Comparing Rich Citizens of New York in the 1920s: Attitudes on Philanthropy :: American America History

Comparing Rich Citizens of New York in the 1920's: Attitudes on Philanthropy How did the rich of Hudson Valley and Harlem New York differ in behavior patterns and personal attitudes towards home ownership during 1920 to 1925? Even with the distinction of race between Hudson valley rich and Harlem rich are the two groups in anyway similar? The rich of Hudson Valley did not feel the need nor the obligation to be philanthropical towards their under class counterparts. They were desensitized towards the needs of the poor and unfortunates of society. The Harlem rich however, felt a moral and spiritual obligation to help those less fortunate then themselves to become more prosperous so that they could aspire to the joys of home ownership. Only if they felt the individuals were worthy of their help. What were the Hudson Valley rich like? They were made up of two classes of people the Robber Barons and the Mayflower rich. In "The Rich and The Super - Rich" Ferdinand Lundberg writes that the Robber Barons gained their wealth thought crime. He writes "Crime: The Highroad to Wealth. Either sound instinct or certain knowledge led Kefauver, Kennedy, Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan to link notorious under world figures with the business world. For crime is a historically established highroad to American fortune building. If earlier men came into the upper propertied class by means of violent crime, it would seem that later criminal practitioners might be heading toward the same dubious salvation. So assiduously and unscrupulously did the earlier fortune-builders work that one might suppose they believed that in attaining wealth they were attaining eternal life." The Mayflower rich considered themselves the true Americans since their families history could be traced all the way back the firs t Dutch settlers who settled in the Hudson Valley area. They did not accept the Robber Barons with open arms until their fortunes over powered the Mayflower rich in comparison. F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves.