Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-06-09

likes with his own so long as he Is
not prevented or inhibited, but it is
competent for any nation to make
such restrictions as may be deemed
necessary. The whole matter Is usu-
ally governed by ekpediency, and
what would be suitable for one state
might be injurious for another. Public
polity, however, in all cases, should
require the exercise of elementary
moralityin the distribution of a man's
wealth, and leave as little room as
possible for unjust disposal. 1t is the
first duty Of father to provide for
his children, and of u husband for
his wife. But the effect of a Will
may contravehe either or both of
these obligations and leave wife and
children paupers. 1t is true that,
generally, natural affection and a
proper sense Of duty will urge a faith
er or husband to do what is right.
But numberiess cases occur to the
contrary, and II mus: not be forgot.
ten that laws are made only for those
who require them. The just and up
right do not need them, for these are
law unto themselves. But for the
weak-minded, the immoral, and the
self-willed, it Is necessary that they
should to proper extent be restrain
ed from the power to do evil. The
present system Of will-making, how
ever, offers such testators every en-
eouragement to injustice. For it arms
them with so despotic a power over
their wealth that few such natures
can withstand its corrupt tendency.
And thus all sorts of seheming and
designing parasites, whether related
or unrelated, are enabled to conspire
In robbing a mans nearest and dear
est ones of their Just claims of inher-
itance. Beside this 1t often renders
man tyrannous and choleric to-
wards his household during his life,
and incites him to take cowardly ad-
vantages of the fears of his family.
Many a rich mans wife trembles for
her future, not knowing what her
fate may be should he die first, be-
cause 1t is in his power to leave neI
penniless and homeless, no matter
how humbly she may have always
yielded to his wishes. His children,
too, feel his power, and learn to dis
semble and deceive. Thus the ties
of nature and affection are gradually
snapped until all secretly wish for
the day of his death. From the mo-
ment when the Roman laws encour-
aged and upheld unlimited wills,
their hateful effects were everywhere
felt. The poets and satirists of those
times tell us that a new profession
arose, namely, legacy h uniting.
Worthless wretches dogged the foot
steps Of the aged rich, pandered to
their every wish, fiattered every
weakness, and strove by all the cum
ming they knew, and all the grovel-
ling baseness Of which they .ere
capable, to ingratiate themselves
with them for the sake Of a good 1eg..
acy. Horace says to the wealthy ap<f
selfish sick man: Your Rifs does
not wish you to be well, nor does
your son-all your neighbours hate
you Do you wonder when you set
aside all things for money, IL no one
displays toward you the love you do
not deserve"
Miserable alike for the living and
the dead is a power so liable to abuse,
which can thus blight tie purest af-
fections Of humanity, and divert the
noblest instincts from their natural
channels. And IL by any change of
law these evils can be avoided or
minimised, nothing should be al
lowed to hinder so Just an improve
ment.