Several years ago, two business professors published a most interesting book entitled The Wealthy 100, in which they compared and ranked the fortunes of various American businessmen across time. For example, John D. Rockefeller was worth approximately $1.4 billion when he died in 1937, apparently mere pocket change for the $60 billion wealth of Bill Gates today. Yet according to the authors, Rockefeller is #1 on the list and Gates is #31.

The writers used an interesting measuring stick that allows them to compare different eras. It is a simple formula, dividing a person’s wealth by the estimated Gross National Product. When Rockefeller died, his fortune was estimated as 1/65th of the GNP, whereas Gates’ wealth accounts for only 1/425th of the GNP in 1995 [it has grown considerably in the last 3 years, and is now estimated in 1999 at only 1/135th of the GNP, still far behind Rockefeller’s share].

In today’s dollars, Rockefeller’s personal fortune would be worth an astounding $190 billion, making Gates’ $60 billion slightly more than pocket change for Rockefeller! To put this into more understandable terms, at times, Rockefeller’s wealth exceeded the annual Federal budget. I won’t comment on whether this is a commentary on the growth of Federal expenditures or the reduction in the accumulation of wealth. But I believe it would be impossible for Gates’ net worth to exceed today’s trillion dollar budgets. Still, it has been recently estimated that Gates is as wealthy as the bottom 100 million Americans combined.

Looking over the list, I think the most interesting aspect of the list is how many of these successful entrepreneurs were immigrants, their sole baggage on the long ocean voyage little more than a large dream. Andrew Carnegie, John Jacob Astor, Stephen Girard, Alexander Stewart, Frederick Weyerhauser, William Weightman, Claus Spreckels, Anthony Brady, Adolphus Busch, John Kluge, Joseph Pulitzer, Samuel Slater, and August Belmont were not native-born Americans. In fact, five of the top ten were born in Europe and came here seeking a better life, which they ultimately found.

Also remarkable is the number of people who left their fortunes to charity, and many of them are well known, such as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the numerous Carnegie Libraries, Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, Girard College, Stanford University, the Frick Educational Commission, the Peabody Educational Fund, Duke University, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, and many other unnamed charities and foundations.

We believe it would be interesting and challenging for scripopholists to try to collect as many of The Wealthy 100 as possible. So we made it as easy as possible for you. Below, is a listing of the ninety-nine men and lone woman who made up this list, followed by an assortment of their signed stocks, bonds, letters and documents.