The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-01-21

In ten cents every second, Sc a minute.
little more than $4,000 day. about S250, 600
a month and over S3,000.000 year. His
property must be protected, aud you will
agree with me that an income tax as to
him would be just
JOHN Rockefeller is said to be worth al
most as much as William Waldorf Aston.
and the most conservative estimates put
him 1t 500. 100000. He did many job of
hauling along the wharves In Cleveland
when he was young man for 81 load,
and he knows how much 81 means, but
even he cannot figure out IN his mind the
enormous amount of $780, 100000. His
money is invested in Standard Oil stocks,
which are supposed 10 be as good az gold.
and which sometimes pay II Der cent dlvl-
dends. His income must be in the neigh
borhoOd of $4,000, 900 a year, and an in
come tax of S2000 0O would not hurt him as
much as tax of 50 would injure the aver
age reader of this letter. He spends his
thousands on horses. country homes and
Baptist Sunday schools, but they don't be-
gin 10 eat up his income, much less his
vast principal. and be can pay this tax and
not come TO want
Another rich Standard Oil man is Oliver
Payne, who is said to be worth hundred
million and who is a bachelor, with no
house to take care OF, no children to keep
in shoes and no grocery bills to pay. You
would think that he would not object to
UtIDlUE CUslt Dahl Jul 10 Iub fAlcDL vi d
paltry couple of hundred thousand dollars
a year. Henry NJ. Flagler has his extrava-
ganceS in the way of his immense Florida
hotels. but these are but mice bites at the
great round cheese of his income. At
per cent his fortune Is said to bring him III
S3,000,000 year or S250,000 month. The
income tax would leave him more than
81, 100000 for his years expenses and his
principal would remain IN touched. He is
said to be worth S50,00O,000 and at per
cent his income is nearly $3.50 per hour
Flagier was once as poor as John Rookie
Teller. When he was a boy he thought he
could make fortune at keeping hotel
and he longed for the chance to try 1t. The
result was that when his connection with
the Standard Oil Company brought him in
money faster than he could count ii lie
concluded to realize his boyisb ambition
and he built his big hotel at st. Augustine.
L don't know that il pays, but YOU can
spend there, [ am told. from Sc $50 day
without knowing where IL las gone and in
the winter it is packed from cellar to attic
with rich men and women.
One reason why our rich men object TO
paving taxes lies in their early lives.
The most of them began saving penny by
penny. Until they were of ege dollar
was as big as a cartwheel, and they can
now appreciate small amounts better than
they can large ones. They look upon
their millions as matters of course, and in
the way of business they make and lose
fortunes without wlnking. When it comes
to spending, however. thew pinch the coiu
until the nose of the goddess of liberty is
pushed down into her throat and the eagle
fairly screams in his agony. Even in his
last days. it is said, Jay Gould estimated
the dollars he spent as the profits from the
sale OF so many rattraps. Andrew Carne-
gle once worked for SO week, and though
there is no man more liberal in the lump |
venture he can tell you how many meals
poor mau can get from every dollar he
spends. and Levi S. Letter, who has been
paying $4,000 for house rent. and who
has just finished palace more gorgeous
than that OF any seconG-ciass kingdom of
Europe used to hustle about irving to get
a start on Sc week. Russell Sage made
his first money in selling sugar as grocer
in Troy, \. Y, and he thinks of the bar
rels and barrels of sweet mixture which
the $4,000 tax Cd his income would buv.
and his face is anything but sweet at the
thought. Joseph Pulitzer will have to pay
several times $4,000 If this bill passes,
and he will remember how hard be worked
TO make his first dollars in driving a coach
in ST. Louis or as poor reporter on the
smaller newspapers there.
Sidney Dillon will remember how he ran
errands as an oftice-boy, Henry Clews will
figure I'D the whole on the basis of the
value of the money to him when he was
getting SO d week, and ID. o. Mills will es-
innate now much his income tax would
amount to If he we're back in Sacramento
trying to get enough money to start lite
by selling lemonade and root beer.
George w. Childs began life a Door boy,
but he has never been misery, and the big
income tax he will have 10 pay will not
hurt him. He has made monsy rapidly.
but he has spent it just as freely, and
though he made no more than 5000 a year
until he was H. before he was 90 he was
on his way to fortune. Still, he worked
once for 81 month. Whitelaw Reid.
who will have to pay an income tax as big
as the Presidents salary, said not long ago
that he was glad 10 get S. week as cor
RESPONDENT OF a Cincinnati newspaper,
and John Wanamaker. another OF these
prospective mig income-taX payers, began
life by working for 81 % O week Phil
Armour will pay tax on millions. He
worked hard in the mines of California to
get his start, and be knows the exact
value OF the tens of thousands of dollars
which be will have to cay. 1t is the same
with dozen other rich men whom | could
mention. They all began at the bottom,
and the most of them will realize the value
of the money they will have to give up. A
few of them will, L venture, lie about it
and say that they make less than they do,
but many will be honest and turn in to
Uncle Sam fair account of their profits
and their losses.
1t will be the same with professional
men. The best brain and the most skilled
fingers OF the United States will be affected
by this tax. There are a number of law
yers 10 New York who make many times
$4,000 a year. and there are railroad Off
Gals. editors and bank presidents in all
the big cities who receive fortunes for
their work. George +. Roberts, president
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com pany, is
said to receive $500 a year as his salary.
and Chauncey NJ. Depew receives a like
amount. Both of these men have big es-
tates outside OF their salaries, but Cd their
salaries alone they will pay $1,000 to Uncle
Sam, and the same will be the case of
number Of other high-saiaried men. The
president of the Western Union Telegraph
Company is said to receive $50. 900 a year.
The president Of the Equitable Life in
surance Company gets like amount, and
he is poor bank president who does not
receive as much as the Chief Justice of
the United States. Bob Ingersoll is sup
posed to make 100000 year out of his
law practice and lecturing. He ought to
pay $4,000 Of tax. George Hoadley prob.
ably makes $50,000 and it is said tina;
Bourke Cochran still gets the same amount
out of his practice.
Among the people upon whom this tax
will most heavily fall will be the rich
women of the United States. Their in
comes are better known than thosa of the