from the Pacific coast mines, the chief owners of which, or their descendants, have an actual or, at least, a legal residence in the Golden Gate city. Following San Francisco is Baltimore, one of the most substantial municipalities of the United States, with a larger amount of personal property taxed than San Francisco, but with a much larger population as well. Following Baltimore comes Chicago and then Detroit, St. Louis, Providence, one of the wealthiest of American cities; New Orleans aud Indianapolis.—New York Sun.