Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-02-16
VOLUME XXXIV.-NUMBER II.
WHO IT WILL CATCH.
WHAT THE INHERITANCE TAxWIll
COST SOME PEOPLE.
Million aires. Professional Men and
Others Affected by the Wilson
Biil Amendment.

Biil Amendment.
Frank q. Carpenter.
BY the way, speaking Of the justice
of an income tax, makes me think o
a question which was debated in one
of the literary societies of John Aliens
Congressional district in Mississippi
This was:
"Where is the best place to have q
boil?"
The decision arrived at was: "On
the other fellow" And this is the
way with the income tax. 1t is all
right providing it comes on the other
fellow, and these millionaires are the
other fellows. Take the Standard Oil
magnates. They have turned globulef
OF gold into gobs of gold and theil
heads buzz when they try to compute
their incomes.
John Rockefeller is said to be worth
almost as much as William Waldorf
Astor, and the most conservative esti
mate puts him at $l0O,OOO,OOO. He
did many a job of hauling along the
wharves when he was a young man
for dollar load, and he knows how
much dollar means, but even he can.
not figure out in his mind the enor
nous amount of $lO0,OOO,OOO. His
money is invested in Standard Oil
stocks, which are supposed to be as
good as gold, and which sometimes
pay II per cent. dividends. His in.
come must be in the neighborhood oi
$40, 900, 900 year, and an income tax
OF $500. 600 year would not hurt him
as much as tax of 81 would injure
the average reader of this letter. He
spends his thousands on horses, coun.
try homes and Baptist Sunday schools
but they don't begin to eat up his in
come, much less his vast principal
and he 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 bach.
elor, with no house to take care of, no
children to keep in shoes and no gro
Ger bills to pay. You would think
that he would not object to helping
Uncle Sam to the extent OF paltry
couple of hundred thousand dollars q
year. Henry NJ. Flagler has his ex-
travagances in the way of his immense
Florida hotels, but these are but mice
bites at the great round cheese OF his
income. At 5 per cent. his income is
said to bring him in So 600, 900 a year
or $3.50, 900 a month. The income tax
would leave him more than 81 500, ,OOO
for his years expenses, and his princi-
pal would remain untouched. He is
said to be worth $5O,OOO,O 900, and at
per cent. his income is nearly $3.50 pei
hour. Flagler was once as poor az
John Rockefeller. When he was a
boy he thought he could make for.
tune at keeping hotel, and he longed
for chance to try it. The result was
that when his connection with the
Standard Oil Company brought him
in money faster than he could count
it, he concluded to realize his boyish
ambition, and he built his big hotel at
st. Augustine. I don't know that ii
pays, but you can spend there, am
told, from Sc to $50 a day without
knowing where it has gone, and in the
winter it is packed with rich men and
women.
One reason why our rich men object
TO paying taxes lies in their early lives.
The most of them began saving penny
by penny. Until they were of age q
dollar was as big as cart wheel, and
they can now appreciate small amounts
better than they can large ones. They
look upon their millions as matters oi
course, and in the way of business they
make and lose fortunes without wink
ing. When It comes to spending it,
however, they pinch the coin until the
nose of the Goddess of Liberty il
pushed down into her throat and the
eagle fairly screams in his agony.
Even in his last days, it is aaid, Jay
Gould estimated the dollars he spent
as the profit from the sale of so many
rat traps.
Andrew Carnegie once worked for
So q week. and though there is no man
more liberal in the lump l venture he
can tell you how many meals poor
man can get from every dollar he
spends, and Levi S. Letter, who has
been paying 5000 for house rent and
who has just finished palace more
gorgeous than that of any second-class
kingdom of Europe, used to hustle
about trying to get start on $6 q
week. Russell Sage made his first
money in selling sugar as q grocer in
Troy, N. y, and he thinks of the bar
rels and barrels of sweet mixture which
the $4,000 tax on his income would
buy, and his face is anything but
sweet at the thought. Joseph Pulit'
zer will have to pay several times
5000 if this bill passes, and he will
remember how hard he worked tC
make his first dollar in driving coach
in St. Louis, or as poor reporter on
the smaller newspapers there. Sidney
Dillon will remember how he ran er
rands as an Office boy. Henry Clewl
will figure up the whole on the basi'
of the value of the money to him wher
he was getting 50, and how much hi
income tax would amount to if he wert
back in Sacramento, California, trying
to get enough money to start life by
selling lemonade and root beer.
hope they can squeeze big tax out o
Lucky Baldwin. He ought to pay