Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1894 — AN AMERICAN SNOB. [ARTICLE]

AN AMERICAN SNOB.

The conduct of Mr. William Waldorf Astor in transferring his residence and so large a portion of his vast possessions—constantly investing the profits from his American holdings in English estates and London enterprise^ —is mortifying loyal citizens of the United States. Mr. Astor is now turning his attention to purchasing ground rents in London, with a few side ventures of a similar character in Paris, and his investments are becoming so extensive that the matter is likely to be investigated by Parliament, there being serious objections to alien ownership of British soil. CommOE, gratitude would seem to dictate thal a man who has been so bountifully favored by the land of his ancestor’s adoption, and who has been so honored by our Government as a representative citizen, should use his great wealth in a way to partially recompense our people and our free institutions, through whose co-oper-ation he has grown to such great importance as an individual and such plethoric proportions as a capitalist. But if reports are true his shortcomings in this particular are but the initiatory steps to a still more discreditable proceeding, for it is said that Mr. Astor contemplates renouncing the land of his birth to become a British subject, and that he hopes to be made an English peer of the realm.