Men of Wealth (1944) - Ludwig von Mises Institute

HETTY GREEN 241
reached him. The attendants at the hotel are liberally tipped by
Mr. Green to protect him from all visitors save two or three who
are known.
When he is through with his papers he amuses himself with a
book until about one o'clock. Then he dresses and walks leisurely
to the Union League Club where he spends the rest of the day.
There he meets his familiar cronies who can be depended upon not
to mention his wife. He plays a hand at cards, smokes a cigar or
two, enjoys the conversation of friends, has his dinner, and remains
into the night when he goes back to the Cumberland, save on those
rare occasions when he goes to the theater.
He is now a man of leisure living on a pension allowed him by
the wife who had forced him to sign a prenuptial contract that her
funds would not be liable for his debts and that he would support
her. The allowance was not a large one, but it enables him to live
at a decent hotel and support by careful management the wants of
a clubman. But he never attempts speculation again.
There is, however, one fly in the ointment. His wife exercises
over him a surveillance which is most distressing at times. He
becomes aware of her unseen presence through inquiries made by
her in the most unexpected places. Thus one day Mr. Green went
to the Bureau of Elections to register. He learned that his wife had
been there before him to find out if he had made a change in his
voting residence. These investigations of his wife are the chief
reason for his careful arrangements to keep out all visitors. Perhaps
this once wealthy man feels a little uneasy to be the guest of the
Cumberland and the lounger at the Union League while the bills
are paid by the shabby woman in the Hoboken flat.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Green's fortune is rising. Her business is
money—making dollars into more dollars. She was not a builder.
She projected no great productive industry. Her business was to
stand on the side and take her toll from those who were producers
and builders and needed her money. Most of the great millionaires
of this country have been primarily creators of wealth, dreamers of
great enterprises. Rockefeller organized the oil industry, Hill