The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-04-18

accommodations Of invested wealth are to
q large extent no longer Of any use to
the masses, and then no wonder the lat
ter begin to ask if the present system
affords the best way Of managing stored
wealth of the past.
"Some think they see that it would
be better for this stored wealth in pro-
ductive property to belong tot e people
as a whole and to have it managed by
their agents always for their interests.
When one starts on this idea, it is not
as easy to decide where to stop as where
to begin. Socialism carried to the ex-
treme frightens away many who would
already be disposed to have the state
take control of all such monopoies as
mails, roads, railroads, express business,
gas, electric and water works, but the
propriety Of making further steps in
this direction is evidenced by the Hewitt
bill for underground rapid transit and
certain new provisions as to public fran
chises which will be offered to the COM
ing constitutional convention.
when Henry George made strong
run for the mayoralty few years ago,
it was Mr.. Hewitt who was put forward
to save society against just such social
istic propositions as this, which would
make the city proprietor of a great rapid
transit system. But now Mr. Hewitt
himself helps US to have it. Is that tend
ing Or drifting or running into social
ism? Any one who agrees that this is
fn1 n ,,fr1,f TO no
convert to the view that it is great
pity that the city did not hold all it's
own franchises, own all it's street car
routes and furnish itself with gas and
electric lights as we'll as it's water 1t
might as well have owned the elevated
roads as the New York and Brooklyn
bridge. It might have built model tene-
ments and regulated their sanitation bet
ter than it can ever hope to control those
in private hands. 1t could as we'll have
owned both sides of Broadway as its
water front on both rivers.
''Another big question is, Now that
productive wealth is so largely in the
hands of the few, how can the masses
ever get possession of it,? Even if they
have been robbed Of the most Of it, it
has been done SO gradually, under the
forms of law, that it would take con-
vention of capitals attorneys to devise
plan for retaining it that would be
as indirect, insidious and unnoticeable
as the system under which it was &C
quired, to put it mildly, by the few.
"a method which has occurred to me
as likely in time to restore to the whole
people a large amount Of its capital
without possibly hurting any of the pres.
ent holders is that, in addition to a
graduated income tax, let the law of in
heritance be such that no one person
could inherit over $1,000, 900 worth Of
property. That is start enough for any
man or woman. If man dies leaving
$40, 900, 900 and five children, SIS, 900,
900 would revert to the state or be in
some proper proportion divided between
his county, state and the United States.
Wealth thus passing into the public
purse could be used to buy up, as fast as
possible, all the franchises and monopo-
lies that have been fooliehly let slip here
tofore. until the people should thus
gradually recover possession Of their own
and have reason to be duly grateful to
the multimillionaires for helping them
to it,