Litchfield enquirer., 1876-05-25
PeTp0euttleS.

PeFpssuttIes.
 FOUowing English precedents. our courts and legislatures have seen fit, wise ly ms we think, to limit the time within wAsch man may tie up property, by en- t4Il Or other device for creating a perpetui- ty, tO the lives of persons in being or their immediate descendants There is no qusz&Soa that American probate records wSal soSa abound with wills binding property m families by strict entail, if such wills were alIOwed by our public policy; but no matter how much the wealthy Amsxsozn may desire to found a family SA4E wla be papetuated by the possession OE IaHlseuAble property, the law forbids azy sacA restriction. as against public posry. Bat our law has only checked the &sssre inherent in mems infirmity to leave bsAlBa them some lasting token of their sxsssesce here on earth. in a single direc- ssNa Colleges, Seminanes, and other e2zEStabse corporations undertake to con- Fsr sh&E SRmortAlity on a name which is g<Asxxsss deHiesi us. Harvard and Yale CSS2arsA. Drsw and Vanderbilt Seminaries wzZ PegPesa&se the names of their foun- 6sxs 1c@g after members of their EmmSssm have ceased to hold a dollar of xAs prSpsESy accamalated by the thrift or sAs rxPAr5ty of their founders. Relying S2 sAe same phase of human weakness, CUT collegiate and denominational institu- ssSzs Haasrs2ke to confer minor degrees q sl10x4Al5ty on soch wealthy purchasers us gzve tAe means wherexith to found uuASAurSAips Or pCOSsssOrships. or other Au@~ P@sPeEaIESes connected with these Sus&sHzkssm&
 Saz1 smother phase of the same infirm- Sx. 1zzgssa wSEh the bzssr motives of wvp~znasSa CT the purer motives of phil szzAruRy. h4sa induced men to endow GAsES@ss ==sg us. some to very large sz13zA T6Ss f0r2 of perpetdity has been g@HrASa against ln England. and in many sE S1< sSsssr states. by statutes of naOrt- sszSA In IACoaacc1icut legislation there is md esSa an attempt tO secare heirs against the szR~EsslE5Oa of ancestors, although tes- s&saSE< m anticipation of speedy death may seek tS 2Rpz&se the wrath of heaven by sA&=nc<sSse Of what property they may Aeave bsAla1 on earth.
 AH EAese fOrls Ot perpetnity we believe ta es 0G Svl tendency. The governing e~4les Of most of our colleges, in New EsgsaaA al Least. are strict sectarians, hS923 h n legal way to liberal use of the faa1s entrusted to them for the ad- v&aee@s1t Of learning and science, but kaokl1g rather to the special advantage of sAs seca of which they may be members. Thelr design seems to be to accumulate sacA vast e1dOSments as may make their colleges iEdepsndent of popular favos and peFpetaatS thAtsystem of sectarian control Of higher education. which has had to be abandoned Tn the managementof of our com non schools. And should the liberality of the present generation in its gifts to colleges be emulated by our descendants. another century may sec sectariauism so eutrenched in its monopoly of higher education as to be beyond the reach of the reform of which all human institutions, at least periodically stand in need.
 The danger of the accumulation of large amounts of property held in perpetuity by churches does not now seem great. Few churches own much property from which an income is derived; but it must be remembered that the wealth of Americs isverY recent Property once given 6 church can never be alienated, and may, if real estate, be subject to great increase of value, as has been the case uith the noted Trinity church estates in New York. European experience shows the wonderful money power a church will obtain in cen. turies of supremacy. We think it is no, are over estimate to say that the Reforma. tion found the Catholic church in posses sion of . third of the land of Europe Protestant churches have had but a few hundred years aseendancy; yet their pos SS"~%S1S AA SoAAAC COuutEAS@ ITS cuOEuOuS Even American Professionalism shows tha the spirit which gave the church posses sion of so much of the soil of Europe ii rife among us. A single ecclesiastical so ciety a tais town has had gifts whose val ue, after the determination of certain Tiff, estates. will reach some $4O. 900. Anothe generation as fruitful as this would plac, 1t above the necessity of popular support We must not forget. either, how the shad ow of tue great hierarchy of the Ol, World increases over us. Another cen tury may see the descendants of Catholic owning half the soil of New England an, theirs the wealthiest of our churches.
 Just now, undoubtedly. the secular COT poration seems the most dangerous forr of peFpetuated property among us. An other century may see religious establish
 ments helding large amounts of land; bu
 that is danger only of the far future The present dominating form of perpetui tY is the Railroad Company. Thousand of millions of dollars and the great arte ries of business are controlled by larg
 corpations. constantly increasing in we.lt
 with the growth of the country. and con stantly tending to monopoly by the pro cess of consolidation. These enormou properties are not liable to division an