The Nevada County picayune., 1906-12-07

was shown in the investigation or the Standard OH company and as mas pesn shown since by the Investigation or tne tobacco and sugar trusts) as 10 tne tn,d mt
 ative of big railroads oI.en ,,,rnse ra,iroaof oS
 would like to combine for the purpose oi
 preventing a big shipper from malHtalh
 Ing ..aproper advantages at the eNpense
 of small shippers and Of the genera pup pt
 lie. Such a combination, instead or pei4g
 forhfdden hy law, should be favored. Tn
 other words, it should be permitted t9
 railroads to make agreements, pfoNluttsu
 these agreements were sancnoneo pS S .l5 Interstate commerce commission ana
 were published. With these two colui-
 tions compiled with it is impossloie 10
 see what harm such comDlnatIoh cOuuu cO1ii
 do to the public at large. It is pupllc
 evil to have on the statute books iaW
 incapable of full enforcement because
 both Judges and juries realize that us
 fulI enforcement would destroy the pusi-
 ness of the country; for the result IS to
 make decent railroad men Vlolatofs ol
 the law against thelr Will s aGlu tbe ,o ppiIfni
 premium on the behavior oI the wniui 9
 wronedoers Such result in turn lenuS
 10 throw the decent man and the WlIIu u
 Wrongdoer into close association, ana Iil
 inc end to drag down the former to the
 iatter's level: for the man who becomes
 a lawbreaker in one way unhappliy tehas
 to lose all respect Tor n, law anu Mavs U Nc No
 more scathing condemnation could be
 visited upon a law than ls contained III
 inc words of the interstate commerce
 cnmmission when, in commenting upon
 tpa faSf That the numerous joint traffic
 associations do technically violate me the
 law they feS say supreme court in the
 Transmssissippi case and the Joint
 Traffic association case has proc uced no
 practical effect upon the railway opera
 in fact exist now as they did before
 these decisions, and with the same gen
 eral effect. In justice to all parties; S; we we
 ought probably to add that 1t is difflcuit
 to see how our interstate railways could
 be operated with due regard 10 the Inter
 est of the shipper and the railway
 without concerted action of the klnd all forded thru these associations
 This means that the law as construed
 by the supreme court is such that lhe bilsiness of the country cannot be con ducted without breaking it. l recommend that you give careful and early conSluer-
 ation to this subject and if you ma the opinion of the interstate commerce com
 mission justified. that you amend 5he law so as to obvlate the evil disclosed.
 Inheritance and Income Tax.
 It was expected that the president would refer in some way 10 luis bellei in the necessity for the curbing of enQr- nous fortunes, and he has done so bS recommending legislation for both ln- come and an inheritance tax. lie De lieves the government should impose graduated inheritance tax, and. II pOsal- ble, a graduated income tax. He says: II am well aware that such subject
 
 order that the people may become iahHl= iur with what is proposed to be done, may clearly see the necessity or proceed, ing with wisdom and sef-reStrant ana may make up their minds just how far they are willing to go in the matter while only trained legislators can "9fk out the project in necessary detail Bul | feel that in the near future our ndllon ai legislators should enact law prONld- Ing for q graduated inheritance tax py which q steadily increasing rate ot datS rt,g, ,t,Il 1a V>9tf rHl valuables coming by gift, bequest, or devise te any individual or corporation It may be well to make the tax heavy in proportion IS the individual beneilted is remote of kin. In any event Tn my judgment the pro rata or the tax should increase very heavily with the increase of the amount left to any one lndlVdoai after q certain point has been feached. It Is most desirable to encourage thrift and ambition, and potent source or thrift and ambition is the deSlfe on the part of the breadWinner to leave luis chlt- dren well off. This object can be attained by making the tax very small on iodef= ate amounts of property left; because the prime object should be to put con stantly increasing burden on the lnheE- itance of those swollen fortunes winch it is certainly of no benefit to this coun- try to perpetdate.
 There can be no question of the eth lcal proprety of the government thus de terminng the conditions upon Which any gift or inheritance should be received. Exactly how far the inheritance tax would. as an incident have the effect ot limiting the transmission by devise or gift of the enormous fortunes m question it Is not necessary at present to qlS'4s@. It is wise that progress ln thls dlrett1H should be gradual. At first a permanent national inheritance tax, Whil" Ii miEht be more substantial than any such tax has hitherto been, need not appTnNhnatr' either in amount or in the extent of the increase by graduation, to what Such tax should ultimately be.